to be annoyed that national express trains won't heat baby milk?

[trixie123]

On a National Express train from york -London the other day and buffet car staff refused to heat the bottle of milk I had managed to keep fridge cool all day ready for the journey home. Produced a letter from managaement backing up their "health and safety" excuse. This might be slightly more believable if the changing table wasn't lacking a safety strap - not fun on a train hurtling along and rocking from side to side. Bloody H&S and bloody jobsworth staff who sympathised "I've got children too" but would rather my 3 month old screamed the place down or drank cold milk then give a me a pot of hot water (which I would have used there, not carried down the train). Can't help but assume it is profiteering so you buy a herbal tea or something to get the hot water.

Squishabelle , I did put vital into "" because I am aware that vital for someone could be totally unnecessary for someone else. I am sure I could do without a lot of things other people see as "must" and vice versa.

I can not let go the following go without mentioning something:

"It can be terribly difficult to travel with small children in the UK; as a society we're generally very unwelcoming to parents and children unlike on the continent, "

Yes, but in the continent, children "belong" to society, everybody is free to make them laugh, help with them, pat their heads and tell them off if they are misbehaving.

Parents are more willing to accept that they are responsible for the safety of their own children, and that any favour in offer is just that, a favour. IE. in this case, they may have warmed the milk for you but they wouldn't accept any responsibility if you burned the child with it, if it became contaminated during the process, etc. etc. t If that happened would be your sole responsibility, as you should have checked. They may have taken the time to warm the milk and probably the other 20 people in the queue would be relatively happy to wait for 40 minutes for a coffee, as the waiter was busy offering a personalised free service.

Many continentals laugh about our health and safety policies claiming that we are removing the responsibility from the people to take care of themselves. Someway I think they have a point...

you can buy one of them bottle warmers ,and when you click the disk it heats up !1

2 things that annoyed me in responses here;

1/ someone posts AIBU, lots say yes, lots say no. OP comes back and says "thanks to those who saw my POv" meaning sod off to those who disagree. You seem to be posting in the wrong place, like many, you want the "validate my opinion and agree with me" forum.

2/ "on the continent" and "continentals" do this, think this, etc. The entire continent of Europe all adore children and do things so much better than big bad Britain. Absolute patent nonsense, and deeply irritating to read so often.

If it's a huge deal to you, if your child will only drink milk at a certain temperature, isn't that all the more reason to make your own arrangements (ie bring a flask of hot water).

I cannot for the life of me understand people who have absolutely rigid requirements, and then complain because the rest of the world doesn't accommodate them.

If it wasn't such a big deal to have it at the correct temperature, then it might be one of life's minor irritations, but you'd let it go. If it is a big deal, then it's a big enough deal for you to plan ahead and sort it yourself.

Trixie - I am sad that you say you seem to encounter 'jobsworths' regularly these days. I really dont think that you do. Most of these people who you brand 'jobsworths' are probably following company police and have no say in the matter whatsoever . Most unfair statement I think.

Sorry -company policy not police!

YANBU most places around here will let you have some hot water/shove it in the microwave. The onus is surely on the parent to ensure the milk is not too hot. Exactly as when you get a cup of tea or coffee - you don't just down it, get a terrible throat burn and sue. You check it is the right temp before you drink it.

Has anyone actually sued a restaurant etc for heating their baby's milk too hot or is it a myth?

If baby wont take anything except warm milk, and for whatever reason parent has no means to heat milk, is it really better to have a 3mo screaming for the whole journey then let them have a single cup of hot water to heat the milk in?

Like someone said earlier - why should they? Well because it's the right think to do surely, like telling someone if they leave their bag behind, or helping someone across the road, or preventing a toddler running into the road. None of us have to do any of these things, however doing them is the right thing.

From a practical perspective though would have bought a big cup of tea and tried to do it in that.

I breastfed all mine but always served all baby food cold. Much easier all round.

I think YAB a bit U although I can understand your point.

You can buy a flask expressly for the purpose of heating up bottles that will save you the problem in future, can't remember exactly what its called but costs around £10.00 ( or 5 x teas out). We bought one then discovered that DS was happy with the milk at room temperature et voila problem solved.

Quattro.

I wish companies that don't have any desire to run a good railway service, that aren't interested in railways and don't give a toss about passengers would fuck right off. WHY bid for rail franchises if you hate everything about railways?

Oh yes, I know, it's because they see the millions of pounds of subsidy and think 'I'll have some of that'. Swines.

