http://www.boston.com/dailynews/223/nation/Owner_of_Hooters_restaurants_s:.shtml

Owner of Hooters restaurants says it will fight waitress' toy Yoda lawsuit

By Associated Press, 8/11/2001 20:32

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) A spokesman for the owner of several local Hooters restaurants said the company will fight a former waitress' lawsuit alleging her employer promised her a Toyota but gave her a toy Yoda.

Jodee Berry, 26, won a contest in early May to see who could sell the most beer in April at the Panama City Beach Hooters. The top-selling waitress from each restaurant in the area was entered into a drawing, and Berry's name was picked.

She believed she'd won a new car. She was blindfolded and led to the restaurant parking lot, but when the blindfold was removed, she found she was the winner of a toy Yoda the little green guy from the Star Wars movies.

''There was never any agreement on the part of Hooters or any employee to give away a new car,'' said Stuart Houston, a spokesman for Gulf Coast Wings, Inc., the corporate owner of the local Hooters restaurants. ''Hooters never intended to purposely mislead Miss Berry or any other employee.''

He said he could not respond to specific questions about the suit. Berry quit the restaurant a week after she was given the Yoda.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2001

Answers

I love cases like this. It sure seems like she was intentionally misled by the company. Especially since they then took her into the *parking lot* for the finale of their little joke. Not funny Magee. I am once again reminded of that old saying, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." Bet they will get enough bad publicity, and reaction from both customers and staff, that they will buy her the Toyota fairly quickly. Unless, of course, they are one of those stupid entrenched managements that just don't really care.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2001