Hot tea

On Aug. 28 my son and I went to McDonald's drive-in Restaurant at Kelapa Gading. We ordered French fries and hot tea at the "take away" counter. I stopped the car on the way so that my son could drink the tea. Since the hot tea was bought in the "Drive- in Take Away" counter, one would naturally assume that it was drinkable (of a tolerable temperature) while the car is in motion. Also that the thermo cup would not be too hot to hold.

My son opened the cover. The tea was so hot that he could not hold it and the entire cup of tea spilt on his right thigh and severely burnt him. He has been under medical attention for the past 20 days.

Incidentally, McDonald's provide a straw to drink the tea thereby indicating that the tea is of the right temperature to drink. In fact someone told me to file a suit against the restaurant claiming damages, but we refrained from that attributing this sad experience to our misfortune.

My son is still not yet out of the bed after all he has gone through these 20 days. So I am writing this letter to make sure that readers/customers can be cautious when ordering hot tea. And so McDonald's can supply tea at the right temperature so that drinking it causes no harm.

I am sure that readers of this letter would agree with my viewpoint and hope that McDonald's will initiate immediate action to take the "heat" off this subject.

S.G. PRASAD

Jakarta