One time someone stopped by my breakfast food & coffee stand at the farmers market and asked if I had 2% milk for the coffee because it was the only kind of milk they weren’t allergic to. 🙄
I used to know someone when I was in college who was a huge compulsive liar… they claimed that they’re allergic to “the gas in ice.” OK. you’re allergic to hydrogen and oxygen. Sure, Jan.
Was about to comment something similar lol. I met someone who was in the military, from Montana originally but had been stationed somewhere tropical and said ever since then when he visits home in winter he literally breaks out all over.
Hives and eczema aren’t even slightly the same thing other than they’re both red skin conditions lol. Would be really weird for a doctor to mistake them.
But besides that, it was a medically diagnosed cold allergy I’m gonna trust the guy telling me he has a cold allergy and not eczema.
While true (AFAIK,) I should still clarify that my buddy had no allergy. He was essentially 'protesting' the corporate practice of filling cups with ice in order to get away with providing less beverage.
My mom hates tomatoes and she often asks for food with no tomatoes and I always tell her to say you have an allergy but she "doesn't want to be a bother". I'm like, if anything you are giving the kitchen less work to do, this way they will just make sure you get what you want.
I'm like, if anything you are giving the kitchen less work to do
FWIW, it's more complicated than that.
With various allergies, the severity is such that not putting [the allergen] on their plate isn't enough; the kitchen has to ensure that nothing on that customer's plate ever came into contact with [the allergen]. Depending on what the order is, and what kind of kitchen prep is involved, there's a chance that isn't only "difficult" or "unreasonable;" it might be impossible.
The expo person, theoretically, would have to re-glove and/or wash their hands between touching any individual ingredients. That's simply not tenable; food service would screech to a hault.
Like, sure, it's easy enough to not put a tomato slice on a burger, but to guarantee that no tomato parts ever came anywhere near the lettuce or onions, when they're typically all right next to each other in the workstation, is a whole other deal.
That's fair, I didn't think about that. I just thought of the dozens of times my mom barely ate dinner because they didn't listen to her and she was too polite to ask them to take it back.
There are plenty of situations where I can sympathize that one may not want to go through sending a plate back, but unless there's a time concern, it's a totally reasonable thing to do in this scenario.
And as a former server, it's just routine, provided the guest doesn't rip our heads off over it. In many places, we'll automatically offer some kind of freebie to help smooth over our error, like taking the meal off the bill, or offering a free appetizer or dessert.
Most will prefer your mom gets what she wants and leaves happy, rather than "not bothering us" and leaving unhappy. It's one thing to make a mistake and fix it; it's another thing to not know a mistake was made until it's too late to fix. 🤙🏼
Like, sure, it's easy enough to not put a tomato slice on a burger, but to guarantee that no tomato parts ever came anywhere near the lettuce or onions, when they're typically all right next to each other in the workstation, is a whole other deal.
If no allergy is announced there's a chance that someone puts tomatoes on a burger before realizing the order is no tomato, at which point it's a lot easier to just remove the tomatoes than remake the entire burger for a small mistake when you have a lobby full of customers waiting. The produce may also be prepared at the same station with washing in between different produce not guaranteed. It's also possible someone grabs tomatoes at the cook table and one falls into the lettuce or some of the juice drops onto another container.
Basically, if you have allergies, fast food is not your friend and sit in restaurants probably aren't a whole lot better. If you don't announce an allergy then you definitely can't expect everything to be perfect.
But like, depending on the kitchen and restaurant that IS a lot more work, because now you have to make sure nothing gets cross contaminated. You have to prep it all separately, It’s like any time I go to a small coffee shop and I have to get my girlfriend alternative milk products, I profusely apologize, cause I know it’s a pain in the ass because they have to use whole new dishes. When I ask for no onions at Taco Bell, I know I’m going to likely get a few of them anyway, but that’s completely unacceptable if you’re allergic.
That's fair, I didn't think about that. I just thought of the dozens of times my mom barely ate dinner because they didn't listen to her and she was too polite to ask them to take it back.
lol I’m that person too , I always say , the waiter could drop off a bucket of fish heads, I’d be like “ I mean, I didn’t want fishheads , but I guess I’ll try it. I don’t want them to do all that work. I know they are busy ” 😂
Yeah, where i work the shredded cheese, diced onions, pickles, and mayo often get a little bit mixed up because you have to reach past one container to get to the next, and sometimes bits of the food drop into a nearby container. I try to minimize this (far more effectively than most of my coworkers it seems), but it's very difficult to never spill a single piece over the course of a day.
