There were actually people saying that this was unfair to those who want peanuts, and that they'd "show them" by bringing their own peanuts on board. I still get angry thinking about the idiocy.
OMG!!!!! Heaven forbid!!! They have to go 2, 3, 4 hours w/o peanuts?!? However will they survive?
Oh wait, they'll survive just fine. But someone with a serious allergy could get sick or even fricking DIE. But no - NO!!!!! - we must have our rights to peanuts.
Maybe these peanut advocates should hook up w/ the NRA. They seem to share the same lack of reason.
I've had similar "discussions" too. One friