Today I’m bringing you this little gem — something that can arguably be described as a “first-world problem.” It seems an elderly woman in Florida became enraged over a tomato on her Whopper that was sliced too thickly. She became so angry, in fact, that she allegedly threw the hamburger at the Burger King employee who prepared it and peppered the woman with racial epithets, Raw Story [1] reports.
I can assure you that people in Burkina Faso, Calcutta, Honduras, and Nicaragua, all countries with problems of epic proportions aren’t worrying about the thickness of their tomato slices. If they somehow manage to avail themselves of a Whopper, they probably feel lucky.
But America is the land of people who feel entitled and now 77-year-old retiree Judith Black has found herself arrested after her racist hissy fit in the restaurant.
She can be seen on surveillance footage inside the store haranguing a female employee who tells Black she will have to calm down before her complaints can be addressed. But when the employee turns her back, Black hurls the sandwich at her, striking the woman just below the neck. Police allege that’s when Black told the worker “Shut up you Black b*tch,” and used the N-word as she exited the store, The Smoking Gun [2] reports.
Police later questioned Black about the incident and she admitted striking the woman with the sandwich and explained that she was “upset about the thickness of the tomato on her sandwich and confronted the victim at the counter.” Black also admitted she called the employee a “stupid Black b*tch” and a “Black n*gger,” and exclaimed “f*ck you Black n*ggers,” police say.
Witnesses at the scene and surveillance footage corroborated the employee’s account of her interaction with Black as well as the elderly woman’s use of racial slurs, according to a Wildwood Police Department report.
In most instances, an attack like this would result in the alleged perpetrator being charged with misdemeanor battery. But with Black’s alleged use of racial slurs, the battery count was reclassified as a felony. Florida laws allow for enhancements like this if a defendant demonstrates prejudice while committing an offense.
It’s good to know that Black spent several hours in custody, where she had ample opportunity to (hopefully) re-think her actions before being released Saturday from the Sumter County Jail on a $2500 bond.
Too bad she apparently hasn’t had the privilege of worry about real problems — like what you’re going to do the next time the U.S. sanctions or invades your country.
All I’m saying is that people whining about first-world problems ought to be given the opportunity to deal with third-world problems.