Saturday, August 11, 2007

Can I have a side of Denver Boots and a soft drink, please?


A Chicago police officer tickets the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in the 400 block of North Michigan Avenue.


American Scot of the blog AYE! has become my favorite source of Chicago images - makes me homesick, he does! However, this story just did me in:

A massive hot dog clogged Chicago's main artery Thursday morning.

In a rare occurrence of an encased-meat vehicle committing a traffic violation, Chicago police ticketed the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for illegal parking on the Magnificent Mile.

The incident began at 10:57 a.m. in the 400 block of North Michigan Avenue. At least two members of the Wienermobile entourage left the vehicle in the six-lane street with its emergency blinkers on. The vehicle is registered to Kraft Foods under the Wisconsin license plate "WEENR."

A police officer approached the Chevrolet with the 27-foot fiberglass sausage and removable bun roof. The officer radioed for a tow truck.

Matt Smith of the city's Streets and Sanitation Department said the city would have been ready to handle the job.

"We have access to tow trucks that could have handled a Polish sausage, not just a hot dog," Smith said.

The officer wrote the ticket and affixed it to the wiener's footlong side mirror. Ed Walsh, a spokesman for the city Department of Revenue, said parking in a "Parking/Standing Prohibited Anytime" zone is a $50 violation.

About 15 minutes later, as curious passersby snapped pictures with their camera phones, the driver and passenger of the vehicle returned before tow trucks could arrive. "The situation was resolved without the use of ketchup, which in Chicago is a big thing," Smith said.

The entourage got a grilling from the officer.

"You can't just park here," the officer said.

One of the passengers, who declined to be identified, said they were visiting a Wienermobile alumnus who worked nearby, but were unaware that one could not park a giant sausage in the middle of the city's busiest thoroughfare.

Sydney Lindner, a spokeswoman for Kraft Foods, said the Wienermobile is on a nationwide tour promoting a contest to sing the Oscar Mayer jingle in an upcoming commercial.

She said "regardless of the reason" the driver had for parking there, the company neither condones nor relishes such actions.

"It's against company policy to park in undesignated area even if you're driving a company vehicle that's shaped like a giant hot dog," Lindner said. "We appreciate the police doing their job and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

The hot dog was last seen driving north on Michigan Avenue.

16 comments:

mirth said...

hahahahaha

Thanks, I needed that!

Real_PHV_Mentarch said...

Hilarious! Thanks for the laugh, Jood! ;-)

Larry said...

Good one to lighten the weekend Jood!

Woody Tobias, Jr. said...

'skuze me. Can I have KETchup with that?

Anonymous said...

Yes, I really RELISHED this story. I laughed my buns off.

Anon-Paranoid said...

They had to but some mustard, but Bush wasn't around to poop for them.

God Bless.

sumo said...

Some wieners are just stupid like that. They know they aren't supposed to be at the side of the road!

Coffee Messiah said...

verification: axl - vhd

What a site that mustard been! ; )

Lulu Maude said...

Love all the atrocious puns!

I guess the driver of the Wienermobile thought he was untouchable.

Is nothing sacred?!

SouthLoopScot said...

I think the cop is biased. Anyone from Chicago knows that Vienna or Best are the way to go!

Anonymous said...

ACK! Too...many...puns!

Larry said...

Is that an Oscar Meyer?

enigma4ever said...

too funny....and to think that even the Weinermobile can be ticketed...in Chicago of all place....that ain't right...

DivaJood said...

I am not responsible for all these puns - it's all the fault of American Scot, I swear.

;)

Agi said...

So that's where Denny Hastert parked his car!

DivaJood said...

Okay, now Spiro, that's just too funny.