← Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood
Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood
167. The McDonalds Hot Coffee Case
00:48:18
Stella Liebeck VS McDonalds
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- [00:10]
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Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in Die My Love, a ferocious portrait of a woman engulfed by love and madness. Lawrence and Pattinson play a passionate couple who, after moving to an isolated house in the country, find their relationship unraveling following the birth of their first child. Vanity Fair hails Lawrence's performance as astonishing, and time calls it the kind of performance you go to the movies for. From director Lynn Ramsey, Die My Love is Only in theaters November 7th.
- [00:51]
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- [01:27]
Katie Charlewood
Hello, delicious friends, and welcome to who did what Now? The history podcast. That's not your history class with me, your host, Katie Charlewood, history harlot and reader of books. Part of me is really tempted to just get, like, a bunch of my friends and acquaintances and mutuals from all across the globe to just do their own little who did what now? Like, what? It just, like, have that and snippet that in the beginning of every episode. Because, like, that would amuse me. Nobody else, probably, but I'd find it funny. And I wouldn't tell you whose voice is who. So, like, if it was somebody, you'd be like, do I Do I know that voice? It's just my own amusement, and I might never do it, but I. I think it's funny. But it is my birthday month because apparently that's a thing. And so I decided to use that as an excuse to make the theme of this month stuff Katie likes to talk about. And considering my, like, official area of expertise, my specialty, some might say, is the rise of sensationalism and the use of print as propaganda in the late modern period. One would assume that misinformation, disinformation, sensationalism and propaganda in history would be something I'm interested in. And you would be correct. And so that's like, this week's particular theme. Now it is my Birthday month. My birthday is, is later on in the month. So I will be one year older and one year closer to death. And I've had people dming and asking like, do I want something? Can I send you a thing? Listen, if you want to send me a card or whatever, my care of address is on the website, it's there. You can go look at that and do what you want to do there. If you want to do some good and put some like good in the world out there. I have a fundraiser on my Instagram which is linked to a food kitchen in la. There's also a link for the burlesque hall of fame. If you want to donate there. If you really want to get me something, if you really want to get me something, one my PayPal is there. You can donate to my smutty little dress fund. But if you do particularly want to get me something specifically that isn't a weird copy of Frankenstein you've discovered somewhere because I collect copies of Frankenstein. If it's not that gift vouchers for like what Katie did buttress and Snatch glam use, you know, I'll put links for all of this stuff in the description down below and you guys can do what you want with that. And remember, this is a dark time of year for a lot of people. Like, it's tough. Like a lot of shit's going on in the world. And I'm not telling you to be nice, but I am suggesting that you be kind and check in on your pals, make sure they're doing okay. There's a lot of people out there right now that are barely treading water. And if you can be there for someone, do that. And if you need to reach out to people, do that too. Like your friends are more considerate and caring than you're worrying about. Anyway, news. I have news also. That's enough human emotions for a moment. The London show. There are still a couple tickets left. If you haven't got your tickets for the London show this Saturday, get them, come see me. We'll have a fun time. I may even have fun facts in the bosom again. It's now become a thing when I talk about anything sad. And it's all about a great imposter this week. So it's going to be super, super fun. Yes. And other shows. The Dublin show information should be coming out soon. And again, if you're listening to this at the day of release, then the Belfast show will have just been announced as well. But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Katie, it's been four full minutes. Quit your jibber jabber. In five. Fact me. In fact you. I will. But first we've got to get our source on. Our sources are Urban Legends and Stella Liebach and the McDonald's coffee case by Ted Frank. The MacDonald coffee cup case, separating McFacts from McFiction by Feyne Law Distorting the Law, Politics, Media and the Litigation Crisis by Michael McCann and William Holtam. Kramer vs. JavaWorld by Mark B. Greenlee. Lessons from Lybeck by Denny g. Rutherford. The 2011 documentary Hot Coffee A Matter of Degree. How a Jury Decided that Their Coffee spell is worth 2.9 million by Andrea Garland. We also have articles from the American Museum of Tort Law, the Legal Information Institute, the Journal of Consumer and Commercial Law, and the Pool Law Group. