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Frozen Custard Finger; the rest of the story... Not having made the connection with the national headline I noticed in a hotel lobby on Tuesday. I walked into a Kohl's Frozen Custard in Wilmington today to enjoy some of my favorite dessert...My family and I are regular customers of the Greensboro Kohl's franchise on Battleground Avenue. As I was mulling over the two flavor's of the day, Cherry Burgundy and Milk and Honey, the gentleman behind the counter asked me if I had seen the news stories. Replying that I had not, he elaborated for me, "National news stories, all over the country, the finger in the frozen custard. David Letterman making jokes, everything." "Oh!," I said. "That was you guys?" The counter guy looked mid 40's and like he could use some serious sleep so I asked the obvious, "Are you the owner?" Yes, of course he was, Jeff Kohl. "Well, give me a double scoop then of Milk and Honey, " I confidently announced hoping to cheer him up. Talking with Mr. Kohl further the bizarre and decidedly sick twist to this story came out quickly. This is the news the the national media have yet to follow up on. Since the tip of the worker's finger was found in frozen custard by the drive-thru customer shortly after he returned home the doctors at the hospital immediately requested it be sent to them. The time and temperature nvolved meant that they had a good chance of successfully re-attaching the finger to the injured worker's hand. Incredibly, the customer apparently thinking he had hit a legal jackpot refused to turn the finger over. While Jeff and I were sitting at a table discussing this a call came in to his cell phone from someone at the store where the terrible incident took place. The person on the other end confirmed that the finger tip now long past any hope of being re-attached to its rightful owner, was still in the possession of the customer. We both shook our heads over this. What kind of person would withhold a severed part of someone's hand in the hopes of striking it rich? Like he just hit the lottery and was being asked to turn his ticket in without getting paid. As the owner of the parent company of the franchise store now under state investigation, I politely did not ask Jeff to elaborate on too many of the details. I suggested that if the injured employee could accept the situation as it now was, perhaps he could use Kohl's on-line delivery service to FedEx a pint of frozen custard to David Letterman and get himself on national TV. I offered that unquestionably Kohl's Butterfinger Blast flavor was the must send choice. Should Kohl's legal counsel ever condone such a thing, the employee could share a brief laugh with Mr. Letterman and then announce to everyone that this greedy bastard customer refused to turn over his salvagable fingertip to the doctors. See if this sicko can find a favorable jury then! Undoubtably, there is more to the story and we are missing the conversations that surely took place between the customer and the authorities both before and after the doctors and the employee made it known that they needed the fingertip back. The Wilmington Star News (NYT affiliate registration reguired) has been doing some respectable follow-up and has noted the lack of return of what the customer considers evidence for his lawsuit. Perhaps the national news will yet follow up on this. If it all turns out that the injured employee could certainly have had a good chance of being made whole again, I hope I have done my part here to help make sure the customer sees absolutely zero financial benefit for his find and that his name forever be mud.
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