Before my girlfriend and I went to a family dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Clayton Park for NYE, I phoned ahead to inform them that she has Celiac disease, which basically is an allergy to gluten, which is found in wheat rye, and barley. Even a very small amount could set off a serious physical reaction. I was reassured that the restaurant was familiar with and sensitive to the condition and could accommodate her needs – “just let the server know”.
This was the first dining-out occasion that my girlfriend had attended with my extended family, and we did do our homework beforehand, to avoid any problems. We were excited for the evening and confident that we had found a restaurant that would provide an enjoyable experience.
We met our large table and were enjoying holiday greetings and a few laughs when the server came to the table. I began explaining her allergy but only got a few words in before I was interrupted.
His eye-rolling reaction and annoyed tone quickly transformed mine and my date’s previously zen-like mood: “I don’t know if you can tell, but we are actually quite busy”…
I informed him that we had actually called ahead and had expected him to be interested in keeping his customers safe. I reminded him (or maybe educated him) that “allergy to…” does not mean “I don’t like…” and it is not something you can turn off for special occasions.
So it was awkward but necessary for us to leave the rest of our group, for moral (who’d want to support that idiot’s bank account?) and safety (he obviously did not care about my girlfriend’s health) reasons. A nearby bar-and-grill type establishment had a free table so my girlfriend and I were treated to outstanding service (sensitive to dietary needs), and a surprisingly excellent meal (except for the too spinach-y spinach dip, but that’s more than okay).
It was unfortunate not to be with the family group we had planned for NYE and also unfortunate for the restaurant that this server was ever hired (obviously a relative/friend of the owner and not hired based on personality or intelligence).
I hope that those who work in (or hire for) the food service industry have a bit of common sense when it comes to food allergies, etc. Had we been told when I called that the restaurant would not/could not/did not want to serve dietary problem’ customers’, we would have chosen another venue and avoided the stressful moments at that table.
I hope that server gets an allergy.
—Always allergic to terrible service
This article appears in Dec 31, 2009 – Jan 6, 2010.
being in the industry for many years including owning a restaraunt; i can see this problem from both sides;when you phoned ahead and explained the allergy and was told you would be accomadated then it is defininitely the owner onus to follow through regardless of how busy the place is. on the other side i have had large groups walk in on a busy night and started to demand special dietary requests/allergy issues etc. i have even had a walk-in give the server a LONG list of allergens that if ingested would kill them.While cross contamination is strived to control if someone is deathly allergic to say garlic; than it is going to be a big problem sterilizing everything in a middle of a rush.
I know this is mean, but you sound really overly dramatic and annoying. Did you ever think the person who answered the phone when you called gave you the wrong impression? It sounds like you were being pro-active and trying to cover your bases, but a busy Chinese place on NYE … come on. They did not miss your money.
Was that “nearby bar-and-grill” Applebee’s by any chance? If you actualy liked it, don’t post a good review, or you’ll be accused of working for the restaurant because it’s one of those awful horrible big-bad corporate American chains. Their food is made in sweatshops in third world countries by six year old children before being vacuum-sealed, frozen, and shipped to Halifax, which also releases those horrible big bad CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
If someone has an “allergy” that is so serious that it could “kill them”, then it is THEIR responsibility, not anyone elses to ensure that they eat the correct foods. You basically have a DISABILITY, get used to it. Just like a guy with no legs doesn’t get pissed when he can’t rent a sailboat…you shouldn’t get pissed when you can’t go eat fast-food at a busy restaurant…big deal.
If you want to go out and meet friends, have it at a coffee shop or a pub…but don’t expect minimum-wage servers to be responsible for your big-ass fibro-myalgic “allergy-prone” gut…
Even people with food allergies have the right to dine out Frosty. Had the restaurant told the OP that they would NOT be able to accomodate this person’s allergy then they would have made other arrangements. They GOT the green light. I’d be pissed too if I was told ‘sure, come on in’ only to find out I’d been misled. Surely the restaurant knew when they consented to the request that it was going to be a busy night. The server should have confirmed with management that this request had been made and not just refused because it was busy. BTW: food allergies are NOT a disability. They are a condition. Get used to it. (Your compassion for those who ARE disabled is overwhelming…there but for the grace of God go you!)