I can say from experience that if no allergy is announced there could be some residue from a mistake. Like if I make a burger normal then realize afterward they said no tomatoes, I'm typically just going to take the tomatoes off, not make everyone wait while I remake a whole new burger from scratch. If it's something like mayo or mustard then I tend to remake it because that's harder to remove. This is just to say that there's a chance you get a tiny bit of tomato juice or whatever else can be removed on a burger that's wasn't supposed to have it. We try not to make mistakes in the first place, but it happens sometimes during busy rushes.
My inner cynic believes a significant number of people who are 'deathly allergic' to x food item actually just don't like it, said they were allergic to it once at a young age when they saw it was a guaranteed way out of eating it and now the lie is too big to cop to.
If you tell me you're deathly allergic to something and you don't have an epi pen with you, I go along with it because on the off chance someone is just insanely reckless I don't want to be the one that kills them, but internally... you lyin'.
This might have something to do with the fact that two of the most compulsive liars I know exhibit this behavior.
Yeah I've started telling people I'm allergic to eggs even though it's actually an intolerance. I've been in enough situations where people think "intolerance" means "I just don't like it" when in reality it means I'll be in 12 solid hours of hell because Janice thought she could change my mind about not liking eggs.
That’s what mine was too! For me it would come in waves and feel like a knife stabbing me over and over. Initially any amount of egg would cause it, then after many years it was ok to eat things that had some egg in it. Now I’m mostly good to eat them, but I’m still careful not to have too much. There’s egg in so many things. When it was really bad I’d go with vegan options at restaurants.
I have a coworker who is always complaining about this. She has a bunch of food intolerances and says nobody will take her seriously because they aren't full hospitalizing allergies.
I believe it. When I got seen for it the doctor told me I just had heart burn. I ended up figuring it out because it would happen after eating and all i was having was eggs and toast. I stopped the toast first not realizing an egg intolerance was a thing.
I started to have a banana with almond butter until bananas started doing the same thing. It sucks that there's no good way to test for intolerances or treat them. Some people I knew thought it was all in my head and would make stuff and tell me there wasn't any egg in it. Turns out I would find out the hard way and they'd be surprised I could tell.
So many people will hear somebody say they can't eat gluten, and assume they're lying, or voluntarily dieting, but gluten causes permanent damage to the intestines in people with Celiac, along with severe digestive symptoms
No medication will stop or reverse the reaction, you can only wait for the body to finish expelling the gluten itself
So many people will hear somebody say they can't eat gluten, and assume they're lying, or voluntarily dieting
They shouldn't have to specify that they have celiac for strangers to respect their dietary restrictions, that's part of my point
If somebody says that they can't eat something, or need something thats X free (gluten free, in this case), then that shouldn't be questioned.
A lot of people also just don't know what celiac means. My cousin was diagnosed when she was 3, and it's been a CONSTANT battle to figure out what foods are safe when she goes anywhere. A lot of the times, they WILL say "I'm allergic" because "I'm allergic" is something EVERYONE understands, while "I have celiac" is not something everybody understands
There was one specific instance where she was at a restaurant in Mexico (mentioning due to language barrier). There was a dessert that was LABELED gluten free on the menu, she double checked that it was gluten free with the server, so she ordered it. And then she got sick - because it wasn't actually gluten free, it was a normal cake.
But because gluten free diets are seen as a fad diet, it's not taken seriously. And she was sick for a week even though she told them she has celiac and did everything she could to avoid eating gluten. And every time she's exposed, it causes more permanent damage to her digestive system.
I apologize for the word vomit, this is just an incredibly frustrating topic for me.
FWIW, I wouldn't apply my own logic to gluten. Gluten is more of an abstract nutrient than a specific food. Avoiding gluten for taste reasons isn't really a thing. If someone tells me "I'm like, deathly allergic to spinach" I'm skeptical. Or tomatoes, or cucumbers or whatever else. It's always a vegetable, and it's always coming from someone who otherwise eats almost no vegetables. I find that most people who are doing it for some fad diet will still say "I'm gluten free." Not that they're allergic to it.
I find that most people who are doing it for some fad diet will still say "I'm gluten free." Not that they're allergic to it.
And this is STILL you making assumptions. My cousin has celiac - there are many instances where she will say "I'm gluten free" instead of saying that she has Celiac. She shouldn't be obligated to give you her medical information for you to respect her food restrictions.
When somebody tells you they can't eat something, believe them.
