Hot Coffee Karma: The Day Was Bound To Happen

I have written about the hot coffee litigation for years. So much so that I suspected that one day I, too, would face my own hot coffee incident. After all, there is only so many times one can say, “Coffee is meant to be served hot and producers shouldn’t be held liable for serving it that way,” before the fates intervened. Karma works that way.  As I anticipated, that day finally came.

Recently, I had an out-of-town deposition that required me to leave my house long before nature intended humans to wake. After the lengthy deposition concluded, I began my sojourn home and thought it wise to acquire a cup of coffee. Thankfully, I found a not-to-be-named establishment selling coffee near the deposition location. I purchased a cup at the drive-thru and proceeded towards the exit to make my way to the interstate. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Turning left out of a parking lot with a cup of hot coffee in your right hand is not the best idea. Not able to coordinate the counterclockwise turning of the steering wheel with the proper handling of hot liquid, I squeezed the cup a bit excessively and dropped it. The lid dislodged, and piping hot coffee poured into my lap. And, let me be the first to tell you, it was hot. Really hot. Just how I like to drink it, but not so much how I want it soaking my nether regions. Apparently, karma burns.

Thankfully, I learned a thing or two about hot coffee during my studies (and knew to exercise a bit of common sense). I jumped out of the car (stopping first, of course) and pulled my pants away from my legs rather than allowing the hot coffee to cling to my skin. Thereafter, I engaged in a bit of a “shimmy” typically only acceptable on the dance floor of a wedding reception. In not so scientific terms, the movement kept the clothing fabric separated from the skin and allowed the coffee spill to air dry (or something like that). After several minutes of the “shimmy,” the worst passed. I wiped up the coffee lingering in my car seat with a towel, and  I was out of harm’s way.

While karma may have won the moment, the spill wasn’t the epiphany it may have desired. Rather than learn the horrors of hot coffee, I went right back to the drive-thru and ordered a second cup. I didn’t tell the establishment to lower the temperature. I didn’t call the news to report the hot coffee spill. I didn’t threaten to sue. Nope. Not me. I put that coffee right to my lips and enjoyed that first sip of piping hot nectar just like I always do.

You know why?

Coffee is meant to be served hot and producers shouldn’t be held liable for serving it that way.