Florida Man Allegedly Calls 911 Over The Size Of Clams At Seafood Restaurant

A Florida man faces a misdemeanor charge after allegedly refusing to clam up, as it were, about his dinner. Police say he called 911 twice to complain about the small size of the clams that a seafood restaurant served him and didn’t want to pay for the meal.

The incident occurred at the perhaps ironically named Crabby’s Seafood Shack in the city of Stuart in Martin County on the Treasure Coast.

Although he received another order of clams on the house, the New York Post reports, the presumably steamed-up patron nonetheless called 911. Apparently a waiter had even given him a heads-up about the size of the clams before ordering.

According to TCPalm, after the first 911 call about the clams, the dispatcher gave the customer, 51, the number for the non-emergency line. He called 911 a second time, however, because he forgot the non-emergency number the dispatcher had given him, cops say, although he told the dispatcher during call No. 2 that he was unable to get through on the alternative line. “[The man] was arrested by summons on a misdemeanor charge of misuse of 911, police said.” He was not taken to jail, but is due back in court on January 11, 2018.

For some reason, as the Inquisitr has previously reported over the past couple of years, there appears to be a tendency for citizens to use 911 as something like a customer service hotline for food or drink disputes. While it’s just not in Florida by any means, the Sunshine State seems to pop up a lot.

For example, a middle-aged North Palm Beach, Florida, man got taken to jail after allegedly calling 911 to complain that his mother refused to give him money to buy a meal at the International House of Pancakes (IHOP). The flapjack fan allegedly had called 911 multiple times in the prior month or so for non-emergency reasons, including twice in two hours on the same night that he was arrested.

A dispute over pizza toppings resulted in a 911 call to the Hartford, Connecticut, police department in March 2016. The unhappy customer called the cops to ask if they could do something because a local pizzeria wouldn’t give her a refund for an incomplete pie which was topped with hamburger rather than bacon.

In November 2015, a woman in the Orlando, Florida, area called 911, according to law enforcement authorities, because she wanted to place an order for cigarettes and chicken wings. In May 2014, a North Carolina woman called 911 because Subway allegedly put marinara sauce on her flatbread pizza and then wouldn’t refund her money, while a Memphis grandmother called 911, according to police, because she apparently ran out of beer on New Year’s Day.

A woman tried to turn up the heat when she called 911 to report a case of raw waffles at a Tampa, Florida, restaurant.

Additional examples: An Arizona man allegedly once called 911 when his McDonald’s drive-thru order was missing hash browns. A Florida woman allegedly called 911 three times to report that a McDonald’s had run out of Chicken McNuggets. A Georgia man allegedly called the emergency number because he ordered seven McDouble burgers but his bag only contained six. A Florida man allegedly called 911 approximately 80 times to request a home delivery of Kool-Aid, burgers, and weed.

In a top-ten list of actual calls received in 2017, the No. 1 reason not to call 911 is “complaining a salon wouldn’t change nail polish color,” according to E-Comm, British Columbia’s largest emergency communications center.

In most jurisdictions generally, accessing the 911 system for a non-emergency is considered a misdemeanor.

Listen to the 911 call below about the clams dispute in Stuart, Florida.