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin. So I was humming and hawing over what exactly I was going to cover this week for, like, misinformation, because I knew I wanted to talk about something that had been misrepresented not only through history, but also in, like, popular culture and the media and stuff like that. And something I heard about when I was younger and that I had been misinformed about and then learned about at a later stage. That's what I wanted to do. And I wanted to do something a bit more modern because we'd been in sort of the Middle Ages and the early modern era, like, for a good bit, you know, we haven't gone much further than that. And so I thought, let's jump. Let's time jump a little bit. And I also have a soft spot for women who have been misrepresented in history. And it also led to this concept that America was full of frivolous lawsuits. And yeah. So this is when I wanted to talk to you about Stella Liebeck versus McDonald's. Like, this was huge when I was younger. Like, I remember this being everywhere. Like, even across the pond, even where I was from, I held about this. Also, forgive me, my voice is a bit scraggly at the minute I am drinking my throat coat. Sahar, if you're listening, being good. So, yes, Stella Liebeck, the woman who sued McDonald's for coffee being hot. Sounds frivolous, doesn't it? And that is by design. And this is from an era when comedy still punched down, Right. This was commonplace and countless jokes were made at this woman's expense. The woman who sued McDonald's for the coffee being hot. It's ridiculous. It's silly. It's something very easily mocked, but the truth behind the matter, a story more shocking than the headline would lead you to. And this is a story about Stella Liebeck. Stella Liebeck was a 79 year old retired department store clerk and lifelong Republican. This conservative geriatric granny is in the passenger seat of a 1989 Ford Probe driven by her grandson Chris. It's the 27th of February 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the duo pull into the drive through window of a McDonald's on 5001 Gibson Boulevard South East. She orders a 49 cent cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin. 49 cents coffees. I mean it's still a bad coffee because it's from McDonald's, but also a 49 cent coffee. Inflation, inflation lads. So she orders her coffee, she orders her McMuffin and her grandson Chris, he parks the car, the Ford Probe, so that his gran can add hum, milk and sugar to the coffee. Now something about the Ford Probe is that it did not have cup holders. Car manufacturers had started putting cup holders in automobiles from about 1983. But even into the 90s these were shallow, they were poorly placed, or I'm going to say frail, poorly constructed with some even being like these wobbly things that you attach to like the side of the car door. Now the Ford Probe, it did not have cup holders of any fashion. So like it was made in 89 but still hadn't quite made its way there yet. Right, and it's 1996 anyway, before cup holders were properly considered by the majority of car manufacturers, especially in the us. So Chris, he parks the car, he's in the parking lot of the McDonald's and Stella, she's got her coffee cup and she puts it between her legs like many of us have done with a beverage when we're trying to do stuff with our hands, we've like slotted it between our thighs, holding it in place so that we can, you know, use our hands. So she's got the coffee cup between her legs, a McMuffin in one hand and she's using her free hand to remove the lid of the coffee cup so that she can add her milk and sugar because they would just give you the coffee black and you had to add like the bits and pieces. And so she pulls a little too hard and the lid is off, but the coffee cup flips, spilling the entire contents over her thighs. And this coffee was hot and not just oh dear, that's some hot coffee. This is scalding hot. The temperature was 190 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 90 degrees Celsius. Now water boils at 100 degrees Celsius, so it is very nearly boiling hot. It's simmering hot, it's scalding. And unfortunately for Stella, she's also wearing sweatpants because she's an American in America, so that's what they're called there. So I suppose for anyone not from that area who doesn't know what sweatpants are, it is a athleisure trouser. It's soft and full. It's not form fitting, sort of like we'd call them tracksuit bottoms, tracky bottoms, joggy bottoms, joggles. I don't know another name for them. If you know a name for them, just add it in the comments because I, I think that's all I know. And the thing about sweatpants, especially sweatpants made back then, is they were made of cotton, the purpose of which was to absorb like the natural juices from the body. So it was to absorb sweat. That's why they're worn in, in athletics and other sporting stuff. So yeah, the cotton fabric absorbs the coffee, soaking the sweatpants and holding that 190 degree Fahrenheit coffee to her