KFC paying mauled little girl's medical bills

[Borgholio]

http://www.people.com/article/kfc-pays- ... ississippi

KFC says it's investigating allegations that a restaurant employee in Jackson, Mississippi, asked a 3-year-old to leave because her facial injuries disturbed other patrons.

The company is also giving $30,000 toward Victoria Wilcher's medical bills, a spokesman said Sunday.

The allegation about KFC was made Thursday on "Victoria's Victories," a Facebook page following Victoria's recovery from a pit bull attack in April. The administrator posted a photo showing Victoria smiling shyly in spite of her facial scars and cartoon-decorated eye patch, writing, "Does this look scary to you? Last week at KFC in Jackson MS this precious face was asked to leave because her face scared the other diners."

KFC posted an apology the next morning, requesting details.

"As soon as we were notified of this report on Friday, we immediately began an investigation, as this kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC," spokesman Rick Maynard wrote Sunday in an email to The Associated Press. "Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria's family and are committed to assisting them. The company is making a $30,000 donation to assist with her medical bills. The entire KFC family is behind Victoria."

Her grandmother Kelly Mullins said Victoria had just been to a doctor's when they stopped at the restaurant. She ordered mashed potatoes for Victoria because she thought the hungry child could swallow the soft food without chewing.

She says she was then approached by an employee. "They just told us, they said, 'We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,'" she told WAPT-TV.

Victoria wept all the way home and now is embarrassed by her appearance – something that wasn't the case before, Mullins said.

"She won't even look in the mirror anymore," Mullins said. "When we go to a store, she doesn't even want to get out" of the car.

Victoria was attacked by pit bulls at her grandfather's home. The dogs broke her nose, both jaws, cheekbones and right eye socket; the right side of her face is paralyzed, and she lost that eye, according to her Facebook site. Her bottom jaw was reconstructed, but she needs a feeding tube and must grow more bone in her face before more surgery is possible, it states.

The page's administrator wrote Sunday that "Victoria's Victories" had gone from 250 people praying for Victoria to thousands.

The page had more than 55,500 "likes" on Monday.

A message posted Friday evening by another Mississippi KFC franchisee, Dick West of West Quality Food Service in Laurel, offered "a big KFC picnic" for the child and her family.

West also wrote that he knows the Jackson restaurant owners, "and they have never in the 50 years they have operated in Jackson allowed anyone coming into their restaurants to be treated with disrespect."

In a message to the AP, he wrote, "I am sure KFC will make their finding public as soon as the facts are in. In the meantime, I offered to treat Victoria to a picnic because regardless of the outcome of the investigation, she has been thru more than any little girl should and I wanted to give her a special treat."

[TheFeniX]

Damn, that's pretty fucking heartless. Not that it's even relevant, but the picture from the link isn't exactly a horrifying disfigurement. The response from KFC is mostly PR, but at least it's something better than McDonald's "tough shit" response when that man was physically assaulted in in France by "their" employees.

I'm not big on the whole "I'll never eat at KFC again talk" because people forget that they are franchise operations and I doubt KFC policy is "don't look normal, GTFO."

I've had issue with Red Lobster's policies and the way they handled enforcement. But that was against a particular restaurant and wasn't exactly emotionally charged like this was.

[Themightytom]

yeah KFC better go all in on this to deal with the negative pr. They might want to throw a little sensitivity training into the ol' orientation video, wow.

[Broomstick]

I suspect it's more along the lines that the particular individual who happened to be the employee wanted the little girl to leave because he was disturbed and not because "other patrons" were scared, or even said anything. My spouse and I have encountered enough asshats in life to know that sort of shit happens, but these days it's almost always an individual and not a corporation doing that, if only because corporations have lawyers that they pay to protect them from lawsuits.

If an individual/employee was that fucking heartless I hope the restaurant meted out appropriate discipline and offering to kick in for some of the kid's medical care is a fine gesture. People saying "I"ll never eat in KFC again" is just stupid, blaming the tens of thousands of people who work in KFC's for the actions of one individual. But then, I have serious issues with group guilt and guilt by association.

[Thanas]

This is pretty much "Oh God oh god pleasepleasedonotsueus" or maybe its lesser cousin " let'snotkeepthisstoryinthenews". Then, maybe a few years removed they'll quietly cancel the payments and nobody will care.

[Broomstick]

Only time will tell.

[Enigma]

I'm not as jaded as some here. I applaud KFC's move to compensate the little girl for her troubles even though they could simply just make an apology and leave it at that. Sure it is a PR move on KFC's part but they went beyond a simple apology and donated money. I seriously doubt they'd just cancel payments as I believe the $30K is just a one time thing. Besides, to KFC $30K is nothing so why be asshats and provoke a PR shitstorm by trying to cancel the donation?

As for the idiot who told her to leave, I truly believe that by now that person is fired. There's no way KFC would want that person to stick around after he\she cost them money and reputation.

