By now you must have heard about Louise Ogborn, 21, who is suing McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) after she was forced to strip in a McDonald's back office by a caller posing as a police officer.

Today, the Kentucky jury began deliberations in the case that accuses the fast-food giant for failing to warn her and other employees about the hoaxer, who had already struck other McDonald's stores and other fast-food restaurants across the country.

I am not sure that I could believe any of this “stranger than fiction” story unless I had seen an ABC television report and YouTube footage posted by nofilterpaul3.

According to the Associated Press,

“Ogborn was 18 and working at a McDonald's in April 2004 when she was forced to strip after a man called the store, claiming he was investigating a theft. At one point during the 3 1/2-hour search, the assistant manager's boyfriend was left to handle the phone call.”

Too sad to be true. Adults taking ridiculous orders from a caller posing as a police officer?

I marvel at the lack of sense and sensitivity by the assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers and worse her fiancée at the time, Walter Nix Jr.. Strangely, Sumer’s commitment was to run the restaurant on a busy Friday night rather than protect an employee and pay enough attention to this call to realize it was a hoax. There is a management problem here.

Donna Summers was the manager left to be responsible of the McDonald’s. 

• Why didn’t she call the manager?
• Why didn’t she confirm with the police using a cell phone?
• Why didn’t she hang up?
• What threat caused her to allow this to happen for hours?

I imagine the only threat plausible to Donna Summers that night was the threat that she would lose her job at McDonald’s if she focused on Louise rather than the customers demanding their food. She had been trained to focus on serving fast food, not second-guessing police or recognizing a ridiculous hoax. Her management training at McDonald’s had superseded her training to be a concerned human being.

Was she a loyal employee of McDonald’s? Was she committed to her job? Did she follow instructions? Yes, yes and yes. However, her training, her common sense and her moral compass failed her that day. And it is still failing. Summers is suing McDonald's and is asking the jury to award her $50 million.

She followed directions blindly – not a good management trait. She bowed to presumed authority (the hoaxer), despite it going against common sense and perpetrating dehumanizing actions against an employee – some under her watch. She turned her back on an employee to be sure Big Macs were served.

Ultimately, Donna Summers, the assistant manager, was convicted of unlawful imprisonment. Her former fiancee, Walter Nix Jr., is serving a 5-year sentence for sexual abuse and other crimes.”

McDonald’s claimed it could not warn its employees about the hoax that had occurred at other McDonald’s stores. From the Associated Press,

“During closing arguments on Wednesday, McDonald's attorney, W.R. "Pat" Patterson, said McDonald's is a good corporate citizen that cannot be held responsible for mistakes made by employees. ‘McDonald's is not the evil empire they'll make it out to be,’ Patterson said. ‘It should not be punished by giving them millions of dollars.’”

“Summers' attorney, Glenn Cohen, said McDonald's made multiple mistakes in not sufficiently warning managers and said the restaurant chain's claim that it couldn't tell all 800,000 employees about the hoax isn't believable. ‘They get the word out when there is a McRib special,’ Cohen said. ‘They get the word out on how to detect a counterfeit bill. They certainly can get the word out on that.’”

Even in a world of emails, cell phones, text messages and the internet where you can immediately seek advice, call for help or search for information, there is no device and no corporate training to assure common sense and regard for human dignity. That still comes down to us – the humans that inhabit this planet. Clearly, effective management training starts with  decent humans.