That brown slide

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Renzatic

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This is one of those things you don't want to give people the benefit of the doubt about. It needs to be said, regardless of whether everyone knows it or not.
 
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This is one of those things you don't want to give people the benefit of the doubt about. It needs to be said, regardless of whether everyone knows it or not.
One of my team at work was telling me just last week that their kid got real sick a few days after a playdate with one of his friends who's parents had a real nice pool. My team member reached out to the parents to warn them only to be told that they knew already that the other kid had had diarrhea but "he'd taken a shower beforehand"...

Not sure what's worse, the kid with diarrhea, or his parents lack of concern...
 

SuperMatt

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So I just saw this via cnn.com

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1410677082435117059/

Really? Is this necessary for Americans? I know we shouldn’t make assumptions about “common sense” but surely “don’t shit in the pool” and knowing the realities of having diarrhoea are things that could be expected of adults?
Yes it is necessary for Americans. Not only are many of us stupid, there is a strong correlation between the stupid people and the litigious people. That’s why every coffee cup says “contains hot liquid” on it. Some old lady poured hot coffee on herself many years ago and sued McDonald’s.
 
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One of my team at work was telling me just last week that their kid got real sick a few days after a playdate with one of his friends who's parents had a real nice pool. My team member reached out to the parents to warn them only to be told that they knew already that the other kid had had diarrhea but "he'd taken a shower beforehand"...

Not sure what's worse, the kid with diarrhea, or his parents lack of concern...
Forget about the pool. Who says “yeah my kid is a brown fountain right now but bring billy over it’ll be fun”
 

Renzatic

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Some old lady poured hot coffee on herself many years ago and sued McDonald’s.

There's a lot more to that story than that. It's less "stupid lady didn't know coffee was hot", and more "McDonald's serves coffee at temperatures hot enough to melt steel for no apparent reason."
 

SuperMatt

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There's a lot more to that story than that. It's less "stupid lady didn't know coffee was hot", and more "McDonald's serves coffee at temperatures hot enough to melt steel for no apparent reason."
I fail to see how it could be hotter than 100 Celsius. Had the Hamburglar stolen the laws of physics? Most people expect their hot drinks to be at or near the boiling point of water upon purchase, right?
 

SuperMatt

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And she initially just asked McDonald’s to pay her medical expenses, estimated at $20,000. McDonald’s only offered $800.
I feel bad for somebody who spilled hot coffee, but it’s absurd the restaurant serving it was sued. If the worker slipped and spilled it on her, I get it. But that’s not what happened. I did read up on this a bit though. Very interesting how “into the woods” they got with coffee temperatures. Of note: Starbucks coffee is served just as hot if not hotter, and McDonald’s didn’t change their coffee temp. They just put a warning on the cups.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants
 

Renzatic

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I fail to see how it could be hotter than 100 Celsius. Had the Hamburglar stolen the laws of physics? Most people expect their hot drinks to be at or near the boiling point of water upon purchase, right?

It was hot enough to require she get skin grafts for 3rd degree burns. The serving temp was just shy of boiling.

Given that they hand you their scalding hot coffees filled to the brim in flimsy styrofoam cups, a lawsuit was about inevitable.
 
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It was hot enough to require she get skin grafts for 3rd degree burns. The serving temp was just shy of boiling.

Given that they hand you their scalding hot coffees filled to the brim in flimsy styrofoam cups, a lawsuit was about inevitable.
And yet subsequent cases where people have burned themselves because of hot coffee being…. Hot… have been dismissed.

I burned my fingers the other day because I was too lazy to grab a proper utensil while turning some croissants grilling in the oven.

at no point did “well this is clearly the ovens fault” enter my mind.

no one in their right mind would try to hold cup of steaming hot coffee between their knees.
 

Renzatic

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no one in their right mind would try to hold cup of steaming hot coffee between their knees.

McDonald's was said to be at fault for her accident because they kept their coffee hotter than anyone would reasonably expect. Yeah, she was stupid for putting her hot coffee between her knees, but no one would think that the coffee provided would be so hot that you would need skin grafts to repair the damage if you spilled some on yourself.

That's why they were held liable.
 
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McDonald's was said to be at fault for her accident because they kept their coffee hotter than anyone would reasonably expect. Yeah, she was stupid for putting her hot coffee between her knees, but no one would think that the coffee provided would be so hot that you would need skin grafts to repair the damage if you spilled some on yourself.

That's why they were held liable.
But their coffee was no hotter than anywhere else serving hot coffee and is still as hot today.

tbh just because a jury comes to a conclusion doesn’t mean it makes sense.
 

Renzatic

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But their coffee was no hotter than anywhere else serving hot coffee and is still as hot today.

tbh just because a jury comes to a conclusion doesn’t mean it makes sense.

According to what was found in the trial, their coffee was at least 20C hotter than almost every other restaurant around.

As to why it's still as hot today, well, I guess now that the trial is so well known, it's considered common knowledge, so if you burn yourself, it's entirely your fault.
 
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According to what was found in the trial, their coffee was at least 20C hotter than almost every other restaurant around.
The Wikipedia article (which of course may be incorrect) does not reflect that, at all:

In 1994, a spokesman for the National Coffee Association said that the temperature of McDonald's coffee conformed to industry standards.[2] An "admittedly unscientific" survey by the LA Times that year found that coffee was served between 157 and 182 °F (69 and 83 °C), and that two coffee outlets tested, one Burger King and one Starbucks, served hotter coffee than McDonald's.[35]
 

Renzatic

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The Wikipedia article (which of course may be incorrect) does not reflect that, at all...

I'm going by what I read a couple years back, and I haven't really followed it all that closely. I could very easily be wrong about quite a few things.
 

thekev

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McDonald's was said to be at fault for her accident because they kept their coffee hotter than anyone would reasonably expect. Yeah, she was stupid for putting her hot coffee between her knees, but no one would think that the coffee provided would be so hot that you would need skin grafts to repair the damage if you spilled some on yourself.

That's why they were held liable.

It was more detailed than that. They had reports of injuries prior to this, which were ignored. They refused to reimburse her for medical bills, prior to this ever going to court. Just saying "be careful, it's hot" does not convey the same thing as "be careful, this can cause third degree burns if it spills". While McDonald's had some idea of this, due to past reports, it would not naturally occur to the majority of their customers before it's too late.

Keep in mind, they were serving this through a drive-through window. The person who accepted this would then drive away, while in possession of liquid hot enough to cause real injuries.
 
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