[General Zod]

This is pretty much "Oh God oh god pleasepleasedonotsueus" or maybe its lesser cousin " let'snotkeepthisstoryinthenews". Then, maybe a few years removed they'll quietly cancel the payments and nobody will care.

Two words: Tax writeoff.

[Batman]

On the the scale KFC operates on I'm not sure the tax writeoff for a measly 30K donation amounts to much.

[Grumman]

Tax writeoffs also do not work the way a lot of people seem to think they do. It might mean the donation drops their profit by $25,000 instead of $30,000, but they're still paying for it - they're just not paying income tax on the money they are giving away.

[General Zod]

On the the scale KFC operates on I'm not sure the tax writeoff for a measly 30K donation amounts to much.

Every writeoff counts. How do you think companies like GE manage to actually get a few hundred million in returns every year?

[Gandalf]

On the the scale KFC operates on I'm not sure the tax writeoff for a measly 30K donation amounts to much.

It changes a story from "girl kicked out of KFC" to "KFC pays for surgery." They win more than 30K in good PR, sans tax.

[Broomstick]

On the the scale KFC operates on I'm not sure the tax writeoff for a measly 30K donation amounts to much.

Is that money from the corporation, or from the franchisee? Rather an important question. To the KFC corporation $30k is what they find in the couch cushions at corporate headquarters. To the owner of a franchise, which is basically a small business, it is relatively speaking a far larger sum.

[General Zod]

On the the scale KFC operates on I'm not sure the tax writeoff for a measly 30K donation amounts to much.

Is that money from the corporation, or from the franchisee? Rather an important question. To the KFC corporation $30k is what they find in the couch cushions at corporate headquarters. To the owner of a franchise, which is basically a small business, it is relatively speaking a far larger sum.

The entire KFC family is behind Victoria.

Sounds like the corporation to me. I don't think individual chains have spokes persons.

[His Divine Shadow]

They should add two zeroes to that sum or get fucked, and then sued for an amount with three zeros extra.

[Grumman]

They should add two zeroes to that sum or get fucked, and then sued for an amount with three zeros extra.

You're an idiot.

[His Divine Shadow]

No u

[Enigma]

They should add two zeroes to that sum or get fucked, and then sued for an amount with three zeros extra.

They didn't have to do squat and if KFC gets sued they could drag it until they bankrupt the girl's parents. Instead, KFC (for whatever reasons) decided the best course of action was to help the little girl.

What next HDS? Dig up Col. Sanders' grave and beat the shit out of his bones, douse it with gasoline and light it up? Hurf Hurf...

[His Divine Shadow]

To me it looks like the case is a lot more solid than that and KFC are lowballing them with a sum that is small change in their eyes in hopes of not being taken for more. I fucked up the figures, but I was adovacting for 300k as a more serious sum (given how expensive medical costs truly are in the US) and if they tried to get out of that, then sue.

And fine I was extremely angry when I wrote the first reply, but it hit me close to home.

[Darth Tanner]

Seems like an open and shut case of one employee or manager being a twat and the company doing its best to cover its arse from the bad PR shit storm.

I'm not quite sure what you expect to sue them $300k over.

Is that money from the corporation, or from the franchisee?

I'm pretty sure that franchisee is finished for bringing the brand into bad PR land.

[Borgholio]

So a single employee (hired by the franchise, not the corporation) acts like a dick, the franchise owner and manger apologize, and the corporation (which is in no way involved in the day to day operation of individual franchises), voluntarily donates $30,000 dollars to the child's medical bills...

...and you want to sue the corporation for more?

If the franchise didn't do anything about it then yeah I'd say sue the franchise but what exactly does the corporation have to do with this? Suing the corporation for more is just being greedy.

[His Divine Shadow]

Fine I recant any and all statements I've made. I'm being emotional on the issue and lashing out, I also sorta hate fast food corps on general principle so that probably plays a part.

[Borgholio]

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the corporate bigwigs are saints here. I agree with you fully that corporations are not exactly the most honest / moral entities on the planet. I don't really trust them either.

I'm just saying that the proper party should be sued (if at all) rather than just the brand name. Now that I think about it, I wonder if corporations do franchising exactly for this reason, to limit liability since the corp isn't the one actually owning / running the store...

[General Zod]

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the corporate bigwigs are saints here. I agree with you fully that corporations are not exactly the most honest / moral entities on the planet. I don't really trust them either.

I'm just saying that the proper party should be sued (if at all) rather than just the brand name. Now that I think about it, I wonder if corporations do franchising exactly for this reason, to limit liability since the corp isn't the one actually owning / running the store...

That really depends on the guidelines established by the parent store. They can still open themselves up to lawsuits if they didn't establish, say, proper guidelines for food sanitation. Or the safe temperature of their coffee.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, some franchisees have a lot more freedom than others. Taco Bell's franchises could be a lot more casual than stores actually run by YUM brands (the parent of TB). Personal experience; worked in a franchise and then moved up to a brand-owned store.

Some of this is regional differences as well. One area may well conduct business in a fairly casual fashion, while another may be more fast-paced and regimented.