Mr. Woolworth's Whipped Cream

Many years ago, I remember someone telling a story about one of the jobs she had as a young person. She worked at the soda fountain at Woolworth's and had a co-worker who was very exact about the amount of whipped cream she would put on sundaes. When customers would ask for more, she would tell them the store policy and really seemed to be empowered by rationing out Mr. Woolworth's toppings.

Well, this guy capitulated to the customer's demands for more chili sauce than store policy allowed and he still got shot!

A Wendy's night manager now knows just how seriously some people take their condiments.

Renel Frage, 20, got shot in a dispute early Tuesday over chili sauce.

Frage was working the 5 p.m.-to-3 a.m. graveyard shift at a Wendy's in Miami Gardens when an extra-demanding customer showed up at the drive-through window after midnight.

After paying the $3.24 tab in cash, he drove to the second window to pick up his meal.

He told the attendant he wanted extra chili sauce.

``I told him, I just take the orders and give out the food,'' said Susan Byrob-Fimon, the attendant. ``It wasn't up to me to give him more chili.''

Frage, hoping to appease the customer, slipped in eight extra packets - for a total of 11.

Frage, who makes $16,002 a year, stepped outside to tell the disgruntled customer he already had his extra condiments.

``He hadn't even checked the bag,'' he said on Tuesday afternoon. ``I was trying to be nice.''

When Frage stepped outside, he was shot through his upper left arm. ``There was blood everywhere,'' he recalled. ``It was a big mess.''

I'm not the biggest consumer of fast food and except for a little sauce for my very infrequent Chicken Mc Nuggets, I don't even like it. But, I guess there are hoarders and greedy people who need more sauce than food so places need to charge extra limit condiments. It's not, however, worth arguing over - and definitely not worth being injured. You may get the occasional person committed to saving Mr. Woolworth some money by being strict with the whipped cream but, as with the worker who got shot, most clerks will pass you a few extras without a fuss.