No, you’re right…I don’t have “compassion” for the disabled.
That’s because, unlike many in our increasingly “politically correct” society…I see so-called “disabled” people as just that…people. No better/.worse than me, and no more/less priviledged than me. Like anyone else, I applaud them for what they CAN do, and don’t care if there are things they CAN’T do. I can’t have babies, fly to the moon, figure skate…boohoo, where’s MY private washroom in the mall?!
I call’s ’em like I see’s em, and I treat everybody the same, and don’t go out of my way to give coddling “special” treatment to anybody.
And if you ain’t got no legs, you ain’t renting my sailboat…and of you have life-threatening “allegies” (scoff), stay home, or go to a special restaurant for the disabled…
Its the typical call up and talk to an owner/hostess and then show up and deal with a server who isn’t the owner/server switcheroo situation. Happens all the time, not just in restaurants.
Zen was a good place about 5-10 years ago but now it sucks. Go to changs next time.
That is just seriously fucked Frosty dude! (You were joking, right?) Doesn’t matter how YOU see disabled people. Your perception doesn’t change a disabled person’s reality! No matter how much you may wish to think otherwise wheelchairs just don’t fit in regular sized washroom stalls. Why should it even matter to you if there are washrooms for the disabled? Scoffing at how someone was born, or their misfortune later in life is pretty sick just because you happened to be born lucky enough to be without disabilities. Oh, wait! That kind of attitude actually is a bigger disability than a physical one and certainly to be pitied! Poor you, born without a sense of compassion! Pray you never suffer an accident in your big truck or sailboat so you never have to know the reality of a physical disability.
God, Oceanlady!
Are you that desperate for postings that you’re feeding Frosty?
I’m on Frosty’s side for the most part here.
If your handicapped, I don’t want to see you euthanized (yet), but I sure as hell don’t think your needs should take precedence over everyone elses. If your talking about a spot with a hundred or more people in it…why should the needs of one cause another person or possibly dozens of people hardship aka, slow service ,long wait times just to accommodate this one person.
Why should the onus be on the entire kitchen operation shutting down for 1 person on one of the busiest nights of their year ? The person on the phone fucked up/lied or didn’t understand you, not the server, not the kitchen staff…numb nuts the receptionist is who you need to take up your problem with .
The biggest on-going joke for the disabled, I see everytime I go to a Mall or Grocery store…is those fuckin’ so called handicapped spots, where people jump out of their vehicles & run into the store & when you DARE question one of them about it….they point to their handicap sticker, while I then limp by them on my cane fresh from my physio appointment.
The best one ever was the only time I ever seen a cop stop someone parked there, was my friend & myself, he was driving my new vehicle, which was without a handicapped sticker/plate & the cop tells us he’s going to issue us a ticket… my friend at that point relaxes his stump & his artificial leg fell off.
The look on the cops face was priceless..my friend comments about how is the cop going to explain this ticket, when my friend will be in court with only one leg….the cop muttered something about needing a tag he can put in any vehicle he may drive, & that he can still be ticketed for being in the spot without one….& my friend said “Yeah, you can damn well ticket me, but no judge in the world will convict me for it” ….,we didn’t get cited & I still smile thinking about the look on that cops face when the leg hit the asphalt
More, I think your bitch is more with those that pretend to be handicapped than those that are.
Evolutionarily speaking people with food allergies shouldn’t even exist. Stupid medical advancements, fucking with evolution.
Just be glad your girlfriend exists 😛
People with food allegies have always existed before ‘stupid medical advances’. They just avoided the toxic foods and chose something else. I have many food allegies that ‘stupid medical advancements’ have done nothing for. I just avoid those foods. Not that difficult really!
More, your friend just got lucky. Parking without that permit is not unlike driving without a license. Sure, one may be capable of operating a vehicle but without that little card issued from the province it is still illegal. People with mobility issues having designated parking spots and washrooms! Whatever is the world coming to! What is truly pathetic is able-bodied people even caring about something that is a non-issue for them. Not all disabilities are obvious but the disability nazis are experts apparently!
Mathew Luthor…your right & people with food alergies aren’t handicapped.
I should know, I have a food alergy… a stop breathing fall down,if I live, wake up in hospital with tubes & shit in you type food alergy.
