Mealbreaker: China McDonalds Custy Drinks Detergent

Mealbreaker (n.): a nasty, non-edible surprise found in food while it is being eaten; often lawsuit-provoking, sometimes fabricated, always disgusting.

From Huff Po: A woman was rushed to a hospital in Shenyang in northeastern China on January 16 after inadvertently drinking detergent from a Coca-Cola cup that was left on a McDonald's counter.

Want China Times writes that the unidentified woman thought she was drinking a Coke, which had been purchased by her boyfriend, identified only as Mr. Liu. The woman was brought to a hospital after complaining of a burning sensation in her esophagus and stomach. There, she was given a diagnosis of erosive gastritis.

Liu later returned to the McDonald's restaurant seeking answers. A counter clerk admitted to placing the cup of detergent on the counter, but did not explain further. It's thought that Liu mistook the cup of detergent for a Coke he had ordered.

The McDonald's has since apologized and offered compensation of a yet-to-be-determined amount. Liu says he wants the restaurant to pay for his girlfriend's future health problems, should they arise.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Comments

[James]

Idiot, why wouldnt you spit that out right away? Detergent is nothing like coke.

[Kimi2321]

Haha, ya, I was going to say, it would taste funny the second you put it in your mouth. So wouldn't she have wanted to spit it out instead of swallowing?

[NC Tony]

How do you mistake a cup of detergent (which probably wasn't all the way full) for a coke? Then again, why would you use a cup that is commonly used by customers to put cleaning materials in? And leave it on the counter where customers pick up their orders from. Sounds to me like there was stupidity on BOTH sides here. Plus, I guess they do things differently in China, because every Mickey D's I've been to, they just give you a cup and you get your own drink.

[Fingers]

okay so you work at McD's. You're loading the washer with towels used for cleaning or what have you (they have them, seriously) when you realize the scoop spoon maybe isn't there or maybe it's not there at all! First thing I'd think to grab would be a cup, scoop out what you need and toss it in. However, before you can get that far, there's a customer at counter. Crap. GOTTA greet the custy. Head up there, set the cup down, take order, pay out, go grab food, set it up for them, say farewell and go to your next task. Crap! You were doing the laundry!

Or. There's no much left in the bag/box and it's been destroyed or is in some way compromised. I'd think to grab a cup as well since it'd be easier to pour out of later on. Either way, cup shouldn't have been on the counter... what if it had been a kid, right? Then again, I can't imagine many kids would go so far as to even TASTE something like that knowing that wasn't what they wanted. Irresponsible on the associate's part buuuuut, I can't forgive the customer for willingly ingesting this and not complaining in the least before hand.

Same with Tony, we get our own drinks after being given a cup here. Regardless, sentiments still stand.

[Mollywobbles]

I actually heard from my Store Manager that a few years back, a McD's employee in the area accidentally drank degreaser, mistaking it for his soda that he'd left in the grill area. According to the story, he spit it out immediately, and it was meant to be a deterrent from employees leaving drink cups in the grill area instead of in the crew room where they're supposed to be, but the fact stands that the guy fucking spit it out once he realized "Hey, this isn't soda." Granted, swallowing even a small amount of detergent can't be good for you, and the amount the woman drank is not specified, but it still sounds like she started having stomach cramps and had no idea why until she remembered "Oh, hey, I may have drunk something funky earlier today" while she was in the hospital.

[cashykat]

Didn't she notice the smell of detergent? Detergent has a fairly strong odor. I would also imagine it tastes nothing like coke lol.