By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo News Editor
SOHO — Somebody played a cruel April Fool's Day joke on New York City residents Thursday, posting signs claiming that the famed West Coast In-N-Out Burger chain was coming this summer.
Posters bearing the logo and the tasty words, "Coming Summer 2010" were slapped on walls across Manhattan.
But it was all a hoax.
“Unfortunately, it’s a rumor and it’s not true,” an In-N-Out Burger customer service representative confirmed.
The rep said that the company had received so many calls about the supposed new location that they had to call in two extra employees to their California help center on Thursday to manage the phones.
He added that once the company posted a message on their Web site saying news of the location was a joke, "things started to calm down a little bit.”
One passerby disappointed to learn that In-N-Out would not be coming to the city wrote, "That's not funny!" on a flyer and drew a sad-faced emoticon.
"You may be aware of a rumor or April Fool's Day hoax about In-N-Out Burger coming to New York City the Summer of 2010. This is not true," In-N-Out Burger's Web site said.
"We are very sorry for any confusion this may have caused and have no idea how it got started. We want to make sure everyone knows that it is false."
The source of the joke turned out to be collegehumor.com, a prankster site. The company put up signs throughout the city and even hired actors to dress as employees.
"Lot of people bought it. Tons of people, actually. Then In-N-Out commented and the jig was up," the site said on Thursday.