Did you hear about the toddler who got a margarita at Applebees?

[tlbwriter]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_applebees_alcohol

On Friday, Taylor Dill-Reese went to an Applebee's in Madison Heights, Michigan, where -- among other things -- she ordered her 15-month-old son Dominick an apple juice.

What the little boy apparently got instead was a margarita. His mom told WDIV-TV that she only realized something was wrong when Dominick "kind of laid his head on the table and dozed off a little bit and woke up and got real happy."

Some of the comments are very funny.

Anyway, I can understand how a mom could order orange juice and accidentally end up with a screwdriver, but a margarita? Why would anyone even pour that into a kid's cup? One commenter suggests the bartender was drinking on the job and had his own margarita in a kid's cup... that's about the only way I can imagine this would happen. Otherwise, what happens when the customer who's expecting a margarita gets apple juice? Isn't anyone going to ask where the margarita went? Another commenter suggests the mom gave her own mixed drink to the kid to calm him down and she got caught.

Also, if you ever wondered how weak the mixed drinks are at Applebees? Well, they're weak enough that a toddler will drink them!

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I actually think it's a pretty easy mistake for the bartender to make. I was a bartender at Applesbee's years ago. I'm sure lots has changed but when I was there, juices and rita mix were made up in the morning in plastic containers and labeled with masking tape (what was in it and the date ) As they were needed, we just grabbed them.

I think what probably happened was either the rita mix was put in the place that the OJ usually was, and the bartender grabbed the wrong container, not noticing the color. Or the container was mislabeled in the morning.

Horrible that this had to happen, but I'm actually surprised that it hasn't happened more.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_applebees_alcohol



Some of the comments are very funny.

Anyway, I can understand how a mom could order orange juice and accidentally end up with a screwdriver, but a margarita? Why would anyone even pour that into a kid's cup? One commenter suggests the bartender was drinking on the job and had his own margarita in a kid's cup... that's about the only way I can imagine this would happen. Otherwise, what happens when the customer who's expecting a margarita gets apple juice? Isn't anyone going to ask where the margarita went? Another commenter suggests the mom gave her own mixed drink to the kid to calm him down and she got caught.

Also, if you ever wondered how weak the mixed drinks are at Applebees? Well, they're weak enough that a toddler will drink them!

 

[U2_rocks!]

So the margarita mix already has the tequila in it? In that case I could see that mistake. But if you have to add the shot of tequila to the mix in order to make the final drink, then it must be a switch of cups of something - like some of the comments suggested, maybe the bartender gave the kid his drink that he was trying to sneak!

 

[marmalade]

On the news last night they said this was the 3rd time applebee's has done this. One kid was served a long island ice tea and I don't remember what the other kid received.

 

[tlbwriter]

So the margarita mix already has the tequila in it? In that case I could see that mistake. But if you have to add the shot of tequila to the mix in order to make the final drink, then it must be a switch of cups of something

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering - if he had to add tequila. Also, how distracted do you have to be to not notice that something is pale green rather than amber, even if the container is labeled "apple juice?"

On the news last night they said this was the 3rd time applebee's has done this. One kid was served a long island ice tea and I don't remember what the other kid received.

The same Applebees?

 

[msjprincess]

On the news last night they said this was the 3rd time applebee's has done this. One kid was served a long island ice tea and I don't remember what the other kid received.

I was going to say I could have sworn I heard of something similar happening a year or so ago.

 

[happygirl]

Wouldn't a bartender think it was kinda of weird to put an margaritia in a kids cup?

Didn't the parents know it smelled like a little stronger then apple juice?

 

[tlbwriter]

Didn't the parents know it smelled like a little stronger then apple juice?

I never checked my child's drink when I was ordering kiddie drinks for her - I guess I should have! But I don't think it would have been smellable, especially since it apparently had very little alcohol in it.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

So the margarita mix already has the tequila in it? In that case I could see that mistake. But if you have to add the shot of tequila to the mix in order to make the final drink, then it must be a switch of cups of something - like some of the comments suggested, maybe the bartender gave the kid his drink that he was trying to sneak!

Not usually but on busy weekend nights, I do remember being instructed to pre-make the basic margarita with tequila. On those occasions, I was always told to make sure that it was in a different shaped container and VERY clearly labeled. Maybe it was put in the same type of container as the juices

 

[happygirl]

I never checked my child's drink when I was ordering kiddie drinks for her - I guess I should have! But I don't think it would have been smellable, especially since it apparently had very little alcohol in it.

I don't check either, but I would think they could have smelled it on his breath

 

[marmalade]

The same Applebees?

No it was 3 different restaurants.

 

[becauseisaid]

Didn't the parents know it smelled like a little stronger then apple juice?

It's no necessarily something they would notice. Most kids cups are a frosted white color with a lid. So, unless you take the lid off and can SEE the drink, you're not going to know something is wrong.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I don't check either, but I would think they could have smelled it on his breath

Depends how close he was to his mom (or another adult) during/after drinking it, and anyway, if the alcoholic drinks at Applebees aren't all that strong they may not have made a person's breath smell.

 

[DMRick]

It had enough in it fo rthe child to test at .1, which is over the legal amount for DWI.
The doc's said luckily the parents noticed something wrong before he drank all of it, that it could have been fatal. Since they found it in the original container marked apple juice, I don't see how anyone could think the mom did it. Here is the original story:

A 15-month-old boy was rushed to the hospital after consuming alcohol accidentally served to him in a child's cup at a Michigan Applebee's.

