It’s been a few weeks, at least, since this story broke. But I happened upon it again this morning.
The case involved a civil lawsuit filed against McDonald’s. And one of its franchises. A South Florida jury returned a verdict that alleged “dangerously hot” chicken nuggets from a Happy Meal burned a toddler.
To quote the news article from CBS:
“The jury on Thursday found that McDonald’s and franchise owner Upchurch Foods liable for failing to properly warn or provide reasonable instructions on the possible harm from the hot McNuggets dispensed at a Tamarac, Florida, drive-thru. However, only Upchurch Foods was found to be negligent.”
Okay. There you have it. Most of it. The suit was filed in 2019 against McDonald’s and Upchurch Foods.
The little girl opened her Happy Meal while sitting in her car seat. She spilled the contents of the box onto herself. A chicken nugget fell between her leg and her car seat. It hurt. So, this jury decided that both McDonalds and Upchurch were at fault for the burns sustained by this little girl. Not that it matters, but for the record, she was / is the daughter of Philana Holmes and Humberto Caraballo Estevez. The complaint registered by the parents said those hot nuggets were “unfit for human handling” and that the nuggets left the girl “disfigured and scarred.”
Okay. Okay.
I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not defending big business or corporate America, which, at times, can be neglectful.
But my goodness gracious. Most of us, when we order fast food, hope and pray the food is hot. You see, that is how food is cooked — with heat. And when you heat the food, the food itself gets hot. That’s the process, by god. Otherwise, you would be ordering frozen chicken nuggets in a box.
So here’s my deal. If you are a parent, and you lean over the seat of the car, handing your kid a box of hot food, all of the responsibility should fall on you. And if you don’t have enough sense to know that cooked food is hot? Shame on you. Tongues will be burnt. Clumsy kids legs will be burnt. If you can’t take the time to blow on the piping hot nuggets, well then you, and you alone are responsible for the outcome of the situation.
I think it is completely absurd that the jury found McDonalds and Upchurch liable.
Here is a thing about our current society that continues to irk me.
People have quit taking responsibility for themselves. That’s what is happening in a large portion of the country’s thinking.
It is always someone else’s fault.
And this mindset is causing harm in numerous ways.
Yes. I believe people have quit taking responsibility for themselves.
The ripple effect of this touches environmental issues, crime problems, drug abuse matters, and on and on.
Many people think whatever the situation might be, the root of the cause is someone else’s fault. Someone else is always wrong.
We have no accountability anymore.
Those Chicken McNuggets were too hot, you see.
Today, I promise to act responsibly. To look closely at myself, my choices, and all my actions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
― Winston Churchill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.”
― Joan Didion, On Self-Respect
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Eventually we all have to accept full and total responsibility for our actions, everything we have done, and have not done.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hot McNugget? Well, learn how to blow on your food, I say.
