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Restaurant gives Fla. toddler sangria, not juice


buddahj
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LAKELAND, Fla. – Olive Garden restaurants are making changes after a toddler was served alcoholic sangria instead of orange juice at a Florida location.

News of the incident comes after an Applebee's in Michigan accidently served a margarita to another toddler.

Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants says the mix-up happened March 31 in Lakeland.

Jill VanHeest says she took her 2-year-old son Nikolai to the hospital after his eyes turned red and dilated and he began acting up. She said he was given fluids and released a couple hours later with no lasting effects.

VanHeest's attorney contacted the news media in Florida after reports of the Applebee's incident this week.

Olive Gardens said it will now mix sangria individually to order, instead of in batches as it had before.

I smell a lawsuit.

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I had a woman come to the bar one time and ask for a Rob Roy on the rocks. She wasnt paying much attention as I was making it and I am starting to get the vibe that she ordered this for her boy who was under 10. I finish making the drink and I ask her who its for and she says her son. She meant to order a Roy Rogers. I had a feeling because she was kind of looking at the kid while I was making it as if to say "arent you excited " meanwhile it would have knocked the kid on his ass

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As a kid, nothing made me feel more special than going to a restaurant with the family and having the waitress mix me up a special kiddie cocktail of 7-up and cherry juice. As far as I know, mine were never spiked. :wacko:

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I thought sangria was red?

beat me to it.

 

Tell you what though. If people want to sue for stuff like this, they'd better be willing to pay a whole lot more for their food and drink. Mistakes happen and, while the restaurant should certainly go out of their way to make up for the mistake, if people start looking for pay-days in these situation, they're not going to like what they get. At least in the big picture.

 

They want food as fast as they can get it for a cheap as they can get it. If that's what you want, you need to live with the consequences of a bartender grabbing the wrong bottle now and then. And it's not like they put dran-o in the well or something. So, everything he's grabbing is a beverage. Further, this is not like an allergy, where the server says, "dude can't have shrimp" or something. It's a routine order.

 

Again, go ahead and be pissed, demand the restaurant comp your meal. But "sending a message" by suing the hell out of the place is not going to result in any fixes that don't actually make the experience worse for nearly everyone.

 

I recall getting into it with someone on a message board when they were blasting a restaurant (not one of mine, I should add (not that mine haven't taken their share of heat as well)). His table got 4 entrees and thought they botched one of them. "Imagine if we let pilots and doctors get it right only 75% of the time!". :wacko: Well, as soon as we start paying migrant workers $10 an hour to fly planes and cut people open so you can get a knee surgery for $25, we'd better start accepting 75% every now and then.

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beat me to it.

 

Tell you what though. If people want to sue for stuff like this, they'd better be willing to pay a whole lot more for their food and drink. Mistakes happen and, while the restaurant should certainly go out of their way to make up for the mistake, if people start looking for pay-days in these situation, they're not going to like what they get. At least in the big picture.

 

They want food as fast as they can get it for a cheap as they can get it. If that's what you want, you need to live with the consequences of a bartender grabbing the wrong bottle now and then. And it's not like they put dran-o in the well or something. So, everything he's grabbing is a beverage. Further, this is not like an allergy, where the server says, "dude can't have shrimp" or something. It's a routine order.

 

Again, go ahead and be pissed, demand the restaurant comp your meal. But "sending a message" by suing the hell out of the place is not going to result in any fixes that don't actually make the experience worse for nearly everyone.

 

I recall getting into it with someone on a message board when they were blasting a restaurant (not one of mine, I should add (not that mine haven't taken their share of heat as well)). His table got 4 entrees and thought they botched one of them. "Imagine if we let pilots and doctors get it right only 75% of the time!". :wacko: Well, as soon as we start paying migrant workers $10 an hour to fly planes and cut people open so you can get a knee surgery for $25, we'd better start accepting 75% every now and then.

If a server/bartender can be held individually liable for serving an intoxicated person, I don't see why the server responsible here couldn't also be held personally liable.

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If a server/bartender can be held individually liable for serving an intoxicated person, I don't see why the server responsible here couldn't also be held personally liable.

I guess my point is this:

 

Big-time damages should be sought in two situations:

1) When a simple mistake results in tragic consequences. Customer tells server he's deathly allergic to peanuts, server forgets to tell kitchen, kitchen serves dude peanuts, dude dies. There was no malicious act on the part of the server but, regardless, someone died from their negligence. That means someone gets paid.