I never bother a waiter with my problem…I simply pick something I like or want to try & ask “does this have poisinous little rattlesnakes in it ?”
If they answer “why yes it does”…. I won’t order it at all !
& I’ll try something else, or if they say ” it might, I’m not sure but I can check” then I’ll wait for an answer & use that time to pick a possible choice #2 & #3.
Simple, no muss, no fuss & I’m not monopolizing their time. Because you know in the grand scheme of things you, her, me aren’t really all that important ,on say, just a scale of this solar system alone !
I used to serve at a very busy downtown sushi spot.. Atleast once a week, a costumer would come in who was allergic to shell fish, annoyed and confused as to WHY they would come to a SUSHI RESTERAUNT, I would politely show them our Korean menu. But they would demand they wanted to try sushi with their friends. “Don’t you have vegitarian sushi?”… yes, we did have vegitarian sushi, but it is made in the exact same spot as all the other damn sushi!
This used to drive me crazy.. who in the hell goes to a sushi resteraunt with a severe sea food allergey?! Atleast one idiot a week, that’s who… I’m still annoyed about that.
Lol, Oceanlady calm down, it was just a joke. A joke you didn’t understand evidently…
I never said people with food allergies didn’t exist before, I said people with life threatening food allergies would simply die off, thereby not contributing to the gene pool if we didn’t have ways of detecting allergies without them dying first, and thereby not exist. Of course, this is assuming the food allergy is genetically inherited, which some are. Same thing for every other genetically passed on life threatening disease or disorder whose treatment is life saving and thereby fucking with evolution.
Of course it’s wrong to not save such a person when we have the means, all we have to do is to sterilize them so that they can have kids!
*cant have kids
duh
Too late! I already spawned! Hahaha! Allergies are not hereditary. Hahahahaha!
Then what does “atopic” mean? Please define it for me.
I think complaining should be priority labeled as a leading disability. If you think on it, it does cripple you from a lot of things. Having a good time, keeping friends, having a two sided conversation, compassion, etc, etc…
I think they should make a separate parking space for this disability all on it’s own, at the back of the lot where nobody can hear them BITCH! Ooh and when you go to get your pass they decline you the first time just to see if your disability claim is accurate! XD
Only problem I have with this is people allergic should just fuckin know what to eat – after all – they had this allergy forever . Simply put by other posters – ask ” does this have “X” in it ? yes – ok how about this ? No ? I’ll have that then. Fuck OP if you have an allergy – i suspect you researched what it is you can’t eat or if you do your dick falls off . I’m sure alot of places will cater to allergies and I know proper chefs and cooks have and are trained in dietary allergies and likely know what not to give to someone with “X” . It’s your responsibilty.
Handicapped – ok – fair deal if your mobility limited and need spaces – fuck – if there full – i’ll move my car so you can have the next closest spot and give you a hand . It’s the fucker i see parking with handicapped stickers that come bouncing out there cars – go a nice jay walk jog across the street that piss me off . You ain’t that handicapped then to deserve a spot while some wheelchair dudes missing his legs or some shit parks down the street . I see it all the time – you should get your sticker tooken away – being a fuckin retard doesdn’t give a handicapped parking spot – neither doesd having one arm or whatever . I think people like that , that have stickers – should actually get crippled by someone so their sticker matches their disability .
‘I have Celiacs disease:’ is just a more polite way of saying ‘Gluten gives me the shits’…stop trying to make you or your girlfriend victims of some terrible ‘disease’… she gets the shits..that’s it
Ohhh thats why I poop like thats after mc D’s – I should get checked lol
they do give a Handicap pass to literally ANYONE… my mother has chronic pain in her leg… she can and does still walk with relative ease… but they gave her a pass. She didn’t even ask for one.
First off, iamangela … celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, which if not treated by completely avoiding gluten, can cause things such as infertility and cancer. One crumb can cause extreme damage to the small intestines.
I understand the frustrations of going out to dinner, because I also have celiac disease. However, I’ve learned that (unfortunately) servers really don’t care. At all. Unless you’re at a restaurant which boasts a gluten-free menu, and understands the seriousness of eating gluten-free, you’re pretty much taking your life in your hands. My suggestion would be for you and your family to go to a gluten-free friendly restaurant next time.