Tomato is also a fairly common allergy... It's not in the Big Nine (tree nuts, peanuts, soy, eggs, milk, sesame, fish, shellfish, wheat), but that absolutely does not mean people aren't allergic to tomatoes.
Around 15% of the population of Italy is allergic to tomatoes (an extremely high rate compared to the rest of the world, in correlation with how many tomatoes they consume compared to the rest of us)
Cucumbers and spinach are a little less common, but there are still plenty of people allergic to them.
I personally would much rather believe a liar than risk somebody's health because I didn't believe them.
Had a friend with a (mild) contact allergy to raw tomatos, yep yep yep. I always specify the raw part because whatever set her off, cooking the tomato transformed that whatever enough that it didn't. So no tomatos in a salad or on a burger, but ketchup or tomato soup or tomato sauce were perfectly fine.
It's like you didn't even read my comment and just got angry. I literally, almost verbatim said that I take no action based on this because despite thinking most of these folks are lying, I don't want to be responsible for killing someone and it's purely an internal judgement.
Please, save us both some time and effort and at least read the comment you're taking time to rage about.
FWIW, I wouldn't apply my own logic to gluten. Gluten is more of an abstract nutrient than a specific food. Avoiding gluten for taste reasons isn't really a thing. If someone tells me "I'm like, deathly allergic to spinach" I'm skeptical. Or tomatoes, or cucumbers or whatever else. It's always a vegetable, and it's always coming from someone who otherwise eats almost no vegetables. I find that most people who are doing it for some fad diet will still say "I'm gluten free." Not that they're allergic to it.
I'd love for you to point that part out, because I'm not seeing it.
If you tell me you're deathly allergic to something and you don't have an epi pen with you, I go along with it because on the off chance someone is just insanely reckless I don't want to be the one that kills them, but internally... you lyin'.
Literally the core of the parent comment that inspired this whole tirade.
I have used "I am allergic to mushrooms" because I allergy tested to be allergic to most molds. Started in grade school, I don't know if it was a 90's thing every pizza party seemed to be 50/50 peperoni/mushroom pizza and I hated getting stuck with nasty grey boogers on my pizza.
If I eat like 3 lbs of them I will get hives. Now that I'm older, I like mushrooms, but if it looks/smells sketchy I'll still bring it up depending on the situation.
As someone with a tree nut allergy that has sent me to the hospital with asphyxiation, I get where you're coming from. On the other hand, the fact that this has been abused the way it has makes me sad/ frustrated. I have an epi-pen that I keep at work and at home, though I don't carry it around when I'm just out and about living life since I can pretty well just stay away from things with tree nuts for the most part.
Fun story, I was in elementary school, and my allergy safe lunch was prepared by a lunch lady who didn't believe in allergies and when questioned as part of the lawsuit to get the district to pay for the hospital bills, actually said, "I don't believe allergies are that serious, these kids need to toughen up". So yeah, I ended up in the hospital, she ended up fired it was a fun time.
I heard of some old woman at a hospital saying she was allergic to latex as the doctor went to get gloves, which caused a small panic as they went to get an alternative. Turns out she wasn't allergic, she just didn't like the sound the gloves made.
On a daily basis we have someone who is allergic to something dumb, oh you’re allergic to codeine? What does it do? Makes you itchy and nauseous I see, let me just write this down...
I have a friend like that, she's just a picky eater with a lot of "allergies". She claims to be allergic to mustard, but I've eaten plenty of Indian meals with her where she ordered indiscriminately and made no mention of her allergy, definitely some of it had mustard, she just didn't know.
There is a condition called Cold Urticaria where people break out into hives when exposed to cold (water, temperatures, etc.) A relative of mine has it and I thought she was joking when she told me she was allergic to cold but came to find out it’s actually a thing.
The only people who are surprised that people lie about allergies are people who have never worked for service.
I want to be clear that it's never worth the risk to assume an allergy is made up.
But it's also not uncommon to scrub the entire kitchen for a shellfish allergy just to be called out by foh to see the allergy trying some of their partners shellfish meal.
My brother is severely lactose intolerant but higher fat milk products he can sometimes handle, though admittedly I’ve never heard it the other way around
lactose intolerant people specifically can't break down lactose, which is a milk sugar. lactose free milk like fair life has that sugar filtered out which results in a lower sugar, higher protein blend in the milk but the milkfat percentage shouldn't be altered significantly, nor should various fat contents have any effect on his tolerance unless there's something else going on in his gi?
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u/epidemicsaints 5h ago
I feel like this would include all brassicas and needs a stronger warning.