am i over-reacting?

[mynachos]

went out for christmas lunch with the family today, all going honky dory until waitress served the gravy. as she tried to put the boat on the table it touched my ds age 3 arm, resulting in a burn. df took him.off to the toilets to run it under the cold.tap. ds crying and upset. staff made effort to help. we wven had to ask for ice in a.towel so he could return to the table and finish dinner. they changed their tune when.i.asked for it to be recorded in their accident book. full of apologies then. eventually ds calmed down.after 10 minutes or so. we applied cream on it when we returned home and to be fair hes made no mention of it since. im totally gutted tho. feel it ruined the rest of the day for myself. i have told my partner i will ring the restaurant tomorrow to complain. he belives i shouldn't bother. Shall i bother? for reference the arm is very red and a blister has formed.......

People really think they should have comped a meal for 10 people on Christmas day because of a minor accident?

My query would be over how hot the gravy is being served if touching the boat has blistered his arm.

One person's red mark is another person's "blister"

The kid would instantly scream and withdraw their arm.

Blister my shiny metal ass. Pics or it didn't happen OP!

YANBU to raise this further at all op! I work in A&E and I have looked after too many children that have been burned this way (gravy boats in restaurants it's really not a one off). Sometimes it's just the ceramic that has burned them sometimes the waitress accidentally pours red hot gravy over someone because of the design of them.

You allowed to feel upset your child has been injured through no fault of their own or your own. YANBU to feel this way. Yes it was an accident, yes the waitress was probably busy, and yes she probably feels guilty but the second his hand was burned she should have been rushing you off to the toilet to run cold water over it, you had to ask for all help and that is not acceptable at all in any way and yes that is a perfectly valid reason to phone the manager tomorrow and express your concerns. They did not fill in the accident book until you asked them too again this should not have been for you to chase while you were looking after your toddler this should have been done in accordance with health and safety regulations so again YANBU to phone the manager to raise concern about this either.

Yes accidents happen but this was not dealt with appropriately and I can't believe some posters think you would be unreasonable to raise raise this further with management.

The staff obviously need further training in first aid care and also to see if there is a better way of transporting hot foods such as these or at least training staff not to put hot things like this near toddlers.

I hope your son's ok.

Accidents happen. The waitress apologised. As others have said, your son should have been out of the way of hot food being served.

What do you want to happen by phoning up the restaurant (other than an apology?)

Cheers.

mynachos some rather odd and unfeeling responses here! Very surprised.

YANBU in feeling very upset about this and that the staff did not behave in the way they should, you said they only seemed sorry when you mentioned the accident book.

Of course it was an accident, no one at all thinks the waitress did it on purpose but clearly she was rather stupid to put hot gravy next to a toddler.

The fact your dp was not as bothered about it as you is no measure that you were too bothered, IMHO!

However, what could be achieved by complaining? They may compensate you for you or your son's meal. But the actual meal is now over anyway. If you do choose to complain I would feel it may be more effective to put it in writing, rather than a phone call.

If you choose to do this, I would suggest making it clear you realize it was an accident but you hope training will be put in place to ensure this type of accident doesn't happen again and staff know what to do.

At the very least the staff should know not to put ice on a burn, even though you asked for it, they should advise against it as it does not help a burn to heal. If the individual staff do not know what to do in a situation like this, then the management should.

I once burn myself on a teaspoon that had fallen into the flame of a candle, in a restaurant. It ruined my meal as I spent almost the whole time in the toilet with cold water running over my finger.

If your son calmed down after ten minutes then it sounds like he was not too badly hurt.

Choose what course of action will be best for you and do it, either let it go and move on or contact the restaurant.

Accidents do happen and people do make mistakes but when possible restaurants do try to avoid hurting customers. (I have worked in several restaurants).

If you feel the staff (in general) did not respond well then there is no harm in saying this while acknowledging it was an accident. I am sure the waitress feels bad, but that is not the point. Would be good to know they have learnt from this.

www.coolburns.com.au/first-aid-for-burns/burns-faq

Hopefully next year will be better, if you think that the bad year has effected your judgment then shake it off and move on.

Accidents happen. I would put it down to experience and keep more of an eye when food is coming out in future. I've had waiters put burning hot plates in front of my just weaned children before telling them not to touch as it's hot as if they would understand! Even now my kids are older I'm on the alert when food is being served. I wouldn't remove them from the table but I'd make sure they sat back and weren't resting where the food was going to go.