Applebee's serves margarita to toddler

I never allow my child to drink his drink unless I have tasted it myself first! My son almost always has either regular milk or chocolate milk and my main concern has always been that the milk may be bad! Until recently we started giving him rootbeer, and again I taste it first just in case it is flat or too much carbonation. Simply put, my son is too young to know any better. But, a mother should know better and she shouldn't ASSUME. Mothers are supposed to be cautious with their children no matter what or where!

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Personally, I feel they shouldn't allow children under legal drinking age in ANY establishment that serves alcohol. PERIOD. Not only are they a distraction to the people that are in there socially, but nine of ten times their parents don't watch them, and they run all over the place. Kids belong in McDonalds, etc., NOT in a place where ADULTS congregate to have a few cocktails with their meal.

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MY RESPONSE to #22:

Barbara:
You may think that isolating children is the best policy but in case you have not figured it out, children and parents go hand in hand! Maybe children you know are out of control but other children are not. Sure glad they let you out of the barn after all these years!

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Why would someone not bring juice from home? Granted this probably was just a mistake. But why take the chance?

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i have a 2 yr old and when we go out to eat i have given the sippy cup to someone. i always order the water and then pour it in. my main reason is why would i want someone else touching that where she drinks. i am a restaurant person and my husband is even a restaurant manager so we are quite comfortable and just have never done that. when i have waited on people and they've asked me to do that i always have felt strange and why are they comfortable with this, they don't know me from bob smith.

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first of all, I would NEVER entrust my child's sippy cup in the hands of some idiot waitress in a restaurant. I would order the apple juice and then I myself would pour the juice into the cup-much smarter!

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Just this past week I took a friend to a well known steak house in Panamana City Beach Fl. Angelo's. There my friend ordered a mix drink in a glass you take home dor a souvernior. The watriess brought over the drink sat it down in front of my friends five year old daughter and I asked "What is that" she said it was a virgin drink. I told the lady that my friend did not want a virgin drink she said the child could have that one, and returned with the real thing and her young daughter begain to drink her's. Big mistake it was the real thing. After a talk with the manager and getting alot of I'm sorry. They did take off the $8.00 for my friends drink. Oh wow, how nice is that. Any way always ckeck your childs drink. It does happen.

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i love applebees but they are clumsy and not to mention slllloooooooooowww as crap witht heir service last time we went i ordered chicked and was hungry as we waited over a hour for our food after eating 1/4 of my chicken i glanced down only to see my chicken was solid pink not even cooked and covered with gravy i mean totally raw the manager came out and said a quick sorry mam and that was that 30 minutes later i recieved a small burnt piece of chicken in tis place but we had our 3 kids with us 1/5/12 and after 1 1/2 hours and people hollering at the bar watching a game we were just ready to go. and i dont plan on returning any time soon.

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How do we know that mom didn't spike the sippy cup herself, in the hope of suing the restaurant? The kid's symptoms, according to the article, occurred later and after they left Applebees. Sounds really fishy to me.

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Well, lots of different views on this. I am leaning both ways. Hard to say....First off dont think that the sippy cup should have left the families table. And I honestly couldnt see an employee taking it and filling it themselves in the back. If thats the case that person needs proper training or let off the job.
I wouldnt want to think someone would intentionally take a kids cup and fill it with alcohol but at this day in life anything is possibly. People just dont seem to care. There's so much unsantised things going on behind food places we just arent full aware of how cruel people are. And to put a child in harm at that is rediculous.
As for the theory the mother needing a good lawsuit. people tend to do it everyday. They find ways and they win. My husband works at a mall and weird things happen everyday. He comes home telling me the most amazing stories about somoene trying to get the mall for some kinda accident occuring. People are money hungry. So there is a good possibility that mother felt pretty confindent in this situation. Sad thing would be she used her small child to pull one over. Makes you wonder!

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I have three kids and not once EVER have I given one of my kids cups to a waiter, waitress, etc.... No one mentioned if the drink had alcohol in it or if simply the unusual taste of something different made the boy sick. I do not believe this story one bit! The mother is up to no good!!!!

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I had a similar experience with my now 16-year old when he was about 4-years old. We were at a Mexican restaurant and asked for a "kittie" Strawberry Margaretta. The waiter clearly understood that it was for a youngster and it was to have no alcohol. Unfortunately the bartender forgot about the no alcohol part of the drink. My son got very sleepy quickly. We then tasted his drink and found the problem. Fortunately there was no real lasting effect and he was OK the next day.

As I mentioned my son is not 16. There were no long term effects to this day and he is a staight "A" student.

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reply to comment#22
barbara...
you sound like your mama didn't love you enough to take you out to resturants other then gasp..kiddie ones that you reflect the same feelings on other kids. I take my kid out all the time and for 2 she's better behaved then some adults. News flash "kiddie" resturants like chuck-e-cheese serve alcohol(anough loud gasp), so what are we to do leave 'em in a plastic bubble at home and not take them out so narrow minded people like you can enjoy a drink with out a kid with in 10 miles of you???

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I've known many many people to work in restaurants - and the truth is, A LOT of employees drink while on the job. Not all of the time, but it does happen. An old roommate of mine was working at Joe's Crab Shack in Sacramento, an an employee was drinking a beer out of a sippy cup, givn to him by the bartender. A table orders an apple juice for their child and in the rush of things, the beer was given to the table. It was in a sense an accident - no one meant to give any child alcohol. The employee that was drinking the alcohol & the bartender who served it should definately be fired.

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I can't believe you would think this is a mistake. How old do you have to be to know the differnence between a sippy cup or your Logo cup. Let's be real. That person should be fired immediately. Who you serve alcohol to in the Food and Beverage inndustry is key. No excuses

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to mujituji. Giving a child a beer on accident cuz your employee was drinking is no accident. If you cant wait til you get off to drink then call AA

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I was a server for 12 years, and I believe this was an honest and very horrible mistake. Juice in a restaurant is actually kept in the bar for cocktails. Chances are that the mother gave the server the sippy cup and requested that the juice be poured into the cup. A server probably picked up an alcoholic beverage that looked like apple juice and poured it into the cup thinking that it was juice. I know that one of the restaurants I worked at one or two other servers accidentally served an alcoholic beverage to a child thinking it was juice. The child took one sip and complained, then mom and dad realized what it was. The parents weren't upset from what I understood; they realized it was an honest mistake. I'm not saying it's acceptable, but it was a complete mistake that I'm sure the server feels just horrible about.

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Like some of the other people have said, I work in the service industry. We also keep the margarita mix in it's own container and mix with tequila when ordered. I just can't see any server putting alcohol into a child's cup. Maybe the mix, but actually adding a shot of tequila is absurd. My advice, don't send child's cups to the kitchen. It really isn't a server's responsibility to fill your child's cup. Order a beverage and put it in yourself.

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I have waited tables before and whenever someone wanted something for their kid we were never to fill it ourselves but bring to the table in a seperate container. I have even worked at an applebees before and that never happened. Oh and the comment about the lady that tasted vodka in her OJ. How do you taste vodka? It has no taste. I think that lady has some issues of her own and just wanted attention at that business. The lady with the margarita in her kids sippy I think is bogus and she put it in there herself. I have never seen anywhere. Anywher I have been the parent never hands the cup to the server. I think she should be sued for being liable and making false statements.

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I would never let the sippy cup leave my table.
iI always order his juice in a separate glass and pour it myself, after tasting it. There is so much
craziness in the world you never know what happens when someone is having a bad day and wants to take it out on someone.

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