Toddler served alcohol instead of apple juice at Michigan Applebee's; has BAC of .10

[onehandle]

Source: New York Daily News



A 15-month-old was rushed to the hospital in a Detroit suburb after he was served alcohol instead of apple juice in his sippy cup.

Taylor Dill-Reese told local television station WJBK that her son was happily sipping what he thought was juice when he began acting rather strange.

"He was saying hi and bye to the walls," she said. "He eventually laid his head down on the table and we thought maybe he was just sleepy."

But when she tasted the apple juice, it turned out to have very low fruit content – it was actually a margarita, she claimed.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/04/10/2011-04-10_toddler_served_alcohol_instead_of_apple_juice_at_michigan_applebees_has_bac_of_1.html

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Applebee's sucks for So many reasons. Add one more.

[MNBrewer]

1. I'm dubious

[cstanleytech]

8. Wouldnt be the first time someone tried a scam

in order to try and milk money out of a company.

[tammywammy]

2. Fishy n/t

[TwilightGardener]

3. I can taste the alcohol in margaritas. Doubtful the kid would actually drink more than a taste

even if someone put it in his sippy cup.

[TexasProgresive]

6. Little kids don't have educated taste buds.

They will drink gasoline-I don't think any adult could get that down. See below about my sister drinking 7 to 8 oz of vodka at 3.

[Atman]

10. Actually, just the opposite.

Kids have more taste buds, which become desensitized with age. Which is what makes this story sound like pure b.s.

The taste sensations--sweet, sour, bitter, salty--are located in different areas of the mouth. They are more widely dispersed in young children, which is much of why kids can be such finicky eaters; too much taste acuity. As we get older, taste buds dull, lose sensation, which is why adults can tolerate/accept the nasty taste of alcohol which children find repugnant. This story is total bullshit. I'm guessing a down-on-her-luck patron looking for a big payday via a totally made-up story.

[TexasProgresive]

16. It's not the amount of taste buds it has to do with experience.

They don't know what's bad and what's good.

[Atman]

18. Incorrect. Those "extra" tastebuds accentuate certain flavors.

It is why virtually no child likes black coffee or beer, but grow to like such flavors later in life. It's not because they didn't know any better, it's because the flavors are too intense when they're little. As the "extra" tastebuds fade away, they are able to tolerate a wider range of flavors because they are no longer so overpowering.

(Here is where a few people post anecdotes about a nephew or kid they once knew who used to drink daddy's beer; there are always exceptions, and perhaps this Applebee's kid was one of them, but that doesn't change the facts about how tastebuds develop.)

[TexasProgresive]

19. OK then explain why small children have consumed

large amounts of awful tasting stuff such as gasoline, isopropal, ethyl, methyl alcohols, lye solutions and other noxious substances.

[Atman]

20. Pretty bottles, easy access. Kids will put anything in their mouths.

That doesn't change the science of how taste buds work. It's not like a hand on the stove teaching "hot." They can swig just a small amount of any of those substances a suffer serious illness. It doesn't mean they like it, but by the time they find out how awful lye tastes, it's too late.

[Atman]

21. BTW, I was actually calling b.s. more on the notion of mixing up apple juice and margarita mix.

First of all, is apple juice a common mixer in a bar? Secondly, it looks NOTHING like margarita mix. Thirdly, one poster mentioned the bartender "accidentally" pouring margarita mix in the sippy cup, yet margarita MIX is just that, a mix...no alcohol in it until the bartender adds it. He accidentally added tequila to the child's sippy cup as well? Finally...what the hell was the bartender doing with the kid's sippy cup in the first place? Wouldn't one simply order apple juice and pour into their child's cup once it arrived at the table?

Again, we can debate the taste bud issue all day, but so many other parts of this story don't make sense.

[uncle ray]

23. margerita mix is pre-mixed in many restaurants.

usually kept in an unmarked 2 quart pitcher. the only thing the bartender needs to add is ice. and have you really never been in an establishment where all beverages are prepared by the bartender? bars are usually poorly lit. it doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to see how this could happen.

[Atman]

24. Well, I just disagree. Possible, but not likely.

Restaurants pre-mix the MIX, not the margarita. Because people order margaritas with different tequilas. Those two-quart bottles are used for bloody mary MIX, margarita MIX, collins MIX, but they don't contain alcohol for the reason I just stated. Besides, being a parent, even if for some reason had given my child's sippy cup to a server to give to a bartender (?) to put apple juice in, I sure as hell would remove the cover and make sure it contained apple juice before I served it to my child. But maybe that's just me.

