408 Comments
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Erin's avatar

Libertarians: "If a company injures you you can sue them and the market will sort it out."

Also libertarians: "OMG, Democrat trial lawyers keep suing the poor innocent multinational corporations. It's a scandal!"

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JR's avatar

Silver lining the foot doc was just the right place to treat a blistered toe...

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pat blake's avatar

I burn my mouth at home all the time, so no way I'm going to order coffee at McD's.

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Kel Varnsen's avatar

McDonald’s has always made their coffee too hot. Makes it taste burnt

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agony's avatar

If I'm remembering correctly, didn't she have to remove the lid to add the cream and sugar? Or am I right off base about that? I do remember that there was a past when you could not order your coffee already mixed, but I can't put a date to it. There was also a past when not all cars had cupholders, so you had to hold your coffee between your legs. I know for sure that the '78 Lincoln that I was driving when this incident happened did not have cupholders. Actually, I might have even been still driving the '74 Impala.

At any rate, it was all a long time ago and you'd think they would have gotten better about burning their customers by now.

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NerdWithNoName's avatar

I used to LIKE Mc D's coffee when it was that hot. I'd sip it on the way to work and think "at least somebody serves coffee hot enough". If I had spilled it on my genitals I might have changed my mind.

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Tosca's avatar

So..the stuff was still hot enough to give her scarring burns *after she'd driven and parked*? What is it, fucking lava? I know elderly skin is fragile, but JFC. How are they even getting it that hot??

Americans, your government does not give one single solitary shit about you, does it?

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Kel Varnsen's avatar

No it doesn’t

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SAMushrush's avatar

Once upon a time in 1977, I was a pregnant woman who spilled mc d's coffee on her belly on the way to the OB/GYN. Had a burn and scalding. Yes, that coffee was far too hot.

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Pixeloid's avatar

Maybe they should just stop selling hot coffee at drive-throughs? It seems too many people just can't handle it. Personally, I would never have a scalding hot beverage in a paper cup in my vehicle, not even with that flimsy plastic lid. In fact, I don't want ANY liquid in my car unless it's in a leakproof sealed container.

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Tosca's avatar

The issue is that the beverage shouldn't be scalding hot.

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Pixeloid's avatar

Yes, but the reason they make it so hot is specifically for the drive-through. It would be a terrible tragedy if drive-through customers' crappy coffee wasn't still boiling hot when they finally reach their destination.

If they drop the temperature, it will reduce lawsuits, but trigger a lot of customers and righties will probably start screaming that Mac has gone "woke" and start a boycott.

It's probably less risky for Mac to no longer offer that at the drive-through.

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Tosca's avatar

I see the reasoning, but I don't get why people would drive to work and *then* drink their coffee. I thought everyone drank it in the car.

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kareema's avatar

Meh.

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Dr. Jen Boss, Fascinatrix's avatar

Coffee doesn't burn people; bloated corporations burn people!

um...

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GrannysKnitting's avatar

wait, what?

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Uncle Milburn's avatar

It's all the carbs that bloat them.

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Secret Agent Super Dragon's avatar

This and "Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet" were perhaps two of the worst misinformation campaigns of the nineties.

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Kel Varnsen's avatar

Gore did sponsor the legislation that made it possible

He was a tireless promoter of technology and the environment

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Robert Eckert's avatar

He wanted a Republican co-sponsor, so he recruited a nerdy Georgian named Newt Gingrich.

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Bruce's avatar

Man even Vint Cerf, and Robert Kahn, the two men who arguably DID invent the "Internet" wrote an widely disseminated article praising Gore for his efforts to bring the Internet to the masses. https://web.eecs.umich.edu/~fessler/misc/funny/gore,net.txt

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Bear: PROTECT THE AMERICUB's avatar

The media really did fail HARD in the Liebeck case when they failed to report the temperature differential between McDonald's coffee and other fast-food coffee in the area. This kind of trade-usage evidence is deeply relevant to consumers' expectations, which may in turn drive their handling decisions concerning the product.

If I've gotten 155-degree coffee everywhere else I go, then I'm probably (consciously or subconsciously) expecting only a few moments of pain and annoyance and reddened skin for an hour if I spill it. Consequently, I might not even think twice about setting it on the seat between my knees to fumble for change, put the car back in gear, etc. By analogy, it's a landscape rock: no fun to step on, but not the end of the world if you do. Now, if I knew it was 190 degrees? I'd treat it like the hand grenade it is, rather than a landscape rock.

Tl;dr: yes, coffee is served hot, but HOW hot? And is it really that much to ask that a company which serves its coffee far outside the expected norm provide some warning? (Incidentally, the media ALSO failed to report that Liebeck's recovery was reduced to 20% of her actual damages because much of the fault was found to be her own. I don't have the trial record ahead of me and can't opine on that finding, but what's truly sick is that the corporate anti-access-to-justice crowd begrudged her even THAT.)

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1st light's avatar

I read she won because of the disgusting behavior of the McDonald's exec who first heard her case.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

I dunno. Should you really entrust the health of your groin to minimum wage employees?

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DDB9000's avatar

But that is NOT their fault. If the coffee comes out that hot, what do you expect them to do? Put ice cubes in it?

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Runfastandwin's avatar

Don't buy it?

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Kel Varnsen's avatar

When I have gotten the way too hot coffee at McDonald’s I always go over to the soft drink ice dispenser and put some in

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oscarphile's avatar

There's a very simple way to test the frivolity of these lawsuits:

Heat a pan of water on your stove until it's 190 degrees.

Then pour it on your dick.

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Secret Agent Super Dragon's avatar

Maybe if Jay Leno had done that he wouldn't have made it a staple of his late night routine

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Prostate of Dorian Gray's avatar

This is why you should all drink sweet tea. You just get wet pants and a bit of a shock, nothing you can't shake off.

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kareema's avatar

Thank you but no, I don't want no diabetes.

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Prostate of Dorian Gray's avatar

Just don't drink too much. Have a little sweet tea then drink water the rest of the day.

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GladysKravitz'sCurtains's avatar

Stay away from the hot apple pies to avoid both 3rd degree burns AND diabeetus!

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Mr Canoehead/M Tête-Canoë's avatar

I used to ask them to add a little ice when I ordered coffee at the McD's drive-through.

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Robert Eckert's avatar

I just don't patronize McD's

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Bruce's avatar

My wife always puts ice in her coffee when we get it on the road. At home we brew the coffe and turn the coffee machine off. This has the added benefit of not cooking it until it tastes like coal tar, too. If I want it warm, I'll just throw it in the microwave.

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kareema's avatar

Just for the record, tea microwaves better than coffee.

Just sayin'....

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GladysKravitz'sCurtains's avatar

While I know that is true, I need that first cup of the day NOWW and will nuke it if necessary.

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