2) Willful negligence where someone is aware that what they're doing is wrong but decides it's worth it anyway. The market needs to make the cost of that calculated risk expensive enough to make it not financially prudent.

 

So, a dude is drunk and a bartender keeps feeding them drinks. They know they shouldn't, but each one means more money for them so they go ahead and do it. That's willful negligence

 

As far as I'm concerned, this is neither. Dude wasn't willfully doing anything wrong and the consequences didn't end up being all that bad. Sure, mom was scared, and I'm not saying they should just blow it off. What I'm saying is that, if they're going to try and get paid, let's just call it what it is. They're not "sending a message" or "trying to be made whole after a truly tragic event", they're capitalizing on what everyone hopes for. Something bad enough happening to you that you can spin it in to a massive payday that, ultimately is nothing that has truly impacted your life or made the world a safer place for others.

 

I saw a guy I knew in HS a few years later and he was getting out of a really nice car. I asked him about it and he told me his old car got totaled by a drunk when it was parked in front of his house. He said, he felt "duty bound" to get a good lawyer and "really teach the guy a lesson." Gee, how noble. :wacko: I'm not saying this to defend the drunk, but don't pretend that you're not just looking for a free chance to turn your Mazda 626 into a BMW.

 

I will add that I didn't read the whole story at first and this should certainly result in more than a comped meal. There are, after all, hospital expenses and such to consider.

Edited by detlef
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beat me to it.

 

Tell you what though. If people want to sue for stuff like this, they'd better be willing to pay a whole lot more for their food and drink. Mistakes happen and, while the restaurant should certainly go out of their way to make up for the mistake, if people start looking for pay-days in these situation, they're not going to like what they get. At least in the big picture.

 

They want food as fast as they can get it for a cheap as they can get it. If that's what you want, you need to live with the consequences of a bartender grabbing the wrong bottle now and then. And it's not like they put dran-o in the well or something. So, everything he's grabbing is a beverage. Further, this is not like an allergy, where the server says, "dude can't have shrimp" or something. It's a routine order.

 

Again, go ahead and be pissed, demand the restaurant comp your meal. But "sending a message" by suing the hell out of the place is not going to result in any fixes that don't actually make the experience worse for nearly everyone.

 

I recall getting into it with someone on a message board when they were blasting a restaurant (not one of mine, I should add (not that mine haven't taken their share of heat as well)). His table got 4 entrees and thought they botched one of them. "Imagine if we let pilots and doctors get it right only 75% of the time!". :wacko: Well, as soon as we start paying migrant workers $10 an hour to fly planes and cut people open so you can get a knee surgery for $25, we'd better start accepting 75% every now and then.

 

This isn't a "big time damage" case, and there won't be a lawsuit. It will settle before that. The slop house that is Olive Garden can easily shell out a couple thousand dollars for the eff up in this case. BTW, give me a fu(kin' break if a bar tender gives a kid sangria instead of OJ. That's ridiculous and anyone would be pissed.

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This isn't a "big time damage" case, and there won't be a lawsuit. It will settle before that. The slop house that is Olive Garden can easily shell out a couple thousand dollars for the eff up in this case. BTW, give me a fu(kin' break if a bar tender gives a kid sangria instead of OJ. That's ridiculous and anyone would be pissed.

If that's the case, then I'm cool with it. I just hoped this wasn't going to turn into a hot coffee story. A couple grand seems fair enough.

 

Not defending the mistake at all. Just trying to define the severity for what it is.

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We make red and white sangria at our place. White is actually pretty good

Sure, but neither looks like OJ.

 

But something you said earlier was also responsible for my rant. Say you hadn't noticed the woman and how she was acting with her kid. Say you were just a little busier and just made the Rob Roy and didn't think twice about it. Then the lady gives it to her kid. Unfortunately, there's a very good chance that she'd end up in your face, screaming at you because you fed booze to her kid. Even though it is entirely her fault. Even if she's cool about it, your bar is out a drink that you're not getting paid for. If she want's to be an a-hole, you've got a scene on your hands and are hooking her up with a free meal the next time she comes in and hoping that she doesn't tell everyone that you fed booze to her kid. All because you're guilty of simply making the drink that was ordered and not going above and beyond as you did.

 

So, when the merchant screws up, the consumer goes for blood. When the consumer screws up, they're simply happy if you just kiss their ass and give them some free stuff.

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