Burns from Costa coffee

[Ebad9518]

Well, a cup of tea.

Been on holiday all week, it's been lovely. Although accomodation was pretty sure. We had to change our bed sheets due to a period stain in my side and a rip on DPs side, as one example.

Going to leave today and got coffee and tea from the restaurant who serves Costa coffee. Just given a cup for the tea which was very full. Stupidly didn't ask for another cup or a holder despite thinking this was going to be tricky. Picked it up from the lid to walk away, not quite on the lid but holding on the top iykwim. The whole thing crumpled in my hand and burnt me. I tried not to drop it but had to because of the pain. Thankfully it didn't get DSS. Went to the till and informed the girl that I was very sorry but I'd dropped it and she literally sighed and rolled her eyes. Another woman stepped in and was like 'as long as you're alright' which I absolutely wasn't. She made me another tea despite me protesting as I just needed I've on it. Managed to keep my shit together until I got to the car. Thankfully had I've packs in the cool bag and have had to sit for 3 hours in the car with a bloody ice pack on it. I've birthed a child bit fuck me the pain. Thankfully it's calmed now but i feel so pissed off at this girls reaction. I've worked in customer service for years and hers was awful.

So aibu to be so pissed off?

Good thing you could never afford to employ me then, isn’t it?

It is!

However, as a customer you're a dream, because I need not make any effort to help you. You could accidently drop a scalding hot cup of tea on yourself and you'd stand there making excuses for me while I treated you with no respect and complete disdain. You ought to expect more. There's a middle ground between being a demanding git and giving someone a hard time, and expecting minimum respect they are getting paid to give you.

I'm not going to accept the responsibility for it too, just because I'm behind the counter and the customer needs to blame someone else.

Oh I agree 100%. I'm talking specificalky about the attidude of the original person the OP had contact with and their blaise attitude. The OP can rightly complain about that. Also if the cup was filled too high she might have some grounds.

But if she didn't make it clear she was injured then she can't blame them. I absolutely do not agree with entitled people feeling they have a 'right' to treat people serving them like shit. It's worse with posh peopke they truly believe their wealth or breeding gives them a god given right to be high handed.

If I dropped tea on myself because I was stupid enough to pick it up by its lid, I’d be too busy eye rolling at myself to notice anyone else doing it. And I’d apologise for making a mess someone else had to clean up.

Your fault, you picked it up using the lid, what did you expect to happen 🤷🏻‍♂️

Perhaps not the assistant to eye roll??

I get a lot of burns because I like cooking and because MS makes me very clumsy. Ihave found the very best thing for burns after you've run it under cold water is used tea bags. When the tea bag gets warm, just run it under a cold tap, squeeze it out, and put it back on the burn. Keep doing that.

For anyone interested in the facts about the McDonalds' case:

www.huffpost.com/entry/the-mcdonalds-coffee-case_b_14002362

I assume people who think you can't expect much from low paid people are happy for the TAs in their children's schools to have a bad attitude and lack of commitment to the job? No? If you're being paid to do a job you should do it well irrespective of how well you are paid.

OP I really hope your hand is ok. It sounds like there is some fault on the part of the server giving you a drink you couldn't pick up safely, but you do need to take responsibility for not telling them you needed first aid. Arguably they could have made more effort to check but there's no good reason for you not to tell them.

Newsflash: tea is hot.

I carry the cardboard sleeves you get in Starbucks in my bag and put them round takeaway coffee cups from Costa or McDonald's. As i have mine black I also ask for an ice cube in it so i can drink it within an hour
..

I used to use the lady sueing McDonald's as an example of stupid litigation until my daughter pointed out she had to sue to cover her medical costs, keep forgetting about our free at point of use heath system.

But the OP didn't tell the server she'd burnt herself

All she said was "I've dropped my tea", if expect an adult to tell me if they'd burnt themselves.

Probably the server saw someone carrying tea stupidly and was pissed off at having to clean up mess caused by someone who can't carry tea properly.

Potentially the server didn't really roll her eyes, OP says she was in shock with tears on her face. Did she really notice the servers facial expression when in 'excruciating pain?'

OP if your injuries are as bad as you say they are surely you know you need medical attention. You've spilt scalding tea all over yourself, to the point your fingers are blistered and numb? No one in their right mind just goes oh well if their fingers are so burnt they are numb ffs! Go to minor injuries. Actually take responsibility for your injuries. So far you've expected a server to magically know you've burnt yourself and sort it for you. Not known basic first aid about burns, and just passively said "oh gosh do I need medical attention"

Are you over exaggerating your injuries?

It's also not the servers fault you ordered tea and coffee when you didn't have time. Irrelevant you had a toddler in the car, irrelevant you were pushed for time.

