Cardboard box on Starbucks floor results in a broken hip (and a complaint to Action Line)

The victim's son wrote to a newspaper columnist that the fiasco is "a nice story of how a woman was severely injured doing a good deed and how she got ignored by the Starbucks bureaucracy." I'm curious what you think of this case and how it was handled. Read about it here.

Comments

[I donate display sandwiches and bagels!]

Honestly, i hate the people who pick up donations. My store doesnt bother with donations, everything goes to the garbage... and for some reason they keep on coming and leaving empty handed.

They'll come @you during the busiest time and expect you to drop everything your doing, just so you can give them free food, that they'll probably munch on for themselves. My store simply doesn't have the time or storage for donations :D

Also how the eff do you slip on cardboard?

[Apples/Peasches/Cream]

Bananas are very slippery...

[drive]

This person should file a personal injury suit against Starbucks. An injury requiring a hip replacement is very serious.

[medevacs]

OMG, I love this kind of people, they slip on something and of course it is not their fault that they just don't watch what they step on.

[ncsm]

Why in the hell is Starbucks leaving cardboard on the sales floor?!?!? Stop being so damned lazy and/or uncaring and throw the boxes in the garbage where they belong!

[Jelucifer McBingo]

What kind of asswipe would step on something left on a tile floor?

[Lobstertrapper]

If the shift supervisor did not fill out an injury report and call it into Starbucks corporate within 24 hours then the company is in negligence of its own policies and in most cases liable especially if she slipped on a piece of marketing in a cardboard box. As the company was supposed to do training on that very safety concern. PS, the injury report should have had witness statements as well as statements from EMTs (I assume an ambulance picked her up) and the victim herself. Although I am certain he did the pattented starbucks cover your tookus line when she fell of not assuming any sort of responsibility. If he didn't then there is pain and suffering she can sue for.

[Di Peterson]

I am thinking that this story ranks up there with how to bash Starbucks! a Company
that takes great strides to support the working class!

[Tree surgeons London]

WOOOHH! I bet whoever left that box there is regretting it now lol on a serious note I hope the person gets all the compensation they deserve.

[promotedtocustomer]

Next lets go after the cardboard manufacturer, the company that produced the tile, and the company that made her shoes. They're clearly at fault as well. Everyone is so "sue-happy". This woman fell, broke her hip, and had surgery covered by her insurance, for Starbucks to reimburse her the 600 some odd dollars is sufficient. That's why this woman has health insurance. Sh-- happens. You don't just fall and break a hip, this woman was obviously older, and had a degree of bone loss. Should she sue a church if she falls in front of it on some rice thrown at a wedding? Or just big corporate? All these big lawsuits do is validate the greediness of the American people. Always looking to sue someone and get rich.

[baristamclane]

You guys are a bunch of jerks. She slipped on a box that wasn't supposed to be on the floor, and SHE is the bad guy??? Her frustration is understandable, her out-of-pocket medical expenses were equivalent to my monthly take home pay when I was still a partner, and she was getting the runaround while waiting several months for the company who was responsible for her injury to reimburse those expenses. If I was short $600-ish dollars, it would be more than a minor inconvenience!

[Ricardo McJiggis]

Maybe NO ONE is the bad guy. Jeez, every time I slip, or bump into something I don't look to sue someone. It is called "life"; just get over it. That's what AFLAC if for.

[Wasting My Life Hourly]

I bet she went behind the counter (which all donation people do) to get her families free snacks for the week and got so excited because a cranberry bliss bar made it in the box. I find it VERY ironic the people who pick up ALLWAYS are gold card holders....

[ncsm]

I can't believe that some of you are actually trying to defend Starbucks for having left cardboard out on the selling floor--a definite safety risk. Instead of lamely blaming the woman who fell and seriously injured herself, try taking a little bit of personal ownership for providing a safe and secure environment for your customers. Do you really care so little about the well being of your customers? This is why the whole "third place" idea is such a pile of BS!

[Herman]

surgery covered by her insurance

She is letting Starbucks off the hook only asking for her out of pockets expenses and screwing everybody else covered by her insurance company. If Starbucks is at fault, they are liable for all the expenses and should reimburse her insurance company for what it already paid out.

[WhatsInSKPM]

Hey partners,

What is the recipe for the new skinny peppermint mocha? I saw the sugar-free peppermint bottle but I was confused because someone mentioned a sugar-free or reduced-sugar mocha syrup. As I understand it, the recipe still uses the same mocha. Is it really skinny? I don't understand how using the same mocha would make a tall 100 calories though. Thoughts?

[DC]

Without knowing the true details, its hard to place blame anywhere. Reading the semi-vauge story, she took "a few steps from the front of the pastry counter" and slipped on a "folded box." For most stores I've ever been in, a "few steps" would mean there was a broken down box chilling in the middle of the lobby. I just find that super odd. Or was she behind the counter retrieving pastries and slipped on a box in the partner area?

On a related note, doing last years holiday set up, I had a box pushed up against the retail wall bays, well out of the walkway, and some mid-40ish guy actually said "maybe I should trip on that and sue Starbucks!" I think/hope he was kidding, but never underestimate the douchyness of people.

[Barista]

I'm not blaming the victim, but it does sound suspicious.
I work in a high traffic store and the only place you see a folded cardboard box anywhere in the store is NOT in front of the pastry case (which is a high traffic area) but in the back or behind the counter where it belongs.
Also echoing earlier comments, if this person fell in the store and had an injury that required an ambulance (and a broken hip is definitely one of those occasions) the supervisor would have immediately filed an incident report, which would have been reported to both the manager, the district manager and the company itself through a source directly trained to deal with such things.

It's unlikely that the company would ignore something as important as this.

[Barista]

@WhatsinSKPM

It is new sugar-free mocha, which will be kept on after the promotion for SKPM ends.

[btriex]

Did someone just say cardboard is a safety risk? Seriously?

Oh how I wait for the zombie apocalypse when people are actually responsible for their own health and well being.

Esp. people getting free stuff from Starbucks. Hey, why don't you also sue the nonprofit you are working for, after all you got hurt in the line of duty with your clumsiness.

Just the fact that you are admitting that a cardboard box almost killed you should be such a disgrace that you have to bow your head in shame.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

[ncsm]

@btriex: you really need to pull your head out of wherever it is and take a good hard look at reality! Of course discarded cardboard left out on the sales floor is a safety hazard! Read ANY retail company's health and safety manual and it will will clearly state that customers are to have a CLEAR AND UNIMPEDED area through which to walk. And WHY, WHY, WHY, would you leave cardboard on the selling floor except out of sheer laziness?

[Lobstertrapper]

Don't forget that Sbux has hired people specifically to troll these kind of sites and put there spin on things. Sbux hates bad publicity more than anything. They will do anything, anything to prevent it. Including blaming the victim--just think of them as corporate rapists.

[barista101]

my manager blamed the victim on an issue like this. too much merchandise on the floor was blocking the line, and a customer almost fell backwards; she says her neck was "hurting" because of this. my manager said, "well, it's never been a problem before."