Frog in Salad at Netherlands Burger King

Published on June 7th, 2006

Posted by KB in General

A woman eating at a Burger King restaurant in the Netherlands found a live frog in her salad, the company confirmed Sunday.

“What’s happened is that one of our guests Thursday evening found a frog in her salad. She went to the manager and showed him the frog. He saw it was there and that’s a fact,” said spokeswoman Christine Frey.

Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad quoted the customer, identified as 23-year-old Astrid Roek, as saying “it was a big black thing, a frog or a toad.”

She said she found the amphibian while halfway through her meal at the Burger King restaurant at The Hague’s central train station.

“I stood up and screamed the place upside-down,” she told the paper. Roek has submitted a complaint to the Dutch Food and Wares Authority, but is not expected to sue for emotional damages or punitive damages in the matter: large compensation suits are virtually unknown in the Netherlands.

“We know that everybody sues everybody in the United States, but Holland is not like that, it’s not how it works here,” Frey said.

Simple statement of fact, or wishful thinking on the spokeswoman’s part? You tell me.

19 users responded in " Frog in Salad at Netherlands Burger King "

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# 1 Dylan Neild said, on June 7th, 2006 at 9:39 am

Pretty much a statement of fact – most people outside the US don’t sue when something bad happens – they just say “that’s life” and move on.

Americans have invented this concept of “emotional distress” – something that appears largely when the party being sued has lots of money. It’s the American Dream ™ after all – rags to riches in one easy lawsuit.

Because working hard is for “european welfare states”….

# 2 Martin said, on June 7th, 2006 at 9:57 am

Definitely a statement of fact. The way it was explained to me was in the Netherlands you would get compensated for financial loss. If you claim emotional distress or similar you would get treatment instead of a big cash payout. Makes sense to me.

# 3 Gary Marks said, on June 7th, 2006 at 10:15 am

I’m getting ready to sue over the emotional distress of reading that article! Oh, the humanity!

# 4 chris said, on June 7th, 2006 at 10:27 am

I love the fact that you trademarked the amercian dream. thats awesome. This shows why other countries look at us like we are silly. they move on with life and we are stuck on details.

# 5 Peter Rodwell said, on June 7th, 2006 at 10:34 am

Simple statement of fact. Europeans – thankfully – don’t sue at the drop of a hat (or frog). In some countries, the frog would probably receive treatment for the emotional shock of having some woman screaming and disturbing its siesta.

The American mania for legal action is a deep, strange mystery to most Europeans.

# 6 Steve S said, on June 7th, 2006 at 12:26 pm

Peter Rodwell wrote:
“The American mania for legal action is a deep, strange mystery to most Europeans.”

No mystery really. Lawyers benefit the most from these types of lawsuits. Many politicians who author or vote “Yes” on laws that make it easier to succeed at these type of lawsuits were lawyers before they became politicians. Their friends, cohorts and minions are lawyers. They will again be lawyers after they retire from political life. Lawyers form organizations that pay good money to promote and contribute to the campaign funds (legally bribe) of politicians who support these types of laws. Judges who rule on these type of lawsuits were often lawyers before they were judges. As with politicians, their friends, cohorts and minions are lawyers. Follow the money, its as simple as 1 2 3.

A revolution is needed and an extremely bloody one at that!

# 7 RonD said, on June 7th, 2006 at 1:11 pm

“it was a big black thing, a frog or a toad.”
“Frey said the company had given its excuses and is trying to figure out how the frog got into the salad.”
“Frey said she did not know what happened to the frog following its discovery.”

Big black frog or toad, gets into salad undetected, then when found steathily escapes. It must have been a Ninja Toad.

# 8 RonD said, on June 7th, 2006 at 1:15 pm

Oh, and how in the world did you find a picture of a frog in a salad for this post? I am amazed!

# 9 KB said, on June 7th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

RonD, such pictures are often found only by taking obscene amounts of time. In this case, however, simply googling for images using “frog” “salad” was sufficient.

# 10 Angel H. Wong said, on June 7th, 2006 at 3:29 pm

Now that’s a fresh salad! Just imagine if she had pinched the frog and the blood and guts were spilled all over the salad.

“Waiter! This salad has a metallic taste… Omg! OMG! *woman throws up over the table*”

# 11 Jennifer Emick said, on June 7th, 2006 at 3:43 pm

I found a bug on my pizza once- a yellow ladybug crawled out of my arugula and walked right onto my fork. The manager couldn’t stop laughing when he saw it.

# 12 AB CD said, on June 7th, 2006 at 5:56 pm

Isn’t Europe the land of loser pays lawsuits? That puts a damper on the number of suits.

# 13 Ron Larson said, on June 7th, 2006 at 7:19 pm

Man. This is like the “Crunchy Frog” Montey Python skit.

# 14 joshua said, on June 8th, 2006 at 1:30 am

Unfortunatly the U.K.is starting to get American type lawsuits. Almost everyday now there are several making the news.

Another American export that brings down a better society.

# 15 Miguel said, on June 8th, 2006 at 2:10 am

Burgers have way too much calories…

# 16 Fabrizio Marana said, on June 9th, 2006 at 2:01 am

Definitely matter of fact.

In the Netherlands, the customer screamed but wouldn’t sue for emotional damages.
Now if this happened in France, the customer would have complained that the frog wasn’t properly cooked, but still but wouldn’t have sued.
In Germany, they would have laughed uproariously.
In Britain they would have informed the (impeccably dressed) waiter something like “Sir, would you agree that this very much looks like a frog in my salad?”
In Belgium, they wouln’t even have noticed.
In Italy, they would have insisted on having it grilled first and then returned to them.
In Spain, …

Did you notice no-one would have sued???
Outside of the US, an article about someone sueing some or the other person/company for a zillion dollars because they were so stupid they fell down a hole, always appears in the “humourous” section.

Fabrizio

# 17 KB said, on June 9th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

Fabrizio, that was excellent !

GregAllen, your family and my family would have gotten along. In the BK case, I think I would have taken the frog outside and come back in and finished my meal. Well, I probably would have asked for a fresh salad.

# 18 KB said, on June 9th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

Apologies for the two smiley faces in one post. I believe in moderation.

# 19 mike said, on May 2nd, 2007 at 2:23 pm

This reminds me of the finger in the chili and the blood ketchup. Im from New York City and if you slip infront of some ones house on ice than you can sue them. This place is sue city

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