skin. Stella, unsurprisingly, screams. It is a sound that her grandson Chris had never heard before, like out of her mouth or anyone else's. And at first he thinks she's just overreacting. That is until she gets nauseated, goes into shock and passes out from the pain. And this young fella, right, he's there, he's just been driving his grandmother about. He pulls in to the McDonald's car park so she can have her coffee. Now next thing you know, she lets out an ungodly scream and then passes out in the passenger seat of his car. So like, like he's already in an unknown situation. He manages to leap out of the car and pull her unconscious body from the vehicle and like, quick as fuck thinking, pulls her sweatpants off, like, pulls the bottoms off and he's got like towels in the boot of his car, the trunk of his car, and he ends up wrapping her in it, like quick thinking, he manages to wrap her in the towels, gets her back in the car and he drives to the hospital. Like hell for leather. And when Stella gets to the hospital and she is like, she's brought into the emergency unit, she's seen by the doctors. And one of the doctors, he says that it is the worst burn case that he has ever seen, like in all of his tenure Right. In Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now. Now I'm fairly certain that doctors there are used to burns. I just. But yeah, this doctor says they are the worst he's ever seen. And you can see the photos by the way. And the photos are horrific. Like I've seen skalds and water burns. I've had, I had one when I was a kid actually when my dad was supposed to be looking after me. He wasn't doing that. And I was in the kitchen and the kettle was like boiling. So an electric kettle. So there's a plastic kettle, it has water in it, it is boiling. It has been left unattended with me. So I climb up onto like the counter. Sorry, I'm sidebarring here for a second. So I climb up onto the counter and I go to get something. I don't know, maybe I was trying to help make a cup of wozy, maybe I was looking for cookies. Whoms to say? Anyway, one thing led to another and I fall off the counter with the kettle on top of me and I end up like with a big scald like down my leg. And I remember going to the hospital because my gran actually used to work in a pediatric buns unit. Like she'd retired at this point but she was always the one who took me to the hospital. I remember this many times. So like for all my stitches and every dodgy thing that I managed to get myself into, I was a sick kid but also accident prone. So the hospital knew me well. Now I was sitting there and all I can remember about that specifically is I remember telling like I don't know my brothers that my leg looked like lasagna and that was the only way I could describe like what my skin looked like at the time. I don't remember much after that, but yeah, that was, that was a moment. So anyway, back to Stella, the 79 year old grandmother with the worst burns the doctors in this hospital have ever seen. And she spends a grand total of eight days there. And the reason she spends only eight days there is because she cannot afford to stay there any longer. A woman who has worked her entire life. Yeah. Her daughter basically becomes her carer in order to get her to and from the hospital for like three weeks of skin grafts, which are excruciating by the way. Like this is a painful procedure. She should have stayed in hospital for the length of this. A procedure that she required because of the damage done to her body. Right. But she couldn't afford to. Like that is shocking like on its own before we get into the rest of this. That's fucking shocking. Stella Liebeck had third degree burns over 6% of her body with second degree burns over 16%. That's 22% of her body. 22% of her body is burned from a cup of McDonald's coffee.
- [19:46]
Movie Trailer Narrator
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in Die My Love, a ferocious portrait of a woman engulfed by love and madness. Lawrence and Pattinson play a passionate couple who, after moving to an isolated house in the country, find their relationship unraveling following the birth of their first child. Vanity Fair hails Lawrence's performance as as astonishing and time calls it the kind of performance you go to the movies for. From director Lynn Ramsey. Die My Love is Only in theaters November 7th.
- [20:12]
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- [20:33]
Katie Charlewood
