Hoosier Gets in Hairy Situation at Orland Park Panera: Police

An Indiana man enraged at finding a hair in his food at the Orland Park Panera really lost it when he noticed restaurant workers weren't wearing hairnets, police said.

An Orland Park police officer was reportedly sent to the 15252 S. LaGrange Road Panera to look into a call about a customer causing a disturbance. When he got there, he saw a man "exiting the restaurant while yelling at a Panera Bread employee," police said.

The officer asked the man to show his identification but was refused, police said. The second time the officer asked, the man, 60-year-old Van Johnson of 436 Gregory St. in Schererville, IN, "relented."

The officer asked Johnson what was going on, police said, and the Indiana man told him, "I was eating and discovered a hair in my food. I then went to the counter to complain and to get a refund. I then observed that the employees were not wearing hairnets, which they shouldn't do, so I began voicing my displeasure because it seemed like they didn't care. They finally gave me a refund and I was leaving when you arrived."

The officer then spoke with the Panera manager, "who was crying and visibly upset from the incident," police said.

The officer asked the manager for her version of events, police said, and she told him how Johnson "came to the counter yelling about finding a hair in his food and asked to see a manager for a refund. He then began screaming about the employees not having hairnets on and would not stop screaming at me."

The manager, who is 5-feet-tall, told how the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Johnsonn "threw his Panera Bread card at her, striking her while calling her a pig," police said.

The manager recalled how she "completed the refund, asked Van to stop yelling at her and advised him to leave, which he did not do," police said.

Several Panera customers came forward to tell the officer that Johnson was "belligerent and aggressive," police said. He was charged with disorderly conduct.

Go take a look at our Facebook page.