Email Claims Customer Got Syphilis From Olive Garden Meal - Officials Say It Is Hoax

[matcom]

<snip>

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Urban myth e-mail messages can travel quickly and leave businesses in damage-control mode.

A central Iowa restaurant is coping with the fallout of a hoax e-mail this week. Recent e-mails mention the the Olive Garden in West Des Moines, which often has a waiting list. But lately, calls to the restaurant have not been about seating.

"They're obviously calling to ask us about the rumor," said Steve Coe, director of public relations for Darden Restaurants in Orlando, Fla., the company that owns the Olive Garden.

The e-mail stated that a customer sent her food back to the kitchen and that two days later, the girl woke up with syphilis in her mouth. A doctor tested the leftover food and found body fluids on it, according to the e-mail.

The Iowa Department of Public Health said there is no way is that e-mail is true.

http://www.wftv.com/money/13675111/detail.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Sadly, the rampant scientific illiteracy in this country lets shit like this happen.

This is one of the scientifically and mathematically most ignorant countries in the world.

[matcom]

2. you are of course 100% correct

I for one blame it on unlimited breadsticks

[TZ]

19. Couldn't agree with you more, Rabrrrrr

I can't even laugh at shit like this its just too aggravating and sad.

[Radio_Lady]

22. Matcom, ha,ha,ha,ha,ha -- thanks for the laugh-a-minute posts!

You know, breadsticks are shaped like... CIGARS... which are shaped like, um... you know.

I'm not going further and won't touch this thread with a ten foot Pole. I might use an eleven-foot Russian, however.

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

Radio Lady in Oregon

[underpants]

3. (manager kicks open the kitchen door)

OKAY! Who's been f*****g the salad?

[spoony]

11. LOL :-)

[NewWaveChick1981]

4. I'll bet the ranch dressing guy works at Olive Garden now....

:yoiks:

[LostinVA]

5. See?!

Hospitaliano!

[DS1]

8. hahaha

win

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. How the hell does Olive Garden have a waiting list?

[Hugin]

7. Ah, the old Immaculate Infection story...

"the girl woke up with syphilis in her mouth" She says with a wink and a nod.

[SarahB]

9. I got pregnant because of Olive Garden.

The last time I went to an Olive Garden was 1994. Food poisoning. Birth control pills. Two days of vomiting. Preggers. Ended up with a lousy miscarriage 3 months later too.

I've avoided discussing this before in the "Olive Garden" flame wars as it's not my favorite memory, but that place is a shithole that I wouldn't let my dog eat at. No, Syphilis can't be transmitted that way, but that place has a well deserved, bad reputation for many other reasons. :puke:

[Midlodemocrat]

10. "When you're here, you're family". No thanks.

[matcom]

12. I heard you can get crabs from Cracker Barrel

:hide:

[underpants]

13. Yeah but only IF you talk to the head cheese

:bounce:

[Midlodemocrat]

14. WRONG. You only get delicious white meat chicken in a flavorful sauce

baked in a light, flaky crust. :eyes: Oh, and unsweet tea, too.

[jmowreader]

26. You can get crabs from field mess halls

The Second Brigade mess sergeant in the 101st Airborne in 1982-1983 had a gift for picking out the most louse-infested sites on Fort Campbell's Back Forty to set up his field kitchens. Deploy with Second Brigade, eat in their field mess once, and you've got crabs for the rest of the exercise.

Cactus Jack finally added a Second Brigade Addendum to the 311th MI Field Packing List: Kwell Cream, three tubes, because you know you'll need them.

That mess sergeant finally retired from the Army and opened a seafood restaurant. Seriously.

[mvd]

15. I'm sure glad it's not true

I recently ate there. To my surprise, it was actually good. Not the best Italian around, but a tasty meal. Especially liked the salad.

[RedG1]

16. I suspect the customer of misuse of the "Clapper" at home

<snicker>

[TrogL]

17. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN OLIVE GARDEN

Olive trees grow in groves. Olive trees are really hard on the soil and nothing much else (eg. flowers) grows nearby. Hence, an "olive garden" is impossible.

[xmas74]

18. Kinda like the rumor in my town a couple of years ago

that someone got gonorhea from a toilet seat at the local Applebee's. It eventually blew over but I was surprised at how many college-educated individuals said they wouldn't go there for that reason alone.

I don't eat there because of shitty, overpriced food,crappy music and a fear that something is going to fall off the wall and smack me in the head.

[Sanity Claws]

20. Did she have the fried chicken?

Maybe if she hadn't been breastfeeding, none of this would have happened.

[Radio_Lady]

21. Hi, everyone. I have atoned for my sins and have not been to an Olive Garden since 2006.

Please forgive me! I'm taking it one day at a time.

:sarcasm:

[skygazer]

23. And who is the DU'er who started THAT email rumor?

Hmmmmm? :P

[Radio_Lady]

24. No idea, Skygazer.

[EstimatedProphet]

25. And then a phone rang, and the voice said 'seven days', AND SHE DIED SEVEN DAYS LATER!

I swear this stuff is written by 13 year old kids sometimes. Syphilis in her mouth? Please!

[jmowreader]

27. Maybe it was the Olive Garden of Itaewon?

As the 209th MI VD NCO, I was required to investigate every case of neisserian infection sustained by a member of my unit. Or a member's member. Whatever.

One fucking moran from 524th MI's motor pool came down with a case of gonorrhea on his tongue, and I got to investigate it. (I think I still have the negatives from the photos I took of it. You don't want to see them.) Lucky me. We told these dipshits that if they insisted on renting dates there were certain things they must not do with them, and activities which could give you gonorrhea of the tongue are REAL high on that list. Stupid fuck. This was back in the old days when gonorrhea was diagnosed through a culture made by swabbing the afflicted area, so this dickhead was super happy that he didn't have to be rodded. Wrong, asshole, if you have it on your tongue it's in other places too.

So yeah, syphilis of the mouth is not out of the realm of possibility...getting it from anything they serve at Olive Garden is, though.