Watercooler Stories

Ketchup dispute escalates at restaurant

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An employee at a Subway restaurant in Florida says he was fired after arguing with a customer about putting ketchup on a sandwich.

The ketchup fight occurred Tuesday at a Subway inside a Walmart store in Orlando, WFTV reported. Luis Martinez said he asked for a Philly cheese steak sandwich with his usual accompaniments: "American cheese, onions and ketchup."

Lawrence Ordone, who was working behind the counter, said he was unable to give Martinez what he wanted.

"He wants ketchup on the Philly cheese steak and I have never put -- we don't even have ketchup at Subway -- I've never put ketchup on anybody's sandwich," he said.

The argument escalated, and Ordone told the Orlando TV station he "flew off the handle." He allegedly told Martinez to fight "like a man."

"He threatened to kill me in front of my wife," Martinez said.

Martinez called police, but by the time officers got to the Subway Ordone was gone. He said he was fired the next day.

Ordone was not arrested, although police reportedly forwarded the case to prosecutors.

NYC man allegedly made 400 fake 911 calls

NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A New York man angry about the invasion of noisy young people in his Brooklyn neighborhood has made more than 400 fake 911 calls in two years, police say.

Louis Segna, 51, was arrested Thursday on charges that include reckless endangerment and making false reports, the New York Post reported. Police added a weapons charge when they found he owned a gravity knife -- with a blade contained in its handle.

Segna's Williamsburg neighborhood was once known for its large Hasidic Jewish community but young hipsters driven from Manhattan by high rents, have made moved in.

Police said they have received more than 400 calls in the past two years reporting shots fired and other disturbances -- including a report of an explosion in a subway station -- only to find everything quiet when officers arrived.

Police knew Segna by name from noise complaints, and from his frequent appearances at community meetings.

An officer said he recognized Segna's voice in two phony 911 calls Thursday and investigators said they have determined 403 false calls were made from Segna's cellphone.

Police said they have thought of Segna -- who is 6 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds -- as a "gentle giant" but he also has a record of arrests, one for menacing and one almost 20 years ago for possession of homemade explosives.

Florida 'artist' held in traffic fracas

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A Florida judge told a defendant this week she should keep what she calls performance art away from busy streets "and everything will start looking up for you."

Arlene Mena, 25, was brought before Broward County Judge John Hurley on battery and criminal mischief charges stemming from her performance in the middle of State Road A1A in Hallandale Beach, which ended with a broken car mirror and a noisy scuffle between Mena and two men.

"I suggest not wearing boots and doing artwork in the middle of a roadway," Hurley told Mena. "I would start right there and everything will start looking up for you."

Things went downhill for Mena, a self-described stripper, Wednesday when she was spotted trying to direct traffic on A1A wearing a skimpy outfit and boots. Mena told the judge she had been "just trying to do some artwork" that was misunderstood.

A witness told the South Florida Sun Sentinel Mena threw a traffic cone at one car, breaking off a side mirror, and wound up wrestling with the driver and a pedestrian who tried to get her out of the street.

"She looked like a very drunk person," witness Noel von Kaufmann told the newspaper.

Jeep rams into N.J. pizza shop twice

PENNSAUKEN, N.J., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee smashed into the front of a Pennsauken, N.J., pizza shop not once, but twice, then fled the scene, the store owner said.

Stephanie Boese, owner of Roman's Pizza, said video surveillance captured the vehicle slamming into the front of the building at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The Jeep then backed up and drove into the shop again, and the driver then fled the scene, The (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier reported.

"I just can't believe a Jeep did all this damage. It looks like a bulldozer or something came through here," Boese said.

She said Pennsauken police told her they had a suspect in custody, though police gave no further details on the incident.

Boese said she has owned Roman's Pizza for 10 years, though it's "been here for 25 years."

Nearly a dozen friends and neighbors gathered at the building to help Boese clean up and secure equipment until repairs could be made, The Courier reported.