It’s been awhile since we’ve had a new “kid gets booze at chain restaurant” story, so, take it away, Olive Garden: Police say a 10-year-old boy made his way through half a rum cocktail at an Olive Garden in Indianapolis before the waitress realized her mistake. His family said he wasn’t acting like his normal self. Booze will have that effect.
Local WISH News says the boy’s mom had ordered him a kid’s drink, a Wildberry Frullato. But the waitress accidentally dropped off a four-ounce rum drink in front of the boy, and he proceeded to drink half of it. No adults at the table had ordered alcohol.
The waitress realized she had done something wrong and told her supervisor. His mom says management assured her the boy would be fine, but the family took him to a local hospital. Alcohol was discovered in his system, and an officer at the hospital said the boy seemed “shaken up” but “alert.”
There have been a spate of incidents somewhat recently involving minors accidentally imbibing alcohol at chain restaurants, including a Japanese restaurant serving sake to a 2-year-old; Outback Steakhouse giving a 4-year-old a free vodka slushie; tequila smoothies at a Chili’s for three kids — and the list goes on. This isn’t even Olive Garden’s first brush with accidental booze. They reportedly put sangria in a sippy cup for a toddler just a year ago.
*Thanks for the tip, Jeff!
Indy Olive Garden serves rum to boy, 10 [WISHTV.com]
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Send them the hospital bill and consider filing a complaint with the state liquor board… A restaurant like that having their license at risk will get them to actually take it seriously
It was an accident? What more can you do to make them “take it seriously”. As long as human beings are involved, mistakes will happen. Do you propose they fire the staff and make everyone get their own food/drinks/buss their plates/etc…?
I think sending them the medical bills is pretty reasonable. Complaining to the LCB is probably unnecessary since the story is already in the local news.
I don’t. A 10-year old who drinks 2 oz of booze is not going to die nor need medical intervention, going to the hospital was just a money grab.
Or a parent over-reacting.
I think it’s probably overkill too but I could see a ‘reasonable person’ going either way, especially if a call was placed to a pediatrician’s office or nurse hotline at the insurance company (they always take the most conservative approach to everything).
Maybe. But I doubt it. And unless the cops suggested it (another plausible option) or the insurance company said to (which I doubt since the kid could just be monitored by the family like he should be anyway, and if he seems to be going downhill taken in, which would be the recommendation I would wager), then OG shouldn’t pay for parents who are stupid.
It would be akin to a kid being served peanuts, but not having an allergy because the parents have made it a point to never give the kid peanuts, and they want OG to pay for a hospital visit when the kid’s showing no signs of anaphylaxis.
Just because they want to overreact doesn’t mean OG should be responsible.
It’s entirely possible it’s all because the parents are seeing a giant money sign.
I honestly don’t know, since there really isn’t enough information to make a judgement.
Silly man. Since when was evidence required to render judgement on the internet?
I’m not saying they necessarily want a payday. Just that they went way overboard in their reaction, and OG shouldn’t be responsible for that.
I agree with you that it all seems over-react-y. Stuff happens, prepubescents get tipsy, etc. I was commenting humorously on kb01′s comment that he believes one must have concrete information in order to render judgement (on the internet of all places).
The hospital records will show that the child ingested alcohol, which will strengthen any legal action the parents may decide to take against the restaurant. Without medical proof, the case might not be as strong.
If it was a toddler, I would be calling the pediatrician just to be safe. For a 10 year old, that’s just ridiculous. A hospital visit is more ridiculous. This kid was old enough to safely drink a little alcohol. The restaurant should comp their meal and retrain their staff, but that’s it.
yep laying the lawsuit paper trail
I think taking a child to the hospital because they drank alcohol is pretty unreasonable. Parents used to give their children alcohol to calm them decades ago, and in European countries, children drink with the families at meals. The overreaction is the parents. They should accept an apology and a comped meal. Additionally, if staff is going to drink on the job, maybe they shouldn’t be allowed to use sippy cups.
I totally agree. The parents knew the child had been served alcohol. No need to go to the hospital to confirm it. The hospital can’t do anything, and it was only 1/2 of a drink. Hot toddies for coughing kids used to be the norm when I was a kid.
Many parents have become unreasonable and hysterical about everything. It’s as though there have never been parents and their wisdom before them.
Overreact much?
Whoo-hoo! Free bread sticks all around!
Lucky they didn’t say anything about the dirty knife.
The liquor board needs to ban all minors from any establishment that sells booze.