So, okay, Burns, I should probably give you some, some context if you don't know how the burn degree works. So first degree burns, they are superficial. So they're red. There's no blistering. It affects like the epidermis. So like the outer layer of skin, it's painful, but it heals like three to seven days. And there's, there's no scarring. So things like, like light sunburn would also be considered like a first degree burn. Now the second degree burn, it affects the epidermis and the dermis. So like the first and the second layer, it's sort of like you've got these shiny red blisters. These are swollen and painful. You've got blanches with like pressure. So if you touch goes from like red to white. And it can go yellow or white actually. And that lasts like three to eight weeks, like maybe, maybe a little bit more. And this can scar. Like you can get scarred from a second degree burn. And there's a lot more depth to it. Like it goes deeper through the layers. And third degree burns, they go even deeper still. So this affects the epidermis, the dermis, and the deeper tissue. So you've got white, brown, sort of coloring of the skin. There's no blanching. It's kind of leathery. It does scar. You've got scarring, you've got the skin contracting and it really requires skin grafts. So like you need this in order for that to heal because it is so deeply damaged. And so over the course of her treatment. So three weeks, over the course of three weeks, Stella Liebeck lost 20 pounds, which is kilograms, 9.1 kilograms, which was nearly 20% of her body weight. And she was permanently disabled for two years. Now, I don't mean to be a negative Nelly, but health and safety exists for a reason and there is no valid reason for it to be procedure to make a beverage that is so hot that it would permanently disfigure someone and paralyze them for two years. Stella Liebeck writes a letter to McDonald's saying that they should check their coffee machines because maybe it's just that specific location in Gibson Boulevard southeast, but it's probably best to check out the rest of their machines as McDonald's is standardized by design. You know, just to make sure that this doesn't happen again, which I'm pretty sure we can all agree that, you know, that's quite reasonable. Like, yeah, let's please make sure that no other people have to get skin grafts on their thigh and buttocks, you know, and are permanently disfigured and paralyzed, you know, because of this. So Stella, she also requests that the multi million dollar corporation cover her medical bills and the time her daughter had to take off work to care for her, you know, so again, fairly reasonable. It was like ten and a half grand to cover like the, the medical bills that she'd had and like another two and a half for the future ones and then you know, the additional like salary that her daughter had lost. So like $18,000 altogether, like I think it added up to. And so she was like, please, now McDonald's, the multi million dollar corporation responds to her letter and guess what? They offer her the large, large sum of $800. And so the 79 year old grandmother and retired department store clerk said fuck this for a game of soldiers and gets herself an attorney. S. Reid Morgan was an attorney in Houston who had worked on a case of another woman severely burned by McDonald's coffee. So yeah, another case. So clearly this has happened before. This is a known incident. So they're aware that this is happening and he's dealt with them before. And so Morgan, he reaches out to McDonald's to try and settle and so he initially throws out the offer of 90 grand. So $90,000 to settle. That covers medical bills, pain and suffering, loss of work, and of course his sweet, sweet lawyer's fee. A McDonald's ignores him. And so the day before the lawsuit, he reaches out again. For this time he's up to the ante because he's like, no, no, you had your chance to go on the lower end of the scale, but now 300,000, right? So he'd thrown out 300,000 for them to settle, expecting they'd come back in, so they'd haggle a wee bit, right? And like afterwards he said like he would have settled for 150 grand, right, he would have gone for 150k. Done, right? He was putting the big number out there to get lesser because he knows what these people are like. And again Morgan's offer is ignored. And so on the 8th of August 1994 they go to trial and it's weird, like it's a weird trial because normally there's one person being like guilty, not guilty. This didn't happen. Um, there's no disputing the facts of the case, right? This is why it's strange. The facts are, A, McDonald's coffee is too hot and B Stella Liebeck spilled coffee on herself, right, that those are the main facts of the case. No one is disputing those facts. Both the prosecution and the defence are agreeing that those happened. So the prosecution discovered that McDonald's required all franchises to hold coffee between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. And they argued again quite reasonably that there was no reason for coffee to be warmer than 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 degrees Celsius, which anyone who's ever done a food hygiene course will tell you that's the temperature that safely kills off bacteria. So 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 degrees Celsius. So when you're washing your hands, you should be washing your hands in 60 degree water because you know if you're going to be prepping food or I don't know, scrubbing in for surgery, those are the two things you need. So there's that. So there's no reason for anything to be hotter than that. And so the prosecution, right, they traveled around testing temperatures of theirs and other establishments, right? So they're going round and they're checking the temperature of like the takeaway coffee, the coffee to go, they're checking the temperature in like all