When a Starbucks barista accidentally dumped scalding hot coffee all over Matt’s father, he got to see Starbuck’s crack PR response in action.
From SFWeekly:
Early last month my father, a retired Methodist pastor in Red Bluff, three hours north of San Francisco, ordered a cup of coffee for himself at Starbucks. Before Dad picked up the coffee, the barista bumped it off the counter. It spilled on the front of Dad’s pants, burning his crotch, then running down his legs and settling into his shoes.
Instead of running to get some ice, the barista grabbed a questionnaire.
“I don’t remember all the questions, because I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do with this burn?’” Dad recalls. “There was a man in the shop who was a male nurse. He came from where he was sitting and said, ‘I’ve been watching this, and I’m a nurse, and I must say to you, you must not fill out this form. You must take yourself to the bathroom and make sure you get some water on your foot.’”
The nervous employee persisted. “He said, ‘I’m almost done.’ I said I had to go to the bathroom and cool my foot,” Dad recalled.
The resulting burn was so bad that Dad had to go to the emergency room, get the welts on his foot treated, and take pain medication so strong he wasn’t supposed to drive for three weeks. His hospital visit and medicine cost around $500.
“I thought they’d call and say, ‘We heard you were injured, and we want to know what we can do in response to that, and these are our protocols, and we want to do what we can,’” Dad said.
Such a humane approach would apparently fall outside the guidelines of a secret corporate “program” Starbucks has in place to deal with scalding incidents.
Matt tried (unsuccessfully) to learn what procedures Starbucks has in place in case their bartista drops boiling water on your head. Turns out they do have them, but they’re a secret.
“Do we have a policy in place for responding? Yes, we do. We have a policy in place. I can’t really give you details,” Darrow said.
She said that scalding incidents do happen at Starbucks stores, but that it’s a secret how often.
Can’t you explain how you care for people who are scalded in your stores? I asked.
“No, because, first of all, we don’t give specifics on the program,” she said.
Did you just say “program?” I asked.
“Our scalding incident program,” Darrow said. “They have guidelines for how to respond. I’m not sharing those, because they are part of an internal practice.”
Matt’s dad got a $50 gift card for his troubles. Is that fair compensation for a serious burn? We don’t know, but we do find it a little strange that Starbucks is so hesitant to speak about their “scalding incident program.”
Accidents happen, Starbucks. What’s the big mystery? In any case, if a Starbucks barista accidentally throws a pot of coffee at you, don’t wait around for the questionnaire. It’s important to get cool running water or cold moist cloths on your burn as soon as possible. Don’t use ice or ice water, and don’t rely on Starbucks for first aid.
Burning Brew [SF Weekly] (Thanks, Scott!)
(Photo:smcgee)
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Here is a site that has loads of info on personal injury law for stores and businesses:
[en.allexperts.com]
Here is a site that has information on the Security/Loss Prevention policies for Target Department Stores:
[targetfiling.blogspot.com]
Whose is responsible if you buy a scalding cup of coffee and then spill it on yourself while standing at a Starbucks counter. Is it your responsiblity or is it Starbucks responsibility. Accidents do happen, if this guy’s medical costs were completely covered by insurance should he be entitled to additional damages. If you are seeking super hot coffee beverages have you not assumed some level of risk for super hot coffee beverage related injuries?
@shfd739: It was probably more, but insurance would have covered it. And since it says he is retired, Medicare or is it Medicad, one of them.
@TEDSEZ
Question 4: Do you want some cold water and to absolve Starbucks of any blame in this matter?
You forgot a step.
If yes, that will be $2.50 plus tax
@SadSam: Reading is fundamental… If STARBUCKS employees spill coffee on you, Starbucks is responsible.
@SadSam: If I buy a cup of coffee, part of
the implied purchase is that the barista serve me the coffee and cup
together. Not spill it on me. How is it the guys fault that someone
else spilled coffee on me? If I buy a car, and the dealer is pulling it
around and runs my kid over, am I at fault because I bought the car?
Accidents happen, but if the accident is the fault of an employee, it is the employer who needs to foot the medical bills. If companies are entities, they are responsible for the actions of all their constituent members. The company is out to make a profit, the guy is just trying to live his life. There’s no reason to make him pay for the company’s mistakes.
OH BOY! I just HAVE to know now what this secretive “scalding incident program” entails! lol
A disguntled higher-up in starbucks needs to anonymously shed some light on this!!!!
I am dying to know!
I’m SO sick of someone always bringing up the McDonalds coffee scalding incident as an alleged example of frivolous lawsuits.
The victim in that case suffered third-degree (the worst kind) burns on her genital area, THROUGH HER CLOTHING. That’s how hot the coffee was. IIRC, she had to have skin grafts.
Yes, accidents happen. We all know that. No one ever alleged that this was done to her on purpose, just that, by accident, she was sold coffee that was MUCH too hot, which had a loose lid on its cup, and which spilled and caused her much pain and injury.
It was NOT a frivolous lawsuit and she did not become a millionaire because of it.
If this happened to you, or your wife, would YOU not sue to get restitution?
a 50$ gift card is only going to buy about three frozen frappajappas anyway. . .
