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Burger King Spatula Door Handles... A few years ago, Burger King started replacing their tubular door handles with ones shaped like large spatulas. I read the story behind this and an award was given to a young engineering student for the design. My first thought was... the handles were too big and close for safety and represented a liability. Some of them disappeared and the tubular ones were reinstalled. I see the spatula handles have come back now, attached to makeshift metal spacers to give more clearance. Public buildings are designed with outswing doors. In the event of panic, people can (safely) push their way out of a building. The Spatulas haven't changed from the original size/design but they were intended to fit over the location of the original 3/4" tubular handles. By doing this, the handles went past the edge of the door and were less than 1/2" from striking each other. Potential problem. There wasn't enough safety margin between them. If you started pulling one door open and someone quickly opened the other door, there was a chance you could crush or possibly loose a finger. I'm happy to see they worked around the spatula problem. It's not perfect, but much better than before. However, the biggest question in my mind is... what's the significance of the spatulas? Their product is flame-broiled on a conveyor system. They take the burgers off the grill with tongs. Maybe the handles should have been flames. I'm serious saying this. Spatulas don't come into the picture with flame-broiled hamburgers. Someone in the corporate office had to approve this. High ranking officers and marketing professionals decided they needed to replace (perfectly good) tubular handles with spatulas. I didn't tell you about the time I walked in to Arby's one night. A young was slicing meat and talking to a coworker. Apparently not paying attention, he cut off a finger and fainted to the floor. The other worker stood there in shock. I turned to my friends and suggested we go to another restaurant. |
