By Chris Cosci

It was just another day at the Summit Mall in Fairlawn, Ohio. Crowds were wandering through Banana Republic and checking out the sale items at Foot Locker. In the food court, people were happily munching on their Sbarro pizza and sipping their Orange Julius. But amidst this quiet backdrop, a storm was brewing over at Charley's Steakery.

It all started when Maryann Robinson, 68, walked over for a free sample of Charley's chicken sandwich. After walking away, she noticed that the toothpick appeared to be broken. Unwilling to suck it up and accept the risk of slashing her tongue with a broken piece of toothpick, Robinson wandered back to the kiosk to receive a sample that wouldn't pose the threat of splinters. And that's when the trouble started.

As Robinson made her way back, the employee in front of the counter recognized her. Carefully guarding the steakery against the ominous threat of greedy customers looking to score a free meal via samples, the lady stopped Robinson and denied her a second sample. Words were exchanged, with the employee raising her voice and saying "you ate that - you can't have another one!"

This exchange caught the attention of Robinson's sister, Jean Coleman, 71. Upset with the way her sister was being treated, Coleman walked over to the employee and retorted, "I don't care if you give it to us - you're not worthy to give it to us!"

As patrons prepared for what would have been the world's most surreal catfight, the claws were retracted and the two sisters retreated to a small table in the food court. They were soon approached by a mall security guard, who asked the sisters to leave. Coleman refused, and tried to explain that her nephew was still shopping in the mall. Facing such defiant resistance, the guard informed the women that they were banned from the mall for one year.

Perhaps the guard thought the sisters would respond by saying, "oh, my - we better go now before he bans us for two years!" Of course, that is not what happened. Instead, he only created more irritation. Finally, surrounded by flared tempers, he called in for backup. Most people would probably think that backup means additional security guards. As it turns out, backup means the Fairlawn Police Department. Apparently, the other mall security guards were busy making sure people weren't spending too much time staring at the mannequins in Victoria's Secret.

I'm not sure what the Fairlawn police heard on their scanner, but it must have sounded like "wild bear loose at Summit Mall; immediate assistance required!" I say this because, to deal with these two women, three police cruisers pulled up to the mall. When the cops arrived on the scene, they escorted the sisters outside, thereby protecting the citizens of Ohio and making the mall a safe place to shop once again.

According to Summit Mall Manager John Vavrus, the police brigade was brought in to finally bring an end to the fiasco. He stated, "we were trying to be compassionate." I guess that's why they decided against the tranquilizer darts.

The aftermath of this incident has produced an epidemic of finger pointing and a rash of "no comments" from the mall's and restaurant's public relations departments. And all of this started because of a free sample - and not even a very good one. I could maybe understand if it was Godiva chocolate or Ben & Jerry's. But a chicken sandwich? Come on. Pick your battles, folks.

So the next time you see a free sample, remember this cautionary tale. Just take the one you are entitled to and move on. And if you get a broken toothpick and wind up scraping your internal organs, so be it. Then you can sue, because that's the American dream.