Last Updated on: 26th February 2019, 05:02 pm
The concept of personal responsibility just had its grave pissed on again.
A court in Brazil hasordered McDonald’s to pay a former franchise manager $17500 because he became obese while working there.
The 32-year-old former manager worked at McDonald’s for about 12 years and says he gained 65 pounds during that time.
The man says he felt forced to sample the food each day to ensure quality standards remained high because McDonald’s hired “mystery clients” to randomly visit restaurants and report on the food, service and cleanliness.
The man also says the company offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job.
His identity was not released.
Where to begin? I know, how about by defining the wordsample.
First, as a noun:
a small part of anything or one of a number, intended to show the quality, style, or nature of the whole; specimen.
And now as a verb:
to take a sample or samples of; test or judge by a sample.
Taken together, sampling something means trying a small portion, not shovelling mountains of it into your gob on a daily basis. You don’t gain 65 pounds by sampling, and you don’t need to eat everything to know that it’s all ok.
Moving right along,
The man also says the company offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job.
The key word there isoffered.
–verb (used with object)
1.
to present for acceptance or rejection; proffer: He offered me a cigarette.
2.
to propose or put forward for consideration: to offer a suggestion.
If this claim made any sense, the word that should have been used isforced.
–adjective
1.
enforced or compulsory: forced labor.
People have offered me all kinds of things, and I haven’t taken nearly all of them. For example, the last time somebody said “Hey asshole! How’d you like a kick in the nuts?”, I didn’t take it, and I left the situation pain free. That was an offer. However, if that person had said “Hey asshole! I’m gonna kick you in the nuts!” and then did so, that would be different. That would be forcing. McDonald’s offered you a free lunch, they didn’t hold you down and feed it to you. They offered, you accepted. Whatever happens to you after that point is your problem…at least until courts start making stupid decisions.
McDonald’s says it is considering an appeal. If it’s an appeal to reason I wish them good luck, because it seems to be in hiding somewhere.