This is SOLELY to protect the innocent children and not so I can have many places to enjoy a fine meal in peace without someone crying, poop filled bastard child ruining my meal.
Admidit it. It IS about enjoying a fine meal in peace without some crying, poop filled bastard ruining adults’ meals.
Limiting patrons to those 21 and over does not guarantee a lack of crying, poop-filled bastards.
Lmao!
I move to also ban the elderly from the same establishments! They can also become loud, unruly, and full of poop at the drop of a hat.
Fine meal at the olive garden? What an oxymoronic statment.
Also, lets ban people on cellphones and those who talk too loud, because the world revolves around me and everything that annoys me should be banned.
Also, lets ban people on cellphones and those who talk too loud, because the world revolves around me and everything that annoys me should be banned.
THIS!
Heh. I remember when I was a kid I used to have a thing for virgin pina coladas. I can remember a few times that I’d accidentally get delivered a non-virgin one. I also remember my parents just being like, “Oh, mistakes happen” and not making a huge deal out of it.
I also remember, at the time, thinking the non-virgin ones tasted pretty awful.
Agreed, the non-virgin ones sometimes have a bad aftertaste…
I recall the same thing happening as a kid. It was always pina coladas and Shirley Temples for me.
In the whole scheme of things, it’s a pretty minor thing. In this story, it was a 10 year old, so presumably there really wasn’t any substantial risk. In the other stories, it included 2 and 4 year olds, where the liquor could have killed them.
If it was my kid, I’d probably ask that the meal be comped and that’s it. If it was a 4 year old, I’d want the chain to pay for any medical bills (if I took him in) and probably complain to the LCB.
When I was a kid I went to a Christmas party at our neighbors with my family. I had asked for a coke and somehow got delivered a full 12oz glass of bourbon.
I took two sips and went to tell my dad, He told me I was being crazy and that there’s no way. So I set it down and walked away.The owner of the house somehow realized his mistake and came rushing to find me like an hour or two later, but found out the drink was still on the coffee table where I left it.
I didn’t like the taste so I didn’t drink it.
There are adults who don’t like the taste of bourbon, so it’s not surprising.
I was amazed at the kid drinking half a rum drink. Alcohol tasted terrible to me when I first drank it. A lot of it still does. It’s really an acquired taste. I’m surprised the kid didn’t taste it and say “Eww, this is weird.” Instead he keeps on drinking it.
How did he like it?
I had a nephew who accidently got a hold of a rum and coke at a restaurant.
As such, we discovered that he was a loud drunk at an early age
hahahah
My nephew got liquored up one time when he was a kid. He snuck around drinking out of peoples’ glasses when my brother had a party.
He somehow managed to survive okay.
And I bet you didn’t over react and bring him to the hospital.
Jesus people, accidents happen.
I never get free booze.
Too old I guess, being in my 30s and all…
Now I know you’re a male.
The boy was medivaced to Johns Hopkins, given a dehydrogenase drip, had his stomach pumped, and will be given a CT scan every week for the next six months.
It could happen, seems that old Onion news is closer and closer to today’s real news with each new month, and if the trend of ludicrous overreaction continues, such a scenario would be plausible.
A 10 year old (probably weighed around 120-130 lbs) had 2 ounces of rum and they rushed him to the hospital?
I’m not saying OG didn’t mess up, but they do know millions of children throughout history drank wine or beer regularly?
i think they played it smart on their part for setting up a lawsuit.
Which is very assholish of them since there was no actual damage suffered.
120-130?
What kind of fat ass 10 year olds do you hang around?
I live in the south.
ಠ_ಠ
Well played…
Ha! +1
But you are right, the average/ideal weight is more like 70-80 lbs for a 10year old boy.
#takingitseriously for the lawsuit
I guess a lot of people think there is a magic switch in your body that goes off in your body when you turn 21 that stops alcohol from being instantly deadly in small doses.
it has more to do with weight at 10 vs weight at 21…while I’ve practically been the same weight since I was 15ish, my male friends at 10 were much smaller than at 21…
although really, we shouldn’t be able to do anything stupid til we’re 25 when those frontal lobes are fully developed…
Probably 1/2 ounce of rum in a 4 ounce Olive Garden rum drink, and he only drank 1/2 of the drink.
That sounds pretty big for a 10 year old. I weighed around 130 when I shipped off to basic training at age 17 (6’1″).
That’s a BMI of 17.1, which is clinically underweight.
