Heh. Does anyone else think the mental picture of Fast Eddie’s Chainsaw Emporium
right next to Cafe Italia is hilarious?
That’s ridiculous. It’s a good thing that Walmart doesn’t sell knives that are too sharp to actually cut anything. They could lose their asses! :rolleyes:
I don’t think that’s a good analogy; a store making modifications to make a product more dangerous (like increasing the heat on a hot beverage above industry standard or removing guards that come with a tool) is not the same as selling a product that can inherently do damage because of what it is (like a sharp knife). You have a reasonable expectation of a sharp knife being sharp; you don’t have a reasonable expectation that a chainsaw would have a guard removed. In the case of the customer requesting his beverage be made hotter than industry standard, that’s more of a grey area, but I can see the store’s point in not doing that, especially after there was such a well-known case about a woman suing over extremely hot coffee.
You’re right. Maybe not quite an accurate analogy. However, in my mind, there’s got to a reasonable expectation of hazard. Modified product that can reasonably expected to be hazardous, relies on the customer treating the modified item with special care. Walmart may not do it, but you can go to specialty shops that will sharpen your knives for you. This is a modification, but it can reasonably be expected that sharpened knives are more likely to cause injury. It’s the responsibility of the customer to treat the modified item with care. If the customer injures himself doing something stupid or accidentally cuts himself with normal use, the fault lies with the customer, not the retailer that legally and reasonably modified the product.
In this case, once again, if the customer asks for the modification and it’s not a completely unreasonable modification, it’s up to the customer to treat it more carefully. Incidentally, it doesn’t take a 200 degree drink to cause significant burn injury. You can accomplish the same at “industry standard” temps if you’re stupid enough.
ETA: That doesn’t mean the above customer isn’t stupid. Milk scalds above 180 degrees and tastes nasty. But still, the customer is always right, right? :rolleyes:
Knives are sold in protective plastic containers. There’s no accidentally dropping a knife at wal*mart and cutting yourself. Spilling a drink when the already hurried cashier at McDonalds is trying to get you the through drive-thru to meet her McSmiles Target Time or whatever shit they push on the miserable fifteen year olds is very likely.
Well, that depends on your definition of “legally”, doesn’t it? In the case of McDonald’s, coffee that was extremely hot beyond industry standards and reasonable safety protocols resulted in legal action that cost the company quite a bit.
Of course, the difference is that McDonald’s customers didn’t explicitly consent to being served dangerously-hot coffee–that is, I agree that refusing to serve extra-hot drinks on request is just a bunch of tightassery–but I’m just saying that “legally and reasonably” isn’t as cut-and-dried as a law book.
I think you also have to consider the “they ruined it for everyone” effect - people like to get litigious for stupid reasons these days, and companies know that; I can’t blame them for covering their butts.
This is not the thread to get into the specifics of product liability and civil judgments, but IMNSHO that particular case was complete bullshit. When I said “legally,” I meant that if the law prohibits a dealer from selling chainsaws without safety equipment, then a retailer cannot legally remove safety equipment from the product. To my knowledge, there’s no law against selling extra hot beverages and they are not generally considered so dangerous as to prohibit their sale. Not to say that they, along with many other legally sold products, are not dangerous when you dump it in your lap through carelessness and/or misuse.
Agreed. But there’s guidelines and there’s policy. Some employees don’t know the difference.