Schemiest scheme ever

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Weirdest BBC News headline and news story ever?

Former Chick-fil-A employee charged in $80,000 mac-and-cheese scheme

Speak English! What the hell is Chick-fil-A?! What is mac-and-cheese??!

Still, at least they give us a quick dietary lesson in the process of reporting this global story.

US media named the suspect as 23-year-old Keyshun Jones. Records show he is currently in custody at Green Bay prison in Forth Worth, Texas. The New York Times reported that Jones’s lawyer declined to comment.

The Chick-fil-A catering menu lists the cost of a large tray of its mac-and-cheese at around $100 depending on location. The number of calories in the baked macaroni dish, which features three types of cheese, is almost 10,000 (40,000 kilojoules).

The Beeb goes into careful thoughtful detail.

CCTV footage shows the man wearing a brown puffer vest, blue jeans and backwards white cap, not the chain’s branded red polo uniform.

What is this “puffer vest” of which you speak? On the one hand they chat knowingly about mac and cheese and on the other hand they rave about a “puffer vest”.

The BBC has contacted Chick-fil-A’s media office for comment.

Good good good. Let us know what they say.

Comments

11 responses to “Schemiest scheme ever”

  1. Freemage Avatar
    Freemage

    Okay, they pretty much have to use both terms (Chick-fil-A and mac-and-cheese) in the headline, since they actually are integral to the story. It’s not the Beeb’s fault that American companies get cute with their names, or that we eat cheese-covered pasta elbows (and note, the dish is probably called “mac-and-cheese” on the company’s menus).

    “Puffer vest” is a bit more unusual, but honestly, I knew immediately what it would look like. I suppose “insulated vest” would be the more formal descriptor.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Oh I know. I was mocking our cutesy names more than the Beeb for using them. And the puffer thing wasn’t serious, I just think it’s mildly funny that there are different local names for items like sleeveless jackets stuffed with down. The whole post is basically just frivolity.

  3. Sackbut Avatar
    Sackbut

    It is perhaps an unusual story for a British news outlet, but “Chick-fil-A” and “mac and cheese” are very common in the US. I would no more expect an explanation of “mac and cheese” than of “hot dog”. There are 3400 or so Chick-fil-A locations in the US, so I might expect Americans to be familiar with it as well.

    You may recall Chick-fil-A from the dust-up over their affiliated charitable wing that funded organizations opposed to same-sex marriage, something that led to one of those permanent boycotts regardless of how the company chooses to change their operations. You may also be aware that the restaurants are closed on Sundays, something that they announce emphatically, sometimes on enormous signs, rather than just having hours listed that say “Sunday: closed” the way most places announce their hours.

    I am bothered mostly by the article’s claim (although I can’t read the whole thing since they added a paywall) that the mac and cheese contains 10,000 calories. That sounds like the total calories in the entire catering tray. Who the heck cares about that? The company lists 270/450 calories for a small/medium serving.

  4. Sackbut Avatar
    Sackbut

    … and now I see that you were mocking the cutesy names. Fair point.

  5. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Basically it was just that both “Chick-fil-A” and “mac and cheese” are extremely US vocabulary so they look funny or surprising or absurd in a BBC headline. Just a bit of frivolity.

  6. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    To be fair to the Americans (not that I am inclined to be), the Brits have their fair share of things that are ‘cutesy’. I buy a lot of British cookbooks, and noticed they almost never say ‘vegetable’; it’s always ‘veg’.

    When I was in college, I shared a room with a Brit. I was amused by ‘Willy the Shakes’ and ‘Hoovering’, but I was already used to ‘bonnet’ and ‘lift’. I figured out right away what ‘half eleven’ meant, but our friends weren’t aware that she wanted us to meet her at eleven-thirty.

    Yes, indeed, we are separated by a common language.

  7. Acolyte of Sagan Avatar
    Acolyte of Sagan

    iknklast, this old Brit is completely baffled by ‘Willy the Shakes’. In what context was your roommate using it?

  8. Acolyte of Sagan Avatar
    Acolyte of Sagan

    And autocorrect decides to change ‘Brit’ to ‘British’!

  9. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Jeez autocorrect!

    I uncorrected it.

  10. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    AoS, she was referring to Shakespeare. I never heard that anywhere else, and I read a lot of British writing, including about Shakespeare, so it might have been her own thing…

  11. Acolyte of Sagan Avatar
    Acolyte of Sagan

    Thank you, Ophelia.

    iknklast, I think it probably was her own thing. It’s obvious now you’ve told me but it’s certainly not one I’ve heard before.

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