these different like businesses. Cuz they want to contrast, compare so that they've got, you know, the comparison, right? So they do that and they're like, yeah, 140 degrees Fahrenheit doesn't need to be any hotter than that. That's what X, Y and Z do. So during the trial, like it is discovered that Mickey D's had settled over 700 burns cases. Like you have 700 burn cases, you have settled 700 burn cases. So if 700 cases have come forward. Just imagine the ones that didn't, who didn't think to hire a lawyer, who couldn't afford to hire a lawyer, who couldn't come forward, who maybe, you know, suffered from their injuries and didn't think there was another option. Like, your company received 700 burden cases, and you don't think, maybe I'll just reduce the temperature? Like, what? So one of the execs is questioned on why. Like, why have coffee at a dangerous temperature in the restaurant? Like, why would you do that? Which, again, I mean, I feel like a broken record here, but I feel like that is yet another reasonable question. Hey, why have you got this product for human consumption that you are keeping at a temperature that. That is dangerous to humans, especially if it comes into contact with their body, which is fairly important for a human. So, yeah, and so this, right, his response is just like, well, there are more dangerous things in the restaurant. Like, are there? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Is the Hamburglar gonna leap over the counter and beat me with a bag of frozen hash browns? Like, no, that's not a risk. When you buy something from a McDonald's restaurant. Now, the direct quote is, actually, people don't drink coffee straight away. They drive for 20 minutes, then drink it. No, simply put, no, that's not a thing. Right? Like, I leave a coffee shop, I go to a little independent coffee shop called Broseph. It's very good. It's run by two brothers, hence the name. One of the brothers makes better coffee than the other. I will leave it for them to argue amongst themselves who it is I don't get. They don't listen to this, but buy your coffee. And Broseph, if you're in Letterkenny, Donegal, by the way, shout out product placement. No, I. Fuck. Anyway, it's not. It's not an ad. They just make my coffee four days a week, five if I have to do things on a Sunday. But, yeah, I am drinking that coffee as soon as it is in my hand. Now, I am drinking that coffee as soon as it is in my hand. Now, I'm old enough and ugly enough to know better. And so I know by the feel of the cup if that's gonna take me a minute before I can drink it. Like, I am drinking that coffee as soon as it is in my hand. Well, that being said, right, I'm old enough and ugly enough to know better. So I know that it gets to a point where I can feel the cup and know if the liquid inside, roughly, is Safe for me to consume. So, because, listen, a scalded tongue is going to do me no good, right? Or anyone for that matter. But yeah, people buy the coffee to drink the coffee. Like, otherwise I would just make coffee at home and consume it there, even though I drink tea at home, but that neither here nor there. So, yeah, people buy the coffee to drink the coffee. Now another one of these motherf ers, I swear to Christ. One of the McDonald's lawyers he's interviewed in Newsweek and on the Record, he says first person accounts of sundry women whose nether regions have been scorched by McAdee's coffee might be well worthy of Oprah, but they have no place in a court of law. Like, this is very much using the media to twist public opinion to sort of paint her as, like a silly woman and to make fun of the fact that her groin, her thighs, her buttocks, right, that these have been damaged and disfigured and that she's had to suffer painful skin grafts. You know, she's been paralyzed for two years. And this vile, repugnant. I'd call them a demon, but I feel like demons would have much better manners. Oh, they just make me so angry, right? So in court, right? Another shitty thing they do is in court they try to argue that she wouldn't have had such severe burns if she had younger skin. I'm sorry, you're shitting me. If her skin was younger, she wouldn't have been as damaged. So that's, that's okay, even if that was the case, right, Even if that was the case. One, how much younger are we talking here? Like, I'm sorry, But how many 10 year olds do you have in 1992 that are drinking black coffee from McDonald's, right? First of all, secondly, right, even if being younger was relevant to how severe the damage was to her body, you're basically just admitting that you don't care if elderly people are hurt because of your actions, right? Like, oh, it wouldn't have been as bad if she was younger. But we're not going to try and do anything to protect this elderly person. And that's the thing when it comes to her injuries, right? So again, like, we had a doctor in the hospital saying that it was the worst burn case that he had ever seen, right? And one of the jurors, like, after seeing the images of her injuries, it had such an impact on him. Like after seeing this, when he gets home, he tells his wife and daughter to stop drinking coffee, right?
