The Beginning
Jodee Berry really enjoyed working as a waitress at Hooters, and she never ever thought things would end up the way they did now. It all began with a contest organized by the restaurant.
In order to encourage waitresses to sell more beer, the restaurant organized a beer-selling contest. The waitress who sold the most beer in a month would get an incredible prize: a brand new Toyota.
Getting Excited
The prize sounded a little over the top, but Jodee didn't question it. After all, Hooters was a big company with many restaurants and a lot of money, so maybe buying a car for one of its employees wasn't such a big deal.
Jodee could really use a new car, so she worked hard to win the contest. Every day, she tried to convince costumers to buy more beer, and her work environment got more and more competitive.
Competition
Jodee obviously wasn't the only one who wanted to win a new car. In fact, the contest really served its purpose because everyone in the restaurant was more eager than ever to sell beer.
All waitresses work hard and sold a lot of beer. When the deadline was coming closer, tensions were high. Then came the day when the winner of the Toyota was announced.
And The Winner Is...
Jodee was beyond ecstatic when she heard she was the winner of the big prize. All her coworkers were jealous because she was going to be the one driving a brand new Toyota home... right?
The restaurant staff told her that her new Toyota was waiting for her in the parking lot. They put a blindfold over her eyes and walked her outside. Then, she took the blindfold off and saw her prize.
The Toy Yoda
Jodee was confused. There was no Toyota waiting for her in the parking lot, only a toy Yoda, the character from Star Wars, on the floor. As she was putting two and two together, she heard the staff laughing their heads off.
It turned out to be a big joke. Everyone thought it would be funny, but not Jodee. She didn't like it one bit, and she decided she was going to make Hooters pay for their cruel prank.
Other Cases
Jodee's case went on the news, but she was certainly not the first one to fall for a fake contest. In fact, radio stations are known for pulling this kind of prank on April Fools.
One of the biggest known cases happened in 2005, when KBDS radio station in Bakersfield, California, announced that they would be giving away a Hummer to one lucky winner.
A Convenient Date
The radio station announced that whoever guessed the mileage on the Hummer would get to take it home on April 1st. This date, however, did not raise any red flags for anyone, as calls kept coming in.
A woman named Shannon Castillo was the "lucky winner". She was told that she had to show up to the station the next day at 6:00 am, so she even got a babysitter to watch over her two little kids as she drove to the station.
Disappointment
When Shannon arrived at the radio station, she was shocked to find what was waiting for her. There was no Hummer truck, but a Hummer toy truck. She felt completely humiliated while everyone at the station thought it was hilarious.
She went home feeling disappointed and used. She wasn't going to let it go, however. She contacted a lawyer and filed a suit against the station for $60,000, the value of a real Hummer.
The Lawsuit
While the radio station could argue that it was just an April Fools' joke, this was a big issue for Shannon. The basis of the lawsuit was that she was intentionally and maliciously mislead and that the radio station made her believe she was getting an actual Hummer on purpose.
Shannon wasn't the only one who sued a radio station for pulling an ugly prank like this one. Another example of this phenomenon took place that same year in Lexington, Kentucky.
A Big Prize
A radio station called Hot 102 announced that they would give away "100 grand" to the tenth caller. As soon as people heard that, calls began flooding their line.
The tenth caller happened to be a woman named Norreasha Gill, who could not be more excited about what was happening. In her mind, she had just won $100,000 in cash, an amount that could change her life forever.
The Chance Of A Lifetime
For Norreasha, this was the chance of a lifetime. She thought about all the amazing things she could buy with $100,000: clothes, a TV, paying off her debt, traveling around the world, etc. Many ideas went through her head and she couldn't contain her excitement.
And who could blame her? If you heard you were getting "one hundred grand", you would be excited too. Many would just quit their job and start planing a trip around the world. Sadly, that could not happen for Norreasha.
Heartbreak
When Norreasha arrived at the radio station to claim her prize, she was met not with $100,000, but with a 100 Grand candy bar. She was so heartbroken and humiliated that she couldn't even speak.
To the people at the radio station, however, it was all a big joke, but now Norreasha had to come home to her kids and explain to them that they weren't getting any money or new things. In fact, she had to explain that to all her friends and family.
Getting Over It
Norreasha did the same thing that Shannon did and sued the radio station for $100,000 plus an undisclosed amount in punitive damages. The whole thing caught media attention and she was interviewed about it.
When asked about how she felt, she said: > “It upsets me that somebody would play such a cruel joke on me, but what hurts me the most is that I made a promise to my kids that I had to break.”
The Truth Of The Matter
Even though it is clear that Shannon and Norreasha were devastated by these pranks, their lawsuits were deemed to lack legal sufficiency, so they didn't receive the compensation they expected.
At the end of the day, pranking is not against the law. One could argue that it was just that: a prank. Others, however, may agree with the women and deem these pranks too cruel and unnecessary. One court, however, did agree with a woman who was pranked this way...
Jodee's Story
Let's go back to our original story. After Jodee saw that the contest was in fact a huge prank, she was not amused in the slightest. In fact, she quit her job the very next day. In the eyes of the staff she was overreacting, but this was only the beginning for her.
Jodee made so much noise that her story ended up in the news, and if social media had been around in 2001, you better believe it would have gone viral! But her legal battle was not easy.
Taking It To Court
Quitting her job did not help Jodee manage her anger. She wanted to be compensated for the humiliation and the stress that the toy Yoda prank caused her, so she filed a lawsuit against the restaurant.
This brought even more attention to her bizarre case, which became more and more famous in the news. Her case was so strange that it was probably the first time that a court had to deal with something like that. Would they rule in her favor?
Jodee Wins
A full year after the toy Yoda incident, Jodee and Hooters reached an agreement. The company ended up paying her an undisclosed amount of money and the lawsuit was dropped.
The restaurant staff might have thought it was funny when they pranked her, but she was now laughing all the way to the bank. It wasn't all perfect, however.
Not Everything Is Perfect
While the amount of the settlement is unknown, it is believed that Jodee got enough money to buy more than one Toyota. You could say that she ended up in a better place thanks to the prank, but she would disagree.
Yes, money is awesome, but she had to quit her job because she was too upset to continue working there. Not only that, but she never felt more humiliated in her life. She was known to the world as the naive woman who fell for a silly prank, and that's not a nice position to be in.
The End
This story really makes you think about where the line should be drawn when it comes to pranks. Things worked out for Jodee in the end, but women like Shannon and Norreasha went home empty-handed and lost their lawsuits.
Not only that, but they were humiliated for all radio listeners to hear. What would you do in their situation? Would you laugh it off or would you sue the pranksters? Were these cruel jokes or harmless pranks?