Wednesday, August 25, 2010
F'ed Worst thing ever happens to 4-year-old Alpharetta boy (our apologies in advance)
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart @gwynnstu on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 4:47 PM
So, we got a press release the other day from local law firm Jones & Associates, and I made the executive decision not to post anything about it because the case in question is JUST SO GROSS. But, because it's my duty — and not one that I take lightly, might I add — to keep our readership informed, I've reversed that decision.
Warning: this is not for the weak of heart, spirit or stomach, but here it goes. Only because I care ...
A 4-year-old Alpharetta boy was injured when he came into contact with a used condom at an Atlanta hotel where his family was spending the night.[The boy] and his grandmother, Carmen Jones of Alpharetta, arrived at the Wyndham Garden Hotel on the night of July 31, 2010. Ms. Jones, [the boy], and other family members had spent a long day at Six Flags Over Georgia and had made reservations for the night with plans to visit the Georgia Aquarium the next day.
“We were terribly exhausted,” said Ms. Jones, who said the party went to sleep shortly after arriving at the hotel, 175 Piedmont Avenue N.E., Atlanta.
The next morning, August 1, Ms. Jones noticed that Room 329 did not appear to have been cleaned. She contacted the front desk and requested that clean coffee cups and other supplies be brought to her room.
While Ms. Jones was in the bathroom, she heard a scream from another family member. She ran out of the bathroom to see [the boy] with a condom in his mouth, attempting to blow it up. Upon inspection, Ms. Jones saw that the condom contained semen from previous use. The boy had found it in the bed sheets.“He had his tongue in it,”Ms. Jones said. “I immediately took it out of his mouth.”
After alerting the manager on duty to the incident and requesting alcohol and mouthwash for her grandson, the manager came to the room. Ms. Jones explained what had happened to [the boy] and said she wanted to retain the condom to have it tested. The manager, citing “company policy,” put on latex gloves and took possession of the condom, despite Ms. Jones’ protests.
Ms. Jones, who along with the boy’s father, Preston Jones, is represented by the law firm of Jones & Associates, took [the boy] to a family physician and later to Scottish Rite Hospital for further treatment. [The boy], who has developed sores on his mouth, underwent a battery of medical tests. The results of those tests are pending.
Ms. Jones has filed a police report with the Atlanta Police Department.
She and the boy’s father now live in fear that [their child] will suffer serious health problems from this incident.
I'm not sure what's more disturbing: that this poor child might have some kind of gross mouth STD from attempting to blow up a used condom or that the Wyndham has a "company policy" regarding the disposal of used condoms found by its guests.
The first part. The first part is more disturbing.
(The press release included the little boy's name. It was edited out of respect for grown-up-him, who I'm sure won't want friends, girlfriends and future employers finding this via a Google search 15 years down the road.)
Comments (8)
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I stayed at a villa in Phuket and the nightstand on my wife's side of the bed was full of used condoms. We just left them there and went about our business.
This made me sick to my stomach reading this. I have children, and I cannot imagine what our family would go through with something like that! My heart goes out to this poor boy, and hope whatever he contracts is treatable. An ass-kicking for Wyndham employees involved in the incident is in order. And tell them it was only 'family policy' for such a violent event to have occured.
IF this indeed happened as the family stated, my heart goes out to the little boy. However, in my opinion it sounds like the Wendy's finger in the chilli bowl story. Why would you accept a room that has not been cleaned? I don't care if you're exhausted or not. If the room is not sanitary, then ask for another one. Why wasn't the condom discovered until the next morning? Being that the room was so nasty, as the grandmother stated, why didn't she check the beds before they went to sleep? Were the beds made? If so, you mean to tell me that the beds were made, but the remaining of the room was nasty? An AJC story states that there was no soap and bath towels in the room when the family arrived. These items were brought up to the room after the grandmother requested it. The AJC story also states that the hotel comped the room, feed the family and paid for admission to the Georgia Aquarium. You're going to let hotel officials take the condom in question, but buy you a meal and pay for admission to an aquarium? I would have taken the condom, placed it in a plastic bag and went immediately to the police station. I would have also given the boy mouthwash myself. Mouthwash, toothpaste and a toothbrush should have already been in their luggage. Who travels without these things? If the grandmother was in the bathroom when the boy found the condom, who was in the room with him? Was he unsupervised? How many rooms did the hotel unit have?
As a communication professional, during daylight hours, the most offensive part of the whole matter is that whomever wrote the press release included the name of a minor.
Making the case for why interns should never be allowed out of the pen to do more than go fetch your smokes and a Starbucks.
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