I remember I hit 100 pounds in 6th grade (so, 10/11 years old or so). Normal size, not fat.
I would tend to agree that is a bit generous. This is a little old (from 2000) but the CDC shows 10 y/o boys @ the 50th percentile weighing in at ~75lbs and the 95th percentile @ ~105ibs. According to the chart you would need to be 12 y/o and in the 95th percentile to be @ 130lbs.
http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41l021.pdf
That’s some fine number work right there.
That’s a huge 10 yr old, mine weighs 50 lbs lol Shoot.. I’m not even in the 120-130 lb range. I wouldn’t mind it though.. a bit more ‘junk in the trunk’ never hurt, eh? lol
If the family eats at Olive Garden a lot, the 10 year old might weight 110 easily.
I work in a private school. There is a lot of variation in the size of our 10-year-olds, but I’d wager none of them are so small as to need medical intervention over the ingestion of a few ounces of alcohol. I agree with those who foresee a money grab on its way….
That might be overstating the weight of a normal 10 year old, but the point is valid. You don’t even have to go far back in history- Drew Barrymore had probably snorted coke off a stripper’s ass by that age.
In Europe, it’s not uncommon for small children to be given small amounts of diluted wine with dinner. A small amount of rum, while not really a great idea to give a kid, will not immediately kill or otherwise harm a 10 year old.
I would be more concerned that the reaction will leave more of a mark than the actual booze. They could have treated it like any other person- if they’re awake and coherent and all they had was alcohol, it’s probably safe to skip the trip to the ER.
Welcome to Millennial Parenting. They tend to freak out about everything.
I’m 29 and *I* don’t even weigh 120 pounds. I have a kid that’s almost 4, and she’s barely 30lbs, I don’t foresee her being larger than I am in a few years.
My wife is from Europe and as a little girl had a couple sips of alcoholic drinks during special occasions (New Years, birthdays, weddings etc). So I think these parents overreacted. But at the same time, I wouldn’t really want Olive Garden giving my kid booze instead of juice.
BUT ALSO at the same time, I’d probably call it what it was – a mistake – and tell the server not to worry about it.
Well, I have two suggestions. Any restaurant location that serves an underage person alcohol should immediately be restricted from serving alcohol for 30 days, to give them time to properly train all employees on law & policy concerning alcohol. Maybe a 60-90 day for second occurrence (at same location). Loss of alcohol permit on 3rd strike.
Next, maybe the glasses used for alcoholic drinks should be marked in some way. When I worked at a restaurant, it was at a location that didn’t get many children. We did have special events that young children would be in attendance. Because all our drinks were served out of the bar, we only had bar glasses. Children would be given their (non-alcoholic) drinks in wine glasses, that we placed a bright orange sticker on that said ‘NO ALCOHOL – CHILD’S CUP’. It was a pain to get those off the glasses, but ….
You gave kids wine glasses?!
Take them all to the hospital!!!
I know, right? They totally should have gotten beer goggles instead.
maybe.
I would like the add to it, lower the drinking age.
Do it in baby step. 18 instead of 21. come on, they can vote but can’t drink? they can be charge as an adult but you don’t give them credit as an adult to decide if they want to drink or not.
After everyone is use to 18, lower it to 16. They can operate a vehicle but not allow to legally buy a drink? You know kids get their hand on these thing earlier on and society hasn’t crumble yet.
then lower it even more. If you are at an age were you can work, why deny a nice cold one after a hard day of work?
You’d have to have a huge culture shift in America before you could lower the drinking age.
after weeds come legalized, people would stop buying tobacco and to make up for the lost of sale, company will ask the government to lower the age to sell tobacco and alcohol to younger group of people.
that or the zombie thing happens and people don’t care how old you are, if you can take down a zombie, you earn yourself a beer.
I really don’t understand what you’re getting at here…
He’s suggesting that if MJ be legalized, it would cut into the market for booze. Which would lead to booze lobbying to lower the drinking age to expand its market.
Then, realizing the futility of what he said, he lapses into a dreamland of zombie-hunting for beer. Makes sense to me. My favorite type of humor, the non-sequitur.
Are you saying people use tobacco instead of weed because weed is illegal? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It used to be 18; can’t imagine people would go that nuts if it was lowered again.
Well, to be honest, in our family children have been allowed to drink. We would have wine with dinner and we children were always allowed to try alcohol at parties. Guess what, none of us went to the high school/college parties to binge drink. We drank at them, but we didn’t binge. Usually, one hangover taught us not to drink too much.