It started when Taylor Dill-Reese ordered a kid's meal for her son, Dominic, requesting apple juice as the beverage. At first, the mother attributed her son's unusual behavior to "just being sleepy," she told MyFoxDetroit.com. "He was saying 'hi' and 'bye' to the walls, and he eventually laid his head down on the table," Dill-Reese said.

But the mother grew suspicious when Dominic refused to eat his food. She took a swig from his sippy cup and realized her toddler wasn't tired -- he was tipsy. After alerting the manager, Dill-Reese learned her son was given alcoholic margarita mix instead of apple juice, according to ClickonDetroit.com.

Madison Heights police were called to the scene and determined the drink contained a small amount of alcohol. The child was taken to the hospital, where doctors placed his alcohol level at .10 -- over the legal limit for an adult driver, the local Fox station reported.

Police believe the incident, which appears to be an accident, happened when a leftover mixed drink combination was mistakenly labeled as apple juice, according to The Detroit News.

Doctors told Dill-Reese her son could have died if he drank the entire cup, ClickonDetroit.com reported. The toddler was checked out of the hospital after doctors determined he was OK.

Applebee's issued a statement calling the incident "unacceptable" and promised to work with local authorities.

I never checked my child's drink when I was ordering kiddie drinks for her - I guess I should have! But I don't think it would have been smellable, especially since it apparently had very little alcohol in it.

 

[chabs]

This happened to one of kids when they were younger at Red Robin. There was alcohol in the kid's milkshake. Luckily my DS was old enough at the time to say that it tasted funny or we would never have known the difference. RR thought that the bartender did not clean the mixers properly before reusing. We didn't make a big deal out of it other than to notify the manager so that it wouldn't happen to someone else. Pretty scary!

 

[BKMETV]

I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time imagining that the water drown drink at Applebee's would have been fatal...I'm sure that it would have probably caused vomiting etc. but IMO this is just setting up to be a nice lawsuit.

Years ago one of our grocery stores sold apple juice in the same boxes as wine comes in (the ones with the foil bags inside) I was at a friend's and got juice for her toddler...the foil bag was just stuck in the fridge, not in the box because there was only a little left in it and they were trying to finish it off...anyways yes I gave the little girl a sippy cup of white wine...no I didn't notice the smell or anything...the only reason we figured it out was she made a weird face when she drank. Mistakes happen.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Here's one you guys will love. It happened several years ago and I'm still scratching my head over it!

My aunt (grown woman, raised 3 kids, now has 4 grandkids) took my cousin's 6-year old son to the grocery store with her. He pointed at something on the shelf and said, "Grandma, can we have that? We have it at home all the time." She said, "Sure," and put it in the cart. They got home and the little boy wanted to drink some. So she poured it in a cup and gave it to him. My uncle walked in and saw the empty bottle on the counter and questioned it. My aunt told him she bought it for the grandson and he was drinking it. My uncle said, "Do you know what Bartles and Jaymes is? It's a wine cooler! You just gave him alcohol!"

Now people sometimes make mistakes, but the woman didn't even bother to read the label or find out exactly what her grandson was asking for. He doesn't drink B&J at home, but his dad does and he recognized the bottles. My mom asked her if she was in the wine aisle and she said the B&J was on an end-cap so there was no other alcohol around. I think that's even more of a reason to read the freakin' bottle if the kid is asking for it! My cousin and his wife just laughed it off. They were much nicer about it than I would have been!

 

[tlbwriter]

My aunt (grown woman, raised 3 kids, now has 4 grandkids) took my cousin's 6-year old son to the grocery store with her. He pointed at something on the shelf and said, "Grandma, can we have that? We have it at home all the time." She said, "Sure," and put it in the cart. They got home and the little boy wanted to drink some. So she poured it in a cup and gave it to him. My uncle walked in and saw the empty bottle on the counter and questioned it. My aunt told him she bought it for the grandson and he was drinking it. My uncle said, "Do you know what Bartles and Jaymes is? It's a wine cooler! You just gave him alcohol!"

Now people sometimes make mistakes, but the woman didn't even bother to read the label or find out exactly what her grandson was asking for. He doesn't drink B&J at home, but his dad does and he recognized the bottles. My mom asked her if she was in the wine aisle and she said the B&J was on an end-cap so there was no other alcohol around. I think that's even more of a reason to read the freakin' bottle if the kid is asking for it!

Well, the note saying it contains alcohol is usually in very fine print. If he told me "we have it at home," I would have assumed it was something he drinks at home. And no, seeing it on an endcap would not have made me more likely to read the label. So I can see this happening pretty easily.

 

[DMRick]

So do you think the test the hospital gave him was wrong? I'm not sure how you would 'fix' that, just so you could sue. .1 tells me there was a lot more liquor in that cup than they normally serve. Maybe it was just the part of the mix that is usually mixed with other contents and he got the full amount. He didn't even finish his drink..the doc said that was good, because if he had, at his size it could have killed him.

I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time imagining that the water drown drink at Applebee's would have been fatal...I'm sure that it would have probably caused vomiting etc. but IMO this is just setting up to be a nice lawsuit..

 

[tlbwriter]

So do you think the test the hospital gave him was wrong? I'm not sure how you would 'fix' that, just so you could sue. .1 tells me there was a lot more liquor in that cup than they normally serve.

According to this blood alcohol calculator, one margarita consumed in 30 min by someone who weighs 35 lb would result in a blood alcohol level of about 0.146%. If you change the weight to 30 lb, his BAC would be about 0.172. Obviously this is just an estimate, and I have no idea how much the kid weighs or how long it took him to drink his half of a margarita, but it certainly seems likely that it was a normal drink, and that the BAC was high because of his small size, not because it was a stronger-than-normal drink.