For one family, a quick stop to buy a drink at a McDonald’s drive-thru was a disastrous experience.
Listen to how Canadians are doing now take McDonald’s to court When it comes to hot coffee, Elizabeth Hatim shares her story of pain and frustration.
According to Hatim, she was at a McDonald’s in Harmony and Taunton in Oshawa, Ontario on July 12, 2021.
Hatim and her family went to the drive-thru and ordered five drinks, including a small coffee with milk and sugar.
“When I parked my car at the pickup window to pick up my order, the young woman at the window handed me my husband, the driver and the tray,” Hatim said.
“This employee placed all four cold drinks in a beverage tray designed to hold only four drinks. She placed hot coffee diagonally in the center between the four cold drinks. But this central location wasn’t designed to hold a fifth drink,” she said. she said.
They suspected that the fifth cup was filled with milk, as they had never received such an excessive amount of trays before.
“Other fast food restaurants will put milk in a cup if you ask for it,” says Hatim.
“My husband took the tray and handed it to me when the hot coffee that hadn’t been secured to the tray spilled all over my leg,” Hatim said.
“It felt like an out-of-body experience, so my brain couldn’t recognize it at first. I could literally hear myself screaming in pain.”
“My scream was so loud that all the employees who were at the drive-thru window stopped what they were doing and were horrified to see what had happened. I was in pain.
Hatim says the employees did nothing to help her. The shift manager, who reportedly apologized that the employee should have used a different drink tray, handed them a business card and said they could report the incident later as the family was on their way to an appointment. rice field.
After the incident, she took painkillers for several days and used cold compression to manage the pain.
“I had scars. I had tried several products and treatments to lighten it, but they were too expensive and I had to stop,” said Hatim. .
Hatim said she has been in contact with McDonald’s seeking reparations, but that their contacts “rarely” return calls or emails.
“When we finally got in touch with him, he mentioned an incident that happened to himself at McDonald’s. He said he got very little in terms of compensation. Action, I also You won’t get much,” Hatim said.
At the time, this deterred Hatim. Since then, she has “suffered in her silence, leaving scars that are forever reminders of that terrible and painful day,” says Hatim.
Now she is interested in taking legal action, saying their response is “unacceptable.”
“McDonald’s mission, values and ethical statement are well defined and written. But where were their beliefs and values when an incident like mine happened?”
“No one has to go through what I went through… My advice is to be your own biggest supporter, no matter how big or small the situation is,” Hatim said.
We have reached out to McDonald’s for comment and will update this story.
Neither claim has been proven in court.
in the United States, legal priority Such cases include the so-called infamous hot coffee case. Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurantreceived media attention in the United States in 1994.
