Columbia Univeristy assistant business professor Columbia University Francis J. Flynn wanted his students to look at how businesses responded to complaint letters. So, he sent out 240 letters of complaint on Columbia stationery to restaurants in the New York area. The letters alleged that Flynn had suffered food poisoning at the restaurants.
Of course as might have been expected if Flynn had thought for a moment before engaging in such an asinine maneuver, the letters cause great concer among the staff at the restaurants, many of whom went to great lengths to find out when Flynn might have visited their restaurant and what could have possibly gone wrong for hmi to end up with food poisoning.
Six of the restaurants are now suing Columbia University for $100 million saying Flynn’s actions were malicious and unethical.
I hope Flynn already has tenure at Columbia, because otherwise he is certainly not going to receive it now.
Source:
University professor gets more than he bargained for after false complaint letters. Just-Food.Com, January 25, 2002.