(edited for typo)

[Maine-ah]

32. former bartender for applebee's

and I will tell you how they could frig it up.

behind the bar there are racks that sit in an ice bin. two on each side. on the right, there are two bins that sit side by side in the ice. The bin on the furthest side contains juice. The one to the left of that contains the mixers. All are in the same type of speed pour containers. The only difference between containers are different colors of tape that go around the top. Each container has a label on it. The labels suck, and tend to fall apart when wet. If this Applebee's uses a premix for margarita's in would be in one of those containers, and the bar tender would have had to grab the wrong one and pour it into the kids cup, an honest mistake, though an extremely serious one.


If they don't use a premix then I can't see the bartender frigging it up. Special glasses for booze (frosted) and special plastic kids cup. You can't mess that up. The bartender would have had to directly pour tequila into the kids cup.

[xxqqqzme]

27. My son picked up a shot of Jack Daniels and drank it

before any of us could get to him - outdoors, big picnic. I don't think that drink made it much past his throat before it all became projectile spewing, vaguely reminiscent of The Exorcist. He also drank bleach once but that was my fault as I had poured a small bit into a paper cup and was using it to clean grout.

I really find the story extremely hard to believe.

[elocs]

4. Yes, I read about this earlier tonight, but happened before at Applebees nearly 4 years ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6619544

Although the Denver Post link is no longer active:

served margarita in a sippy cup (by restaurant)

Source: Denver Post

Kim Mayorga was confused when her 2-year-old started making funny faces and pushing away the apple juice he had ordered at Applebee's. The explanation came when she opened the lid of the sippy cup and was hit by the smell of tequila and Triple Sec.

The restaurant staff accidentally gave Julian Mayorga a margarita Monday. He grew drowsy and started vomiting a few hours later and was rushed to the hospital.

"I wasn't going to make a big deal about it," the mother told the Contra Costa Times on Thursday, "but then he got sick."

The apple juice and margarita mix were stored in identical plastic bottles, and the manager mistakenly grabbed the margarita container to pour the boy's drink, said Randy Tei, vice president for Apple Bay East Inc., which owns the franchise restaurant and nine other Applebee's in the San Francisco Bay area.

[Atman]

9. Bullshit. The margarita MIX and apple juice might have been in identical containers...

...but that MIX does not contain alcohol until the bartender adds it. The op sounds like someone trying a copy-cat lawsuit to the bullshit in the post I'm replying to. No Fucking way. I don't buy it for a minute, no matter how much Applebees sucks ass.

[ehrnst]

28. At Chi-Chi's the Margarita with Tequila came out of the Tap

Worked there for three hellish months in the early '80s. I was really surprised to learn that - but they said because it was so popular, they needed to reduce the time that it took to make them.

[Maine-ah]

33. depends on how many margaritas they sell

some actually do have the tequila and triple mixed right in. Especially on a friday or a saturday night.

[shanti]

31. i do remember this happening before

you're right, it was at applebee's. geez, you'd think they would have learned their lesson!

[TexasProgresive]

5. My younger sister did worse

When she was about 3 a gulped down a tumbler of vodka on ice. Mom call her doc who advised to not let her sleep and keep a close watch on her- did not do any lasting damage.

My father at about the same age went around the table and pour all the adults leaving in one glass which he guzzled. My grandmother said he was quite drunk but got over it.

Neither incident made the news.

[udbcrzy2]

7. When we were in 1st grade

My sister had a party the night before and left a pitcher of screwdrivers in the ice box. We drank it thinking it was orange juice before we left for school. Nobody said a word except for my sister when she realized what we had done. Which was an accident.

[Archae]

11. When I was a toddler I drank my Dad's mixed drink.

I was about 2, the drink was on the end table, I drank it.

Turned 15 shades of purple, and ran screaming to my room. :-)

[Ter]

12. Gotta unrec for jumping to conclusions in the OP

Double unrec for saying it sucks.

[Riftaxe]

13. It is not hard to envision this happening,

It is hard to see so many people pouncing on the family...welcome to life, crap happens....

[forty6]

14. Bartenders learn to keep their mixers well labeled, learn to properly

mix and pour drinks by color, smell, and, yes, even by tasting the MIXERS (non-alcoholic) to make sure the proportions are correct. Also, clear and readable labels or color codes are put on similar plastic service containers so as to AVOID mistakes in mixing.

Too little sugar/sweetener in a mixer can get a perfectly good drink sent back by the customer as "wrong" or "not mixed right"! That can be costly to a bar, and the bartender can be looking for another job if that happens too often. So bartenders learn to mix the MIXERS right, BEFORE adding any expensive alcohol to them. Bad or mistakenly mixed drinks are THROWN OUT DOWN THE DRAIN IMMEDIATELY, they shouldn't sit around next to the apple juice container.

On my experience, apple juice doesn't look, doesn't smell,nor taste at all like a Margarita mixer. Proper bartending involves adding alcohol to any mixer immediately before pouring the drink(s). There should be no alcohol-filled Margarita's just hanging around next to the apple juice.


