So I just got home from an amusement park and boy do my feet hurt.
Half of the park is a water park, and that’s where we spent most of the day. Everyone is barefoot there, from babies to grannies. It was not a hotter than normal day, but I did notice that the pavement was extremely hot to walk on. My feet got sore, and the pain lasted even through drying off and putting on a different pair of shoes.
So I get home and take a good look and find that I am developing blisters on the balls of both feet. I am a grown-up who goes barefoot most of the time. I should have moderately tough feet. I’m thinking of the little kids I saw without shoes there, who must have no callus at all. I sent my older son to bed when we got home so I don’t know if he’s blistered or not. I’ll know in the morning.
So I’m wondering if I should pursue some sort of legal action. I don’t have open sores or anything, but as I said I have tough feet. I’m wondering if bringing up a suit would get them to do something about their surfaces before anyone else gets hurt. I feel so bad for the little kids! Also, I can’t be the only one here who’s been blistered. Class action? I dunno. I’m just not looking forward to days of my kids being unable to walk comfortably, and Mom (who also cannot walk comfortably) having to fetch and carry. My overall injury is not great, but had it been my baby, it could have been.
Thoughts?
Well, the easiest solution to the problem is obvious even to you, WEAR SHOES. It sounds like the blisters are more from the heat burning your feet than the texture of the pavement. I am assuming that the surface is like that in the amusement park I go to, and is mostly asphalt, in which case it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the black color causes the surface to absorb a lot of heat. No matter how thick your callouses are, you can still get burned.
You could probably sue them but rather than resurfacing the park (which would be expensive) they’d most likely put up signs that say “Patrons must wear shoes” or something equally inane.
Either way, even the legal fees would cost the park mucho dinero which translates into higher admission costs, and all you would be doing is punishing people who have enough sense to put on shoes if the surface is hurting their feet. You probably think I’m not being very sympathetic, and you’re probably right… your entire argument sounds like a “but everyone else was doing it…” type of statement, which I remember using as a small child only to have my very wise mother reply, “If everyone was jumping off a bridge would you?” Of course, given a lot of other lawsuits have been filed with similar logic (or lack thereof), so might as well tie up yet another courtroom for personal profit.
This is exactly one of the major problems in this country: no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions. This is GQ, so I’m not getting up on my soapbox, but I’ll just say no one forced you to take your shoes off. Your blisters are your fault.
I always wear sandals or water shoes at the water park, and I make my children wear them too. It’s no secret that pavement gets hot in the sunlight, nor is it a secret that hot surfaces can burn you.
I hope you had sunscreen on.
Oh, good lord.
Well that would be the lamest lawsuit in the history of the universe.
No, you should not sue. Next time, wear shoes. Make sure your child does too.
<blatant hijack> Actually if you’re in the mood to sue someone, why not try a more worthy cause such as banningdihydrogen monoxide 
Actually, I think that was already taken by the woman who sued M[sup]c[/sup]Donald’s because she didn’t seem to realize that hot coffee would burn if she spilled in in her lap. :rolleyes:
Though this one would take a close second.
As a pre-emptive warning, whoever comes out of the woodwork to say “Nooooooooo! It was REALLLLLLLLLLY hot! So it’s ok!” needs to be smacked around the head with a salmon.
Though I’ve often thought water parks should invest in little sprayers along the edges of the concrete that could keep it somewhat cool.
Perhaps you should try suing the sun for making the pavement hot. 
You’ve got to be kidding. Is this some kind of joke? Or are you TOO STUPID TO KNOW TO WEAR SHOES?
Here’s a thought: next time you see some broken glass in the road, walk barefoot on it - then you can sue someone for making the glass too sharp. Or how about the person who dropped it? Or maybe you can sue a broom manufacturer for not providing free dustpans so that people will always have a method of sweeping up what they break.
This is possibly the most inane OP ever posted here.
I’m thinking that this OP is a joke.
Please?
Factual Answer: You could pursue legal action.
Opinion: It would be the dumbest thing to do.
Advice: Wear Shoes and use the sense that you were given/have accumulated.
It wasn’t really hot. It was a warm summer day but not unusually so. That’s part of my point.
The pavement was not the black concrete, which of course requires shoes. It was a lighter color and looked safe. I walked on it for about ten minutes before my feet started to hurt, at which point I did put on shoes. It felt warm, but not ow-I’m-getting-blisters hot. Perhaps the toughness of my feet prevented me from feeling it until it was too late.
Why is it so stupid to suggest that I do something to force them to take further precautions against injuring people, many of whom are small children? I don’t care so much about the money, but a couple of warning signs saying “We’ll burn your feet if you take your shoes off” would probably save people some grief. There were several thousand people in the water park that day, and I saw perhaps ten pairs of shoes being worn.
Why should the park take any action to prevent people from taking off their shoes and walking around barefoot, should they choose to? People need to face the fact that there are (many) things in life they need to take responsibility for themselves and not blame someone else. Getting blisters is one of the risks of walking about barefoot, and you need to accept that. Do you really need your hand held every minute and told constantly what risks might result from which actions? Please.
You are suffering from a condition known in the Tampa Bay Area known as “Adventure Island Feet.” It is a common result, which results from a combination of elements. First, no matter how “tough” you think the soles of your feet are, immersing them for several hours in water swells and softens that tissue. Even with sandles or flipflops on, you’d suffer some of the same discomfort as the wet soles of your feet rub on your footwear.
Second, an abrasive surface in a water park enhances your safety and well being. A smooth, polished, nonabrasive, and wet surface would be a little slippery. But at least then you could be suing them for a more run of the mill Slip and Fall.
As of yet, no one has mentioned the primary determinant in whether or not a class action lawsuit of this type should be brought. Namely, is it likely to generate obscene fees for the class’ lawyers?
Because I consider such fees unlikely in this situation, I respectfully submit that a lawsuit is entirely inappropriate.
Further, Dinsdale, Esq. sayeth nought.
(Your bill is in the mail. Prompt remittance appreciated.)
Could the park counter-sue for dangerous littering? Leaving dead possibly diseased skin particles all over their nice clean pavement, endangering staff and other customers?
How about a countersuit? Who’d like to join me in a “creating a public nuisance” suit? See, closing down a water park in a very hot climate is the very definition of “public nuisance”.
I say if you’re not sunburned, blistered, and waterlogged, you didn’t have enough fun.
Bad example. There is a lot more than meets the eye with the Mickey D’s coffee suit. It did have merit.
Now the old lady who got hit in the mouth with a Rosie O’Donnell kushball…
Cite? I have a hard time imagining how McD’s could have been remotely at fault no matter how hot the coffee was, unless the kid behind the counter said “sure, go ahead and spill it on yourself, it won’t burn”, and even then she’d have to be pretty stupid to believe it.