My parents had strick rules, but because we were allowed to drink we didn’t do some of the stupid things I read about. Interesting note, we were NEVER allowed to drive to parties as teens, or drive with our friends. It had to be a parent that would drive us and pick us up. My parents did a lot of driving friends home.
21 always seemed excessive to me. At the very least, it should be 17 or 18, to correspond with military enlistment age and legal adulthood.
It’s because states get federal $$$$ for the drinking age to be 21. It’s bs, I know.
Alcoholic drinks (at least around here) have black straws, while virgin ones have clear straws.
What was the deal with the trip to the hospital? Someone’s being overly paranoid here. Half a chick drink is not going to kill a 10-year old boy. I’d be surprised if he got anything more than a mild buzz.
“a chick drink”
Those damn baby chickens, ordering alcohol at restaurants.
OG has the bright plastic cups for kids cups, like most chain restaurants. And like most chain restaurants the staff tends to use them for their own drinks, also like most chain restaurants the servers are teenagers and early 20 somethings some (most) of which enjoy drinking and will steal booze from the bar to drink on shift. Chances are this kid was given a waiters drink that was stashed somewhere in the wait station.
I don’t see this as a huge deal. Of course, if the kid drank a full long island iced tea, he could be at some serious risk, but it’s a serving error. It wasn’t cleaning fluid.
Of course, the parents are in their right to involve the police, and it is fair for Olive Garden to get fines for any state laws they violate…but just looking at the large number of times this happened, without any real ill effects, shows it’s not the worst thing in the world.
I mean, it’d be worse if the kid was allergic to peanuts, and they accidently gave him a Thai chicken dish, and he almost died.
And I see it just the opposite way with your own statement…
After all the numerous times it has happened…
It should not take the loss of a child’s life, (you know one is going to run away from their parents into traffic, fall down and crack their head open, or some such) to have chain restaurants learn NOT to make these mistakes.
I surely hope that this will ALWAYS be a laughing matter in the future, but until it is a thing of the past…
THIS IS THE BEST GOD- DAMNED WILDBERRY FRULATTO I EVER DRUNKED!
I love you, Dad. You are… you’re my dad.
MOM! Mom, listen… just listen to me for second…
lol
“I don’t care what any….anyone says *hic*…you guys are great parentsshhh.”
“We should eat at Olive Garden EVERY NIGHT!”
Ha, that is hilariously accurate of how some of my friends are.
XD
Awesome sauce.
I’m glad the waitress voluntarily told her supervisor – otherwise we’d be voting for Olive Garden in next year’s “Worst Company in America” contest.
EA would win anyway because they’ll make some game where the ending isn’t up to par for all the fan boys out there.
He drank half? I pretty sure a non-drinker adult would gag a bit if they sipped rum cocktail… Did the parents say “drink up, lawsuit bait here”?
I was wondering about that. It sounds like they put pitiful amounts of alcohol in their alcoholic beverages…
“an officer at the hospital said the boy seemed “shaken up” but “alert.”
The boy later said his confidence level was so high he was going to ask
that girl out at his school that every boy is scared of because of her beauty.
I’m guessing: He’s happily drinking his drink and the manager quietly informs the parents what happened. They freak out, start throwing a fit, and rush the kid to the hospital. If they had simply taken the drink away and brought him the proper beverage, he wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
This happened to me on short range cruise ship in mexico. I was about 10 or so and orderd a coke and was handed a rum and coke. My parents told me I was just being weird when I told them it tasted funny. But I persisted and they brought to the attention of the bar tender who looked horrified. Nothing bad came of it and its a good story now.
And because the bar tender was distracted by this event, a boat full of people was passed by. Are you happy with yourself now?! Why did you order a coke?!
“Ma’am, we understand your concerns, and you can rest assured – the rum cocktail will not appear on your bill.”
Time at a hospital and police is wasted over this? Fantastic. I know who the real douchebags are in this scenario.
It’s like when you go to the emergency room with your thumb cut off and there are 30 people sitting around with a slight cough.
“Ma’am, what’s the matter with you?”
“My elbow feel funny.”
“Ma’am, I’m very close to death, can I please go ahead of you?”
“NO! My elbow feel funny…my elbow feel funny…”
I’m surprised they didn’t have the paramedics respond, with lights and sirens as required in most communities, to have them transported to the hospital and make the unit unavailable for real emergencies. We go out on baloney like this all the time, and cannot keep them from demanding a ride when it is not urgent and they have other transportation available.
