Posted on 05/06/2005 5:59:21 AM PDT by nuconvert
Custard Customer Won't Return Finger
Friday, May 06, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. — To a dessert shop customer, the severed fingertip found in a pint of frozen custard could be worth big dollars in a potential lawsuit. To the shop worker who lost it, the value is far more than monetary.
But Clarence Stowers (search) still has the digit, refusing to return the evidence so it could be reattached. And now it's too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer (search).
"I'm not saying who has it, but somebody has it," Stowers said this week in a telephone interview, refusing to let on where the fingertip is now.
Soon after Stowers found the finger in a mouthful of chocolate soft-serve he bought Sunday at Kohl's (search) Frozen Custard in Wilmington, he put it in his freezer at home, taking it out only occasionally to show to television cameras.
He refused to give it to the shop's owner and refused to give it to a doctor. Fizer accidentally stuck his hand in a mixing machine and had his right index finger lopped off at the first knuckle.
Medical experts say an attempt to reattach a severed finger can generally be made within six hours.
But according to the shop's management, Stowers wouldn't give it back when he was in the store 30 minutes after the accident.
"The general manager attempted to retrieve it and rush it to the hospital," reads a statement posted Thursday on Kohl's Web site. "Unfortunately, the customer refused to give it to her and declared that he would be calling the TV stations and an attorney as he exited the store."
Officials at Cape Fear Hospital said their efforts to retrieve the finger also failed.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Who knew serving icecream could be so dangerous?
She should have given them the finger. Now, I hope a jury gives her the finger.
I hope the worker sues this jackass for 10 times what they could ever hope win from suing the store.
That is just plain wrong.
... just like with the Leader's Nose, in Sleeper.
Yup. He's an a$$
What I can't figure out, though, is how the amputated digit made it to the customer - you'd think you'd notice that the end of your finger had been cut off and that the chocolate ice cream was laced with blood, and be able to figure out where the missing piece of your finger was located before selling it to a customer.
NO ONE has addressed this issue, that I know of.
Here is a news story written by a person who has no clue and shouldn't be in the business.
The finger had to be re-attached within 6 hours of the accident.
The ONLY issue relevant here is what it says near the END of the story, that when the customer FOUND the finger, it was within 1/2 hour of the accident, and the customer wouldn't give it back then.
EVERYTHING that happened after that is irrelevant. And NOBODY is asking for the finger back NOW to be re-attached. There is no continuing saga here.
What is worse is what the reporter FAILS to ask.
If the guy lost his finger in the machine, he certainly KNEW it had happened. Why didn't they shut off the machine, empty the contents, and search for the finger? Sure, I want to be mad at the customer for not giving the finger back, but the store didn't make the appropriate effort to find the finger themselves.
Now, it is clear the customer wouldn't give the finger back because he thought it would help a lawsuit. I hope it sinks his lawsuit.
What I DO think is that every customer who was in that store should be able to file a suit, because if I knew I had eaten custard that had a guys blood in it, I would want to collect damages. Who cares about the finger itself, it was IN THE CUSTARD, and a lot of people bought that CUSTARD, and the store SOLD it to them.
But the guy that kept the finger should be counter-sued because the employee doesn't have a finger anymore.
Or maybe they could drop the suits, so the lawyers don't get any money.
I was talking to a lawyer a couple of days ago, and he said something very funny. A "saying" of sorts:
"The Best Things in Life are fees"
This is the only explanation I've seen............
"Shop owner Craig Thomas (search) said the employee who lost the finger had dropped a bucket while working with a machine that dispenses the custard. He tried to catch the bucket when the accident occurred.
Thomas told WWAY that several employees tried to help the injured worker, and that a drive-thru window attendant apparently scooped custard from the bucket into a pint before being told what had happened."
TWO people have lost fingers in this thing?!?!? There's something way wrong with this machine or the way people are handling it. I used to use one of those daily, and dismantle and clean it nightly. When the thing is operating (i.e. making custard) there's no way to get your hand into where the blades are without the custard pouring all over the floor. And before cleaning, it's rinsed out while still all put together. After that, you turn it OFF, and then dismantle it. There is no possible advantage (i.e. speed, convenience) to having it on while it's opened up for cleaning. I worked for a major fast food chain and would have heard about any accidents like this in the region (100 or more shops) -- never heard of even a cut. And this one shop has had TWO severed fingers? I'm not a big fan of government meddling, but these places usually employ minors, and it's high time for OSHA to pay a serious visit to this establishment.
That worthless sack of **** needs to be beaten for costing that employee a body part by failing to return it. Selfishness. Greed. Plain and simple.
I hope the employee sues the fingers off that customer... and then some.
The police should have demanded it back at the time. It's the property of the worker who lost it.
Unfortunately, it's too late now.
Well, if the young man waits for the first lawsuit, then he can turn around and sue the suer for withholding the finger, eh?
"there's no way to get your hand into where the blades are without the custard pouring all over the floor."
Notice the bucket mentioned in #9
I would think that there would be so much commotion at work when someone had a finger cut off! The customer should keep the finger for evidence and sue. None of the contents should have been dispensed to customers. It sounds more like the business is trying to keep the work-place accident quiet but it backfired.
Well now that just makes too much sense. :)
Pull her finger
There was no reason for the customer to keep the finger except out of greed and spite.
The customer is sentencing a 23-year-old to a life without one of his fingers to satisfy his own greed.
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