My local McDonald's - in response to my call about their flag being at full staff - told me that they are not allowed to lower the flag without approval from the corporate office.
I went onto the McDonald's website and sent off an email. The next day I got a call from a very nice woman in the corporate office. She seemed to be really sincere and quite embarassed by the behavior of the local managerette. I honestly didn't feel that she was feeding me a line. The flag has been flying properly since then.
I've been calling every local business (every day if necessary) and bugging them about their flags. It seems I'm the crazy woman of South San Francisco but who cares? Not me! :)
Thata girl!