I remember, way back when, I was eight days old when I had my bris (circumcision for those who aren’t Jewish) and they put a drop of wine in my mouth. This was done for religious purposes and to dull the pain and you know what? To this day, I am not an alcoholic and I didn’t get sick. I see a lawsuit in the making here.
First line of the article… “It’s been awhile since we’ve had a new “kid gets booze at chain restaurant” story”
First line of the last paragraph… “There have been a spate of incidents somewhat recently involving minors accidentally imbibing alcohol at chain restaurants”
So yeah which is it? Has it been a while or is it somewhat recently? I guess maybe somewhat recently could qualify for a “while” but not really. And like people have said in the other articles, I think this is just another case where something that (unfortunately) happens somewhat regularly just got a little extra attention.
Both statements can be true without invalidating the other. Meaning that a lot of the incidents happened in a short span of time, but it has been some time since the most recent incident was posted on here.
They dont put enough alcohol in their drinks to actually harm a 10 year old.
Waitress makes mistake! Film at 11!
For the mandated 20% tip, they shouldn’t make mistakes!
I hope people like these parents never travel to France. They’d probably be overcome with the vapors at the sight of all the kids being allowed sips of their parents’ wine with dinner, or -shock and horror!- their own watered-down glass.
Kids these days. my grandparents were letting me sip from their cocktails in front of my parents when I was three years old. Come to think of it, that probably explains a few things.
The fact that he is only 10 is no excuse. I hope he was arrested for underage drinking.
The manager was out of line by assuring the mother that the child would be OK. That’s not his/her call. The manager shouldn’t get involved in offering medical advice or opinion.
He was 10? Yeah, I’m pretty sure he would have been fine. The mother is kind of a drama queen.
Is there a particular reason this is even a story….? Human interactions have mistakes….so what. Move on. The kid got the wrong bottle. Are you supposing its some nefarious conspiracy by the company…what a dolt.
Why is it that we, (Citizens of the US) freak out when kids accidentally get alcohol, acting like our children have been poisoned, when European countries have been feeding children wine and such for hundreds of years?
They never slip up and give me free booze and I’ve been of legal drinking age a looong time.
Restaurant Rules for Servers:
1) Screwing up booze orders so that underage folks get booze is zero tolerance.
Tell your supervisor immediately and you -might- not be fired. Otherwise if mgmt
finds out on its own, you’re fired and blacklisted within the chain.
2) See Rule #1 above.
About 20 years ago, I was given a Long Island Iced Tea instead of the plain old iced tea I had requested. I was 15 or 16 at the time and knew something was amiss after the first sip, and at the time thought I was the most horrendous thing I had ever tasted. Since I was there with my parents, one of them got a free drink, I got my normal iced tea, and we all went on with dinner.
I guess I can see how this kind of thing might happen once in a while (the sippy cup being an obvious exception), particularly in a busy restaurant where the waiter/waitress who took your drink order may not be the same one who fills it or delivers it to the table. As long as it’s handled appropriately after the fact, I don’t see it being a really big deal unless the child has a medical condition where this kind of thing would be dangerous. Otherwise I would think that even a child would be able to handle a small amount of alcohol without turning into Barney Gumble.
Thank God that every one of the people who blog of the evils of these corporate giants making one error out of millions of drinks sold each year. I am glad that they walk on water with Jesus. It is so very great to know that they are so godly that they can cheer or jeer the unfortunate waitperson who will be unemployed immediately and joining the welfare line.
I love the perfection that is enjoyed by the many.
How is this a story? Mistakes happen, people label the wrong thing occasionally, orders get messed up, you guys all have your panties in a bunch about it because it is a corporation.
I just don’t consider this a huge deal. If you don’t want any risk of this happening, don’t take your young kids to a restaurant that serves alcohol, especially froofy drinks that look and smell like juice/shakes/smoothies. HOW many restaurants are there around the country, and HOW many drinks do they serve per day? Do people really believe that some servers won’t make a mistake? The odds are just enormously against avoiding any accidental service of alcohol.
No harm, no foul. Restaurants are highly motivated to avoid such mistakes due to bad press, risk of injury, etc. It’s no different than the possibility of getting food poisoning (which is much, MUCH higher) if you go out to eat. This is only an issue because of media-whoring parents whose kids weren’t harmed in any significant way.
Applebees is the “Putting alcohol instead of apple juice in a sippy cup” hall of fame too isn’t it?
This is not negligence.
Drunk children are a hilarious mistake.