“Waiter, there’s a mouse in my salad!”. These are not the words you want to hear if you are a waiter at a nice theme park restaurant. And, they are not the words you want to hear if you are a theme park attorney getting ready to tee off with your boss and your friend in marketing. The guest was outraged; understandably so. A lawsuit was looming on the horizon. The waiter had apologized to the guest and removed the offending salad ad guest). There is no way a mouse should have ever been in the salad, much less ever gotten by the attention of the kitchen staff.
A call went out to Public Relations and to the General Counsel of the park – who, as was mentioned was getting ready to tee off for a round of golf. The attorney’s boss and his friend were not much help since once they were over the initial shock of the story, were doubled over in laughter listening to the attorney’s phone conversation:
“A mouse?” – Yes.
“How was the salad presented? Was the mouse dead or alive?” Dead
“Were the salad bags damaged?” No
“Do we have the latest inspection records on file? Any evidence of mice in the restaurant?” No.
“Could this be a vendor issue? Do you still have the mouse in question?” No, the salad and mouse were thrown away.
“Please retrieve the mouse for me.”
The attorney had a horrible round of gold that day as he was on the phone more then he was over any shot. BUT, here is what was discovered. They were able to retrieve the mouse. And, guess what they found? The mouse was marked! It was a laboratory test mouse. They were able to trace it back to the lab – and guess who worked at that lab? Yes – the guests that were threatening a lawsuit.