Personal Responsibility : Waiter – is that “poo” in my icecream?

It’s a sad day when “poo” (or if you’re the sensitive type, excreta or faeces) becomes the central news unfolding around the country. For me the story is less about “poo” and more about personal responsibility. But let’s first go over some of the finer details of how this story unfolded.

A couple of weeks ago, a Sydney family accused a hotel bistro of planting “poo” in their ice-cream after the family had lodged various previous complaints about service. The offending item wasn’t placed into the ice-cream dish in an obvious fashion. It was so discretely placed that it apparently appeared to be an inconspicuous chocolate scoop nestled innocently amongst several other flavours. The item was so well camouflaged, that is was allegedly tasted by a member of the slighted family, so the disgust factor for the public definitely goes up several notches.

Just to get the context right here, preliminary DNA tests have identified the offending item officially as human “poo” which was sufficient to land the family some form of financial compensation in settlement of the issue. While i am hoping that more specific details will emerge following health department investigations, what is interesting about the story is the “poo” people can dig themselves into when they fail to take responsibility for their actions, including:

• Both the family and the hotel staff were motivated about stating and preserving their rights, rather than by calmly resolving whichever initial dispute which led to the incident. 
• Initially the hotel denied any wrongdoing (although has since demonstrated a keen and thorough sense of responsibility)
• The family took the matter out for public sympathy and invited a barrage of public criticism
• The incident appears to be an extreme example of passive-aggressive vengeance, not to mention disdain for the health of other human beings.

I for one sit with bated breath hoping to hear more specific results about whose DNA the offending item belongs to. Not to point the finger, but in the hope that the whole incident is a lesson to everyone of the potential spiralling consequences of the blame game and failing to take personal responsibility for our actions.