More of a WWYD... Waitress dropped dish of olive oil onto my phone, now it's broken.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

She was very appoogetic, and I wiped it over with a napkin and turned it upside down, but the oil has obviously got in to the piece where you hear people talking to you and you can't hear anything. So essentially, I can't make or receive calls.

Is there anything I can actually do about this? I mean, they're not going to replace my phone are they ... Is it just bad luck and move on?

Hang on, incompetent and negligent is a bit OTT. A waitress accidentally spilt something. It happens to the best of us. I waitressed for 25 years and even I spilt stuff very occasionally. She spilt stuff on the table, not purposely poured it on the customer's head.

My point still stands that a report should have been made at the time. I don't think you would have much luck without documented proof it happened on their premises. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, just the way it is.

I worked in restaurants and bars for years, I would pursue this and they should repair/replace your phone.

Accidents happen, I was very good at my job but sometimes things go wrong!

Doesn't absolve the company of responsibility though.

I have some amusing restaurant tales of spilt things, maybe not appropriate for this thread though...

If she had spilled the oil all over your clothes and ruined you would expect them to pay to replace wouldn't you!
Not just be told oh well it's a risk you take wearing clothes in a restaurant.

According to op the waitress had three instances of dropping/spelling just at their table for one meal KitKat28.

That doesn't sound very competent.

But that wasn't my point re the sign. My point was you cannot absolve yourself of liability just by saying so. A business must be reasonable too.

dailymaillazyjournos most restaurants will have a sign up somewhere saying that they take no responsibility for your property

That won't work for damage caused by their employees.

The company has vicarious liability for the actions of their employee when they are undertaking their employed duties.

It was a mistake - these things happen and that's why the company will have insurance to cover it. 100% pursue with the company and don't stress/overthink.

When you get to someone in the company who understands it and the internal process to follow should be straightforward to resolve. If there is any doubt about how the phone broke they could send it to a technician to confirm it is clogged with olive oil. Depends how much your phone is worth though - may not be economic. With a thread on here you think it would be worth the reputational value just to sort ASAP with no further fuss...

I'd go further up the food chain to see it through

Sorry, that tickled me. Nothing useful to add

I think the main problem is going to be that you did not make a complaint at the time, so they might try to argue there is no evidence it happened there.

As for, "well there is always a possibility for food to be spilled" that sounds like bollocks to me. Isn't that precisely what insurance is for, to compensate for accidents that are within the realms of possibility in that particular environment?

Going to a restaurant is not analogous to going to a paintballing event where the whole point is to have paint flung at you; the point of a restaurant is to put food on plates, not on customers. The purpose of a carpark is to drive cars into, so you can expect encounters with cars, but when dh scraped the paint off somebody else's car instead of putting his own exactly where he was supposed to, it came out of his insurance. Nobody was angry with anybody else, it was clearly unintentional and the lady was very gracious, but he still had to pay up.

You have to wear clothes. I don't think having a phone on the table is the same as having a spill on your clothes!
I doubt they will be liable. You took the phone out and had it on the table. I know we all do it, but it shouldn't have been there they will argue.
You should have your own insurance. I would just claim that.

Take it further. They have insurance to deal with this kind of thing. A waitress in an Ask-type place spilled tomato sauce over my top and the manager gave me his card and arranged for dry cleaning. I said calmly that my top might be ruined and he said he knew but let's see where the dry cleaning got us first. In the end the stain came out with just washing.

Careless, yes, but leaving a fragile brick on the table isn't too smart. What if you knock something over?

I wear clothes with pockets and have a small phone that doesn't get in the way. Much easier.

I used to work for Gaucho restaurant and managed to drip blood on 5 customers while serving rare steak from a platter. The restaurant paid for all of the customers clothes and removed the service charge. I got a bollocking from management but other than losing my tip from that table didnt end up out of pocket. Call the restaurant again and demand payment for the phone. Theu are just trying to fob you off because you left the premises without making a complaint beforehand, so be sure to tell them that the phone started malfunctioning immediatly after the oil was spilled.

If the waitress was worried about the space being too tight, she could always say "excuse me, could you just move the phone so I can put the plate down". If she didn't, it was a reasonable assumption that she knew she would be able to handle it: she should know her limitations better than the customer. Anything after that was an accident- which is what insurance is for. If she had asked the OP to move the phone and the OP had refused, totally different scenario.

Unless she admits to it they've got no proof that your phone didn't stop working and you thought "I know, if I said the waitress,dropped something on it I cab get the restaurant to pay"

I suspect that once you've left the restaurant they will be reluctant to take responsibility as they've nothing to show you aren't trying it on.

It's an accident. They happen. This is why you have insurance.

If someone on the street accidently tripped and fell on you, causing you to drop your phone and crack it, you would use your insurance, not pursue the individual.

I'm really suprised at some of these responses. I also think if you were going to persue this you should have done at the time.

OP, this isn't one for a phone call. You must write/email asap. Get it in writing so it can't be ignored or misconstrued.

Make sure you include exact dates, times, locations. This avoids the 'we've taped over our cctv' or 'we aren't sure who was on which shift then'. Also include details of your conversation with the manager.

You won't really get the waitress into trouble and this is a drop in the ocean for a big chain. They should replace (or repair) your phone. And if they had thought they might drop something on it they should have told you to move it.

It shouldn't be the ops insurance paying, it should be the restaurant which is why they have their own insurance for accidental damage through. Fault of their staff, if the op had spilt her own. R rink on it then the op is liable, here the restaurant via their staff have damaged therefore they should pay.

TwentyCupsOfTea Sun 22-May-16 13:39:53

"It's an accident. They happen. This is why you have insurance.

If someone on the street accidently tripped and fell on you, causing you to drop your phone and crack it, you would use your insurance, not pursue the individual. "

And when dh accidentally brought his car too close to the other parked car, should that car owner have been told to claim on her insurance rather than pursue the individual? He didn't do it on purpose, but he was still the party liable.

This is why we take out car insurance because we know that sometimes our judgment may be at fault and we may cause accidental damage. In the same way, a restaurant takes out insurance because they know that occasionally their staff may cause damage.

Restaurant should pay the insurance excess, I think. I would ask them politely to do that.

While I can appreciate the arguments to the contrary, I think that ultimately a phone is on a dinner table at the owner's risk.