Something about this story doesn't pass the bartender's smell test.

[w8liftinglady]

15. I was thinking the same thing

In the bar I worked in (Many moons ago)...we didn't "Just Leave" mixed drinks pre-prepared. ...they taste like crap if you let them set.

[Atman]

26. Thank you. My feelings exactly.

As I've been arguing up-thread. It's possible this could occur in some seedy roadhouse biker bar that serves 90% Bud Light bottles, but Applebee's has teams of lawyers requiring the chain to write procedural manuals to avoid lawsuits. I just don't see this happening at a large, established restaurant chain.

[forty6]

35. You make a great point. I used to go to one Appleby's quite often..as a

customer, once or twice a month. I sat at the bar, and I know what bartenders have to know and how they have to act, what they have to do, and what special training Appleby's gives them.

The mixers are largely prepackaged, powdered, or otherwise premixed. The soda beverages, (Coke, Tonic, Soda Water, Ginger Ale) are dispensed from pressurized multi button devices. Apple Juice is stored cold in a refrigerator once the bottle is opened. Same for Cranberry or any other juice.

In my state, bartenders at Appleby's have to pass a non-sobriety identification course in order to be hired to tend bar. That avoids lawsuits, and keeps most customers more sober. Bartenders also need to know how to keep the bar utensils clean, and how to store and inventory all alcohol at the beginning and end of a shift.

While it is POSSIBLE that some air-headed staff member reached for the Margarita mixer instead of the Apple Juice, it is UNLIKELY it was an already SPIKED Margarita, (alcohol added). Bartenders don't even pour the wrong drink in the wrong size server glass, and would NEVER intentionally pour it into a sippy cup.

I want to know what OTHER people at that child's table were drinking...THAT'S who I think spiked his apple juice.

[ehrnst]

29. Actually, some restaurants have margarita taps (with alcohol) Chi-Chi's did.

Worked there in the '80's.

[Maine-ah]

34. please read my post above, I'm a former bartender for Bee's.

[kentauros]

17. Why are they hiring toddlers as waitstaff?

Is that against child-labor laws?

Yeah, very bad wording of that headline. I hope he's okay.

[totodeinhere]

22. If that happened it was probably just an honest mistake.

I think that almost everyone has been served the wrong thing by mistake before at a restaurant. As long as the kid turns out to be alright I don't consider this to be any big deal.

[Blue_Tires]

25. story smells like BS

do restaurants regularly fill up sip cups? wouldn't the mother notice a different texture/color/scent as it was being poured?

[Codeine]

30. Total bullshit.

Not buying it.

[OhioChick]

36. Applebees does suck...

Wasn't their food recently rated worse for you than Taco Bell?
That's saying something. :puke:

[KamaAina]

37. Move over, Long Island Iced Tea. Here comes Michigan Apple Juice!

:beer:

[AngryAmish]

38. What is the sense of DU on the subject of getting toddlers drunk?

Pro or con?

[harun]

39. BS Meter is going off on this one...

[LisaL]

44. Well your BS meter is stuck on wrong.

[RamboLiberal]

40. All you calling BS on this - police confirm restaurant screwed up

Madison Heights Police officers discovered a leftover mixed drink combination, mislabeled as apple juice, was accidentally mixed with other apple juice then served to the child, according to a statement issued by the department.

“It’s being investigated by the detective bureau,” Sgt. Brenda Hillman said today, referring additional questions to detectives, who couldn't be reached.

Applebee’s corporate spokeswoman Nancy Mays said this morning that the restaurant chain is conducting an independent review of the situation.

“Obviously any situation like this is unacceptable,” she said in an e-mailed statement. “We are cooperating with local authorities and conducting our own investigation to assess exactly what happened.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20110411/NEWS03/110411012/0/NEWS15/Police-Applebee-s-investigate-toddler-alcohol-mix-up?odyssey=nav%7Chead

[OhioChick]

41. "A mislabeled bottle at the bar was poured into the cup for D.J."

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/national/toddler-tipsy-after-restaurant-mistakenly-serves-alcohol-in-apple-juice

Thanks for posting. I was just going to confirm it wasn't BS.

[RamboLiberal]

42. Woah - from your link this is 3rd time Applebee's has done this

It's the third time an Applebee's has faced this situation. In 2006, a New York Applebee's admitted to accidentally serving a 5-year-old an alcoholic drink instead of applejuice. And in 2007, a California Applebee's served a toddler a margarita in a covered plastic sippy cup.

They damn well better this time revamp their labeling and bottles!

[LisaL]

43. It's not the first time similar thing happened at applebees either.

So, I am really surprised some people were calling it B.S., considering it has happened before.