Quite worrying the amount of advice on here that is completely wrong for treating burns. You need to run it under the cold running water for at least 10 minutes, then cling wrap it. The wrapping is extremely important to stop any infections.

^ case in point. It's 20 minutes, and ensure not heating up again before clingfiming - otherwise you're putting meltable plastic on a wound that's potentially still hot, and helping to trap the heat in...

(And Costa hopefully has burns or gauze dressings in their first aid kit which are preferable to clingfilm anyway)

It's only 20 minutes for chemical burns, but people should judge it for themselves when it's cool. Sadly burns dressings are not part of the minimum first aid box requirements so they won't always be available.

The advice is 20 minutes. NHS guidance;

www.nhs.uk/conditions/burns-and-scalds/treatment/

And from HSE ref what should be in the first aid kit:

www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/faqs.htm

" What should a first-aid box in the workplace contain?

The decision on what to provide will be influenced by the findings of the first-aid needs assessment."

I would expect a coffee shop's risk assessments to recognise that the staff are working with hot machines, boiling hot water and steam; and the customers handling hot drinks, so first aid kits should be equipped to deal with burns.

St Johns Ambulance says 10 minutes.

www.sja.org.uk/sja/first-aid-advice/hot-and-cold-conditions/burns-and-scalds.aspx

The exact time is less important - it’s basically at least ten minutes or until the pain starts to go (20 mins for chemical burns but those don’t pop up on here).

All trained first aiders are taught at least 10 minutes, so I imagine 20 is ideal. You'd be surprised what the minimum requirements for a first aid box are.

Either way if you ever see a customer in a position where they could have potentially been injured, you should always offer first aid, even if you think they'll laugh at you for it. It covers you in the event that they try to make a claim, which is extremely common these days.

Can’t bear eye rolling. Did you tell the girl you’d burnt your hand or did she just think you’d dropped a drink?

No cream on burns until they have stopped burning/generating heat. Otherwise you’re just basting your skin.

@Pinkyyy I'm a first aider - literally had my top up training 2 weeks ago

For the same reason I'm not surprised at first aid kit minimum quantities - but a business can't - okay fine, reeeeaaaalllyyyyy shouldn't, legally ignore HSE guidance.

Anyway, I'll cease now, I'm bored of myself and I'm off to pick up a new puppy, much more exciting! 🤣

Im also going to chip in about the hot coffee case re mcdonalds. Basically mcdonalds had a lot of media power and managed to reduce the story to "stupid woman, didnt realise coffee was hot and scalded her self. Coffee is hot duh?"

The woman involved required several skin grafts, had third degree burns that covered 16% of her body and required not only several days of hospital admission but 2 years of medical attention. Due to their health care needing funding, insurance companies often sue or force the patient to sue to recoup health care costs (which are obviously very high)

Mcdonalds was serving coffee at around190 f which gives you severe burns in 3 seconds of contact. Coffee served at every other coffee place tested was at least 20 degrees lower increasing contact time and significantly lessening chances of burns. Mcdonalds argued that they were serving such hot coffee as they didnt not anticipate people to drink it straight away but rather drive and drink else where. They aknowledged they were aware their coffee was so hot that you couldnt drink it immediately after being served without burns.

Mcdonalds refused to settle for the medical expenses. It was discovered that there were aprox 750 cases of burns in a similar fashion, and that several of these needed skin grafts.

The issue was never that the coffee was hot, but that it was so much hotter than one would reasonably expect a hot drink to be, meaning any spill had large consequences.

A jury found McDonalds to hold 80% responsible and the lady 20%

Yes it means that we get an odd warning on our coffee but also that there is now an industry standard of how hot, hot coffee should be. Also better cups!

@Coffeeandchocolate9 slightly confused about why you feel the need to say that, but okay. I'm also a trained first aider.

Fallofrain - yes, that MacDonalds case and the woman’s devastating long term injuries were horrific. Shame it took MacDonalds 700+ lawsuits before they fell in line with industry standards

Ouch i know how it feels to burn yourself from hot drink. I once had a cup of boiling water, tripped and my whole hand and wrist got burned. I had burns for weeks, eventually skin started to peel and heal but still have 2 marks in wrist a year on. I do agree maybe wasnt best way to hold the cup but do think girls reaction couldve been a bit better

So you know the ridiculous warnings you get on things like hot drinks eg contents are hot, or on egg cartons... warning contains eggs etc etc, .... I have always wondered who needs such obvious advice. Now I understand.
Why didn’t you just pick the cup up safely? And why did you expect a fanfare over your scald when you didn’t even mention it.
Don’t complain about the poor girl. Just pick your cup up properly next time and don’t blame others for the result of the risk you decided to take.