- [36:11]
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- [36:41]
Katie Charlewood
Did I talk too much? Can't I just let it go? Thank you so much. Take a breath. You're not alone. Let's talk about what's going on. Counseling helps you sort through the noise with qualified professionals. And online therapy makes it convenient. See if it's for you. Visit betterhelp.com randompodcast for 10% off your first month of online therapy and let life feel better. So the jury, they deliberate for four hours. So they go, they do the deliberation, and they come back with a $2.9 million settlement. That's 200,000 for medical expenses and pain and suffering. But this is reduced by 20% because she spilled the coffee. So this is reduced from 200,000 to $160,000 because, like, she spilled it. But even if she spilled it, it should not have caused this much damage. So, like, there's this whole health and safety thing. Like how health and safety works for, like, products and goods is they're designed in a way that they're meant to be. Idiot proof is the best way to describe it. It's so that even someone who doesn't know what they're doing should be protected. So, like, I saw a thing recently, and it was a jar of matches, right? So it was a jar of matches and it had like a little, like, flat lid and the striker was on the side of the jar. Now if the striker is on the side of the jar and they've taken the lid off the jar to strike the match, as they strike it, like a spark comes off the lip, match falls into the jar full of matches, and the whole thing goes aflame, right? Like, now that shouldn't happen. One, if you're gonna have something that's an open top, the striker should be in the bottom. But I don't have that here. As someone who lives, who used to live quite rurally, but now I live in a house that also has, like, a stove. I have bottles of matches. And the reason they sell them as a bottle and not a jar is because, you know, it's harder to put it in. And a lot of these will have The. The striker right at the bottom so that you have to turn it upside down, you know, and therefore won't get near any of the other matches. So it's supposed to, like, even if you do the silly thing and you strike it a certain way, you should not ignite the stuff inside. So it's again, idiot proof. So even if you do the wrong thing, it should still be fine. But anyway, on top of the 160,000, McDonald's is to pay 2.7 million in punitive damages. Why $2.7 million? Well, I'm glad you asked because I'll tell you. So how they came up with this money? And I feel like this is what took most of the deliberation time. I think they were just doing math. So this is based on two days of coffee sales, you know, by McDonald's in the U.S. like, that is where they came up with this number. Now, the New Mexico District Judge, Robert H. Scott, he's like, that's too much, right? And he reduces the punitive damages down to 480k. So, yeah, he's like, you can't give her this much money. And this is where, like, this hits the headlines because the jury suggested that she get like 2.9 million. And so everyone's like, she's offered 2.9 million for spilling coffee and it makes her the butt of a joke, right? So the judge, he's like, reduced this down to 480k. And both sides appeal this, right? And they end up settling out of court. Costello's side is like, no, make this more. Because that's what the jury said it should be. It should be higher. And of course you've got McDonald's going, no, this should be lower. So this whole thing, this led to a massive mockery everywhere. Woman sues McDonald's for coffee, being hot. Like she is painted as some grafter who's abusing the legal system when she was fucking paralyzed for two years, left disfigured and disabled because of the shitty practices of a corporation. And in all of these articles and all of these reports, no one ever reached out to Stella Liebeck, right? No one reached out to her. Not to her, not to her family. They just kept pushing this narrative like they were running with the story because, you know, it's. It's like rage bait, really. You know, it's like the ye. I say the yield as if it's like it was 94, but, like, this.
- [42:31]
Leah Thomas
Is.
- [42:33]
Katie Charlewood
Just being snowballed and she's just an atom of mockery, right? And Instead of like contacting her in any way or anyone trying to hear what has happened because of the way this story is pushed. A woman who initially just wanted her medical bills taken care of, right, and just for her daughter to be compensated for her having to take the time, like three weeks, for three weeks being off work. So instead of communicating and trying to find the real story, there's this push about frivolous lawsuits. Because deeming it frivolous protects the corporations. And this ends up perpetuating this American stereotype. Oh, you know, they'll sue over anything. And like it becomes a global joke. Like it spreads across the world where it becomes this, this idea of what an American is like. Not only that, you know, oh, they'll sue over anything, but also that, you know, they'll make up things and create situations in order to sue, like all the time just so they can steal money from like these big corporations. And because it's pushing this narrative, right, it's mocking the victim. And because it's mocking the victim. And remember 700 previous cases, by making fun of this, by belittling it and demeaning the very idea of it, by mocking the victim, it stops others coming forward. And like when it came to Stella Liebeck, the settlement that she received covered the cost of a live in nurse the last 10 years. She had no quality of life, she didn't go out anymore, she didn't socialise, she lived a life in pain, she was disabled, she was disfigured, she was uncomfortable, she was a butt or of a joke. And even if the people closest to her knew the truth, she faced ridicule, whispers and sneers and snide remarks being a point of mockery because