@crankymediaguy: Indeed. The McDonald’s lady had her hoo-hah burned off–because Mickey D’s keeps its coffee too hot to drink when it’s served so that people won’t stay around long enough to get a refill–and initially she asked for just enough to cover her medical bills, and McDonald’s laughed at her.
I’d chalk this one up to an incompetent barista. I suffered a similar mishap at a Starbucks some months ago, and the dude waited until I’d washed the coffee off my tie and shoes (only got a little on my clothes, no burns) and stuffed a fistful of free drink coupons in my hand. No form to fill out. I might have been peeved if it had been at the beginning of the work day instead of at the end, but I was pretty pleased that they did more than just replace the spilled coffee.
Uh, now’s the guy’s chance to sue Starbucks for 500 bajigazillion dollars.
>BY PAPA_PANDA AT 08/20/07 02:06 PM
>
>First of all, fire the barista. He should be able to respond in an emergency like that.
It is amazing sometimes what is expected of $7 an hour employees fresh out of high school. How is it the Batista’s fault if the corporation never trained him to do all this or to know exactly what to do other than shove a questionaire in his face, if this is indeed all that the training consisted of?
This guy has a legitimate claim, unlike Stella Liebeck, due to the negligence of the barista.
The fact is, the McDonald’s coffee was NOT unreasonably hot. The lid was NOT loose. The McDonald’s employee did NOT spill it on her.
It was brewed and served within the industry-standard temperature range, and establishments like Starbuck’s and Dunkin’ Donuts still serve coffee that hot today.
Stella’s wounds were so severe because the sweatpants she wore held the coffee against her skin for a sufficiently long time to burn her.
It never should have been presented to a jury, and most courts who have heard similar cases have correctly thrown them out.
I hate the way companies give out gift cards to respond to problems. I went to a restaurant and complained once, everything was terrible. Food, Service, you name it. They sent me a 10 dollar coupon. The food and service sucks, why would I want to eat there again?
Four Words For You (ignore the “and”):
Claims Court and Civil Suit.
Wow. I am utterly shocked that such a program exists. I have been working for Starbucks for about two years and virtually have the experience of someone who has been a part of the company for much longer and I have NEVER heard of such a policy and it is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous. We just had a fellow barista actually spill hot coffee on a customer’s hand and the first thing that anyone did was get the customer to the bathroom to rush his hand with cold water. Also, the burn kit was received and the customer’s hand was wrapped to aid. The customer’s satisfaction with the first aid received was the first thing that we worried about. However, there is an accident report that we are required to complete in such occasions but often times we don’t even need the customer present to fill it out. It’s a common sense form that asks who/what/when/where/etc. I’ve burned my hand on the coffee that we have MULTIPLE times as wells as with the hot water used for Americanos which measures at about 200 degrees and I am sure that many other partners have as well. If such a program did in fact exist I’m sure that everyone would have been trained on it and in my 2 years, I have yet to even hear of a “Scalding Incident Program.”
i’ve dumped starbucks coffee on myself more times than i’d like to admit. i think they brew their coffee too hot, i can hardly hold a cup even with the cup sleeve. the lids pose another issue… coffee is intended to be sipped not poured into your mouth through a little hole.
now i order all my coffee with a few cubes of ice to cool it down.
i could rant about this subject for a while.
Starbucks coffee is hot and I would imagine to be burnt by such would be terrible. I am surprised that starbucks did not try to make a better effort to resolve this issue with Matt’s father. I have worked at starbucks in the past and although I never had a customer ever sustain a burn I would have stopped what I was doing to help the customer no matter how busy the store was. I think starbucks as well as other companies that sell hot drinks need to take more care when it comes to customers who are burnt due to the negligence of their employees.
I read this article the first time from another source (I forget where) and was dumbfounded at how many people were retarded enough to say “He shouldn’t have spilled coffee on himself lol I am so smart”. I think a basic human reaction to someone getting hurt this way should be helping them. Is it just me, or do I sense a severe case of ‘the dreadful dumb’?
to you nay-sayers, starbucks drip coffee is about 180 degrees and is certainly hot enough to cause serious burns. a little while back, a barista at starbucks accidentally spilled my coffee on me (i never even touched the cup… as the barista reached across the counter to give it to me, the cup hit one of the CD cases on the counter and went flying all over me) and i ended up with second degree burns on my hip and girly parts. i spent 3 hours in the ER and BELIEVE ME, that coffee is DEFINITELY hot enough to burn someone, cause a great deal of pain, and leave scars. i feel for the people in this article, and i attest to the fact that all starbucks does is offer you a goddamn $50 gift card (for what it’s worth, i didn’t fill out the incident report until after i was released from the ER… they wanted me to sign it on my way out, but i told them that my burning skin was of slightly higher priority…). i’ve tried following up with starbucks about my medical bills and they have yet to return my calls, saying that someone on the ‘risk management team’ will contact me within 24 hours (they told me that over 1 week ago!). needless to say, i’m speaking with an attorney. they couldn’t care less that they burned me (or the guy in the article). i know that it was just an accident (i’m not upset with the barista or that store’s manager… accidents happen) and i’m ok with that: i’m not ok with the scars that i’ll have for the rest of my life and the amount of pain i’ve endured.