Shop Talk

There was some recent event that sparked my interest, but now I can’t remember what it is. Don’t you just hate that??

Perhaps this shall be easier to read, yes? Even I had to strain my eyes at times to read the white text on red. Wennberg always did say this was a no-no.

So what do ya know? It is now my last semester as an undergraduate. I am only taking one course - Persuasion, with my favorite professor. I thought it would be beneficial for me to refresh my memory in persuasion techniques and theory because I know that is an important factor in PR.

I didn’t get either of the internships I interviewed for, sadly. One of them found an opening, if I can correctly recall, but I couldn’t take it for various reasons. I was very upset as this was the reason I elected to stay in school for the extra semester. Fortunately, one of the good people from YPRP gave me the idea of asking the university’s communication office if anything was available. I asked and as luck would have it, I got an internship!

I just started this past Tuesday and already I can tell I’m going to get a lot done this semester, which is always good for myself and the office itself. One of the biggest projects I’m taking on (along with my intern supervisor) is helping the town’s Chamber of Commerce re-brand itself and persuade potential members to join. So, my Persuasion course just may come in handy! It’s just going to be a lot of research right now, but that’s alright. I am the Queen of Research. Right now, however, I must get to bed so that I am ready for a full eight hour day.

I was going to post on this issue a few days ago, but my computer froze when I was gathering my links (as computers tend to do) and I became mad and gave up on it for a few days.

It seems that an Applebee’s restaurant in New York City gave a five year old a Long Island Iced Tea rather than the apple juice he had ordered. The mother claims that she did not know until she realized her son looked drunk and was acting in a bizarre manner. She took a sip of the drink and upon tasting, confirmed that it was indeed alcohol. The manager acknowledged the mistake, but did nothing more. She is now suing the restaurant and Applebee’s, International for $75,000.

How was a mistake like this made? Theories are circulating that perhaps it was an employee’s drink because it was prepared in the restaurants’ kiddie cup, which would make it easily undetectable to management and it was served by mistake to the child. The mother has her own theory stating that the alcoholic drink was served to her son on purpose because he was annoying the staff.

I tried looking through articles online to find more information about the incident. The only news source I found to include such details was the New York Post, which I find pretty disappointing because the NYP in general, to me, is pretty shaky when it comes to credibility. The article, nonetheless, detailed the boy’s behavior in the restaurant licking breadbaskets and such (which I didn’t even know the restaurant had and I have been a frequent patron during my undergraduate years) and subsequent trip to the hospital during which people laughed about the incident.

This incident has created a big PR issue for the chain and has been an issue of debate on the list. The incident happened in July. Since then, the restaurant, it seems, has done nothing more than stand on a “no comment” position. This stance invariably is not good work on behalf of any organization’s PR department.

If I were to be handling this case, I would have the headquarters issue an official apology on behalf of the restaurant to acknowledge that someone is accepting responsibility for the actions of that restaurant. I would then issue a release stating that a full investigation is underway and appropriate measures will be taken. I think that the hospital bill should also have been paid for by the restaurant itself.

I’m curious to know what happened to the server who served the drink to the child. I’m also interested in knowing WHO the drink was really intended for. If it was in fact an employee’s drink, was he or she reprimanded? Perhaps employees need a refresher in safety measures and proper job conduct.

Furthermore, why are we only hearing about this story now? Is it because of the legal issues with the pending lawsuit?

On the other hand, is it because Applebee’s did not do a very good job in practicing Corporate Social Responsibility in letting the public know that a mistake was made? The old “let’s just ignore it and maybe it will eventually go away” strategy isn’t working here, sorry to say.

Surprisingly, the woman is not asking for as much money as she could, but on a personal level, I think this situation was also partly her fault, as she did not examine the drink upon her child’s complaints of the taste. In addition, I don’t think an employee would serve the boy an alcoholic drink on purpose at the risk of losing his or her job and facing criminal charges. That is an absurd accusation.

This will be a very interesting case, indeed