she was permanently injured and because she dared to stand up to a company whose business practices were deliberately harming others, right? And so for the last 10 years of her life, she didn't really have one. And so on the 5th of August 2004, at the age of 91, Stella Liebeck passed away. And so ends the story of Stella Liebeck versus McDonald's. Now I know it's like fairly recent history, but it's one of those moments where it's fairly easy to recognize how the narrative was twisted and how this victim was, you know, belittled and mocked and, and publicly discredited in order to absolve this big business of wrongdoing even though they knew they were wrong. And it's just like the way that it's spread over the news and across the world, it's Very easy to see how the propaganda spreads and how easy it is for it to be chunned out. But yeah, that is my retelling of this story. If you liked it, rate and review five stars. If you didn't like it, keep it to yourself. I don't want to hear it. Yeah, so I've had a few people question me about transcripts actually, and I've. I should be transcribed. I have it like on the actual, like on the actual hosting platform. It's like transcribed and then also on like Spotify should be transcribing. I don't know why it's not if it isn't. Cuz I pressed all the buttons and it's saying it is. So at this point I. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, get your tickets to see me this weekend or see me in Belfast or Dublin when those dates come up. And happy birthday month to me, I suppose. Um. Yeah, I, I saw a thing the other day. Sidebar before we end, where a. A mutual of mine had said that they were sort of going 1990s and their media consumption. Yeah. And so they were watching like slow TV shows and movies and less time on social media. How they were calling their friends instead of messaging them and stuff like that. And I was like, oh, that's really good. So I really want to get nice stationery. I've been thinking about this for a while because I wanted to get like really nice stationery and start writing letters because you all know I love letters. I love them. And so I'd love to. To just start writing to people again. I just think it'd be quite nice, something slow like my media consumption. I've tried to make it slower because it's supposed to be really good for your mental health. And I'm trying to make it never to actually hang out with friends and stuff more like, I'm organizing more stuff for next year to try and give myself that option to go and like see people and hang out and do fun stuff. But. Yeah, but do all the good stuff. Have a great time. And it is recommendation time already, so. Okay. It's Movember as well. So like people are growing mustaches and shaving mustaches and there's a mustache situation happening. And in light of that, and also the slow media consumption is for watching, I'm gonna recommend Magnum P.I. the original TV show with Tom Selleck and his magnificent mustache and teeny tiny shorts. Like like the very first episode. He's in like these short shorts and I, I find them so Funny. So, yeah, that. That's fun. So couple costume, one year, if I'm ever in a couple. Jessica Fletcher and Magnum P.I. they did two crossover episodes. I've seen neither, but I now own both. Both of those collections. And so I'm. I'm gonna get to it when. Whom's to say? But I am. So that's that for listening. The Spice Girls discography. Right, That's. I'm sorry, that's how it is now. 1990s girl pop. Spice Girls. Go for it. Go to town. And for reading. The Boyfriend by R.L. sting. It's a point horror book, if you can get your hands on it. I honestly don't know if I can. Did I recommend this in the last episode? I don't remember. It's like, one of my favorite books I read as a teenager. Point Horror was like a series of. Of, like, horror books for young adults, teenagers, if you will. And so R.L. stine, of Goosebumps fame, he had written this one called the Boyfriend. I also remember the Girlfriend, but to a lesser extent. But I can still smell the boyfriend. Like, that's. That's how good it was. I can. I can still, like, if I think about it, I can remember exactly what the boyfriend smelled like, which is. It's good writing. Right. If you can, like, trigger that response. But yeah, that is my. That is my recommendation for.
- [51:27]
Leah Thomas
Yeah.
- [51:27]
Katie Charlewood
For today. And so I shall bed you all. Good night. Adios. Au revoir, avoirs, eh, my friends. Bye Bye.
- [51:39]
Movie Trailer Narrator
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in Die, My Love, a ferocious portrait of a woman engulfed by love and madness. Lawrence and Pattinson play a passionate couple who, after moving to an isolated house in the country, find their relationship unraveling following the birth of their first child. Vanity Fair hails Lawrence's performance as astonishing, and time calls it the kind of performance you go to the movies for. From director Lynne Ramsey. Die My Love is Only in theaters November 7th. Rated R.
- [52:09]
Paylocity Advertiser
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- [52:12]
Katie Charlewood
Here's a show that we recommend.
- [52:16]
Leah Thomas
For centuries, colonization has fractured our relationship with the land. We've come to position ourselves outside of nature as observers and masters of it, as if it were ours to control and bend to our will. But the earth pushes back, reminding us otherwise. I'm Leah Thomas. I'm the founder of the nonprofit Intersectional Environmentalist. And I'm excited to be returning as your host for season four of as she Rises. This season, we're exploring rewilding, building. We'll hear how communities are letting the land lead and reimagining what it means to truly coexist with the natural world. Subscribe now and listen to this season of as she Rises. Wherever you get your podcast.
- [53:02]
Katie Charlewood
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.