What is it about Burger King and coupons? Are their coupons that confusing, their employees that uncooperative, or are their customers just a bunch of hotheads?
In more than a decade of covering all things coupons here on Coupons in the News, it seems that no single retailer has been involved in more tense confrontations over coupons than Burger King. And now it’s happened again.
This time, a Connecticut man has been charged with threatening to shoot up his local Burger King and kill everyone inside, after an argument over a coupon.
A newly-released arrest affidavit describes how police in Cromwell were called to the restaurant back on April 8th. The employee who called said she and a customer got into an argument over a coupon that she refused to accept. The customer left, but the confrontation didn’t end there.
The employee said the man pulled up to the drive-thru window, used his fingers to simulate pointing a gun and made “shooting sounds.” The employee admitted returning the gesture with a gesture of her own – a middle finger – after which the man drove off.
But it didn’t end there, either. Shortly after, the employee said the phone rang. She answered and said she recognized the man’s voice, as he started yelling racial slurs and threatening that he was “just going to come back and shoot everybody.”
She hung up, and the phone rang again – multiple times. The employee didn’t answer, but the same caller ended up leaving eight voice messages, calling the employees “useless,” wishing they would kill themselves, and threatening to do it himself if they didn’t.
A little thing known as Caller ID allowed police to trace the calls. They obtained a warrant for 38-year-old Kenneth Currlin, who was arrested three days later and charged with threatening, breach of peace and intimidation based on bias or bigotry.
Just about every retailer has probably experienced some sort of disagreement over coupons. But rarely do they involve threatened gunplay – unless, apparently, it happens at Burger King. Back in 2017, a South Carolina man whose coupon was refused was accused of coming back to the restaurant’s drive-thru – just like Currlin is accused of doing. But this man allegedly had a real gun. A couple of years earlier, a Burger King customer in Manchester, Connecticut who was unable to use a breakfast coupon at lunchtime was charged with making an implied threat when he referenced the 1993 movie Falling Down, in which a character who’s denied his fast food breakfast pulls out a submachine gun.
Other notorious Burger King confrontations that didn’t involve guns, were violent nonetheless. In 2020, an Iowa man allegedly attacked an employee who refused his coupon. A couple of years earlier, a Florida man was arrested after he allegedly grabbed a cashier by the wrist “and began to pull her over the counter” when his coupons were refused. And a couple of years before that, a Wisconsin woman and her daughter were arrested after Mom allegedly sicced her daughter on the cashier for “disrespecting” her by refusing her coupon.
Is it any wonder why Burger King announced back in 2021 that it hoped to phase out paper coupons altogether? Because everyone knows that digital coupons work flawlessly!
In the case of Currlin, he made an initial court appearance several days after the incident, and was released on $30,000 bond. He’s due back in court later this week. In the meantime, he’s been ordered to stay away from guns, and from the Cromwell Burger King. No mention of staying away from coupons, but considering he’s facing a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison if convicted – he may not be looking to eat out for a while.
Image source: JJBers 
