A mug of coffee is how most people get their day started. When that doesn’t go as planned, a whole day can be ruined. A Florida woman was served “chemicals in a cup” at a McDonald’s in Alabama and she was not loving it.
Sherry Head ordered a coffee through the McDonald’s drive-thru in DeFuniak Springs in December 2021. One employee told her that coffee was unavailable at the moment because the machine was being cleaned, just before another employee came on the speaker to say, “No, it’s ready to go.”
Clearly, the machine still had some residue left inside because Head immediately knew something was off after tasting the drink. When she went back through the drive-thru to ask for help, the manager at the window said the drink was fine.
Head called emergency services and the McDonald’s employees refused to show first responders the bottle of chemicals that had been used to clean the coffee machine. The lawsuit Head filed in Houston County Court demands $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
Head has since been diagnosed with scarring and narrowing of her throat, difficulty swallowing, chronic gastritis, acid reflux, and abdominal pain caused by inflammation and erosion of the stomach. It’s possible that she may need surgery in the future to repair the damage done to her throat and preserve her ability to swallow.