Customer complaints: Here's one way to solicit better customer service. A man allegedly called and harassed some staff of Carolinas Medical Center at Mercy because he "is not happy with the outcome of an incident that occurred in June," so the police report states. Though he has been warned against it, the man continues to call.
He said, cheese said: We bet Fuel Pizza is thanking their lucky pepperonis for in-house video cameras. A "victim" told police that a manager assaulted him by kicking him in the shoe, but video footage shows the man was asleep in a booth and the manager merely nudged his foot to wake him up.
Roll out: Creeper van alert! Some kids were walking in their neighborhood when a guy rolled up beside them in his van and asked how old they were. The kids didn't answer and instead ran away toward a neighbor's house.
Disappearing dummy: A store owner called police after someone walked out of his store with $5,000 worth of mannequin parts.
Fresh ink: A customer at the Macy's at Northlake Mall felt extra bold while hat shopping recently. The suspect allegedly tampered with a hat's anti-theft ink tab and wound up damaging the item. The suspect was detained, but no word on how the hat fared.
Cookie monster: We've done some pretty deplorable things for cookies, but this thief takes the cake. An employee at a food market said someone lied to him about an existing event, meaning, perhaps, he tried to solicit free food for a good cause, and took $5 worth of cookie mix from the store.
Get the boot: Damaging someone else's property is never OK, but whoever committed this next crime needs to tell us how she or he did it. A towing company called police after finding a boot it had fastened onto a 2002 Nissan Sentra laying on the ground. The car was nowhere to be found.
Omnivores dilemma: Gotta love a woman who will do anything for some steak. The suspect allegedly walked into a local grocery store and left with about $25 worth of ribeyes and New York strips stuffed in her purse.
Good ol' boys: A man called police after two suspects allegedly assaulted him, leaving minor swelling in his left cheek. The names of the suspects? Jay and Buddah.
Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty.