Table talk
Caught out by Force pretences
A former waitress has settled her lawsuit against a Florida restaurant that gave her a toy Yoda doll instead of the Japanese car she thought she'd won. Jodee Berry, 27, won a beer sales contest last May at the Panama City Beach Hooters restaurant. She believed she had won a new Toyota and was happily escorted to the restaurant's car park blindfolded. But when the blindfold was removed, she found she had won a new toy Yoda, the elfin green character from the Star Wars films. Berry's lawyer would not disclose details of the settlement but said she would now be able to pick any Toyota she wanted. After the stunt, Berry quit her job and filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. The restaurant's manager, Jared Blair, said the whole contest had been an April Fool's joke.
Their Bach's worse than their bite
Members of a Russian orchestra touring Britain were ordered to strip off after fleas were found in their Hertfordshire hotel. The 105 musicians were on their way to a concert when police and health officials intercepted their coaches. The musicians were taken to a sports pavilion and told to strip off so their clothes could be disinfected. Nottingham's public health service said there was no evidence that the coaches contained fleas, but they had been alerted to the risk by the hotel's staff. The St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra's performance in Nottingham started 45 minutes late.
Freeze! I'm crumbed and dangerous
"Hey! Where are you going with that fish finger?" is a phrase that World Cup-goers will not want to hear at next month's tournament in Japan and South Korea. Japanese organisers have banned "frozen items" at all its matches, along with more obvious threats such as umbrellas and knives. But why frozen food? "It has a potential as a projectile," said a spokesman for the organising committee. "And it has been used at past matches as a weapon." We will never look at a humble piece of frozen haddock in quite the same way again.
One step beyond
Britain's waiting staff walk an average of 5.9 miles each day, according to new research. Waiters walk further than any other profession. Shop workers are second in the list, walking 2.95 miles a day, and hairdressers third, walking 2.75 miles a day. The Legs at Work survey was carried out by Dutch health company Bional among 142 workers aged between 17 and 57.
No bloke without fire
An interview with Paul Dermody, chief executive of hotel company De Vere, went off to a blaze of sirens last week. Caterer.com's reporter, Samantha McClary, was just one question into her interview with Dermody when fire alarms were sounded at the group's financial PR offices. After being shuffled outside, the pair decided to conduct the interview alfresco. "It's a novel way to do an interview," said Dermody. But the sun was out, so neither complained. And the cause of the fire? The air-conditioning unit.