It's like supermarkets moaning about magazines and making things difficult for publishers (because they have to restock the shelves much more often with mags than with food). So why on earth are they selling mags then? Don't ruddy do it if you don't want to, no-one is making you!

ISNT - providing hot water to heat milk really isnt the same thing as helping someone across the road or telling someone they have left their bag behind. Regardless of whether or not it is 'right' -why should train staff have to provide this service (for which they are not being paid) while paying customers may have to wait and all because someone couldnt be bothered to take responsibility for herself. As many posters have already said why couldnt she have taken a flask etc. What would have happened if she had been on a long distance coach or on a long taxi ride - would she have expected to be provided with a supply of heated water then? Time to get the baby used to room temp milk Im afraid.

'The onus is surely on the parent to ensure the milk is not too hot. Exactly as when you get a cup of tea or coffee - you don't just down it, get a terrible throat burn and sue. You check it is the right temp before you drink it.'

You would think so wouldn't you?

But sadly, we have developed a litigous culture and people have, and will, sue for exactly those things.

I entirely agree that it would be good to have rail companies which care about the customer (and indeed not just rail companies, but any sort of company)but let's not confuse two issues here.

You cannot blame employees for following company policy. They have no choice.

So we don't do things because they are right. We only do them if we can ascertain that the person has paid for that particular level of service.

Helping people is out - if people are having difficulties it's their own stupid fault and we should all sit and sneer and mutter rather than giving them a hand.

Woman on the tube with a buggy. Why should anyone help her up the steps? It's her own stupid fault for using the tube with a baby n the first place.

Old lady needs the loo and there are no public toilets? Well obviously asking in a pub or restaurant is totally out of order. It's her own stupid fault for going too far from home/not cheking the toilet situaiton before she left.

This thread is so depressing

But have people sued and won in this country for people heating milk too hot? I would be interested to see that they have.

People don't down their hot drink and then sue, do they. They wait until it is an appropriate temperature to drink. If people did sue in that situation, and win, no-one would serve hot drinks or hot food any more.

And are people really suggesting that if they were in a queue for a cup of tea they would get really pissed off and arsey if someone in the queue asked for hot water to heat her baby's milk?

I can't believe people are coming out with this stuff.

NO - helping people out IS the right thing to do when they are in a difficult situation but in this case the mother KNEW her baby wouldnt take cold milk so she could have avoided this problem by taking a flask of hot water. Its not completely about being paid - its also about taking responsibility for yourself and not expecting others to rectify problems which you knew would occur and which you could have solved yourself or not allowed to happen in the first place. Being caught short without a lavatory is a completely different scenario.

Macdonalds (I think) or at least one of the fast food chains WAS sued for providing a drink that was too hot.

Woman on tube - wear a sling!
Old lady needing a wee, completely different situation.
The OP was not asking about kindness, she was asking if it was reasonable to be angry with employees for not meeting her specific need.

yes Squishabelle it was Macdonalds they sued for scading themself stupid idiots

ISTN, rather depends on whether the paying customers are going to suffer because someone is going to receive a service free of charge before them, surely ?
Companies are in business to make money, not to be some philanthropic organisation to provide endless services for nothing, funnily enough the world does not revolve around us and our babies.
Imagine you are on a train wanting a drink. In front of you are various different people wanting a glass of water, to be helped to the loo, to have their baby's milk warmed etc etc, all at no cost to them. You have to wait 20 minutes before you get served because staff cutbacks mean that there is only 1 member of staff on duty. By the time you get served it's not worth getting the cappucino you wanted because it's time to get off. So the train company lose out the £2.49 they would have made because their staff are too busy providing services for free.
And you wonder why they don't want to do it ?

Yes - thought it was McD's but wasnt entirely sure.

So how come restaurants etc continue to provide people with hot food and drinks? If sueing is such a risk that they can no longer heat bottles?

I don't see how giving a woman a cup of hot water is a dreadful H&S and sueing risk, while giving her a hot cup of tea for 80p is perfectly fine.

I suspect the companies do it as they don't like giving anything away for free. Hot water has to be paid to be heated, it has to come in a cup. That adds up. I think it has nothing to do with H&S.

I also can't see how an old lady needing a wee is any different at all. She should have checked out what facilities would be available before she left the house.

And the next time I see someone on the tube with a pushchair I shall simply glare at them and walk past.

Of course it's got something to do with health and safety - most companies are scared shitless of being sued and will write all sorts of policies to avoid getting into this situation.

And you're right, they don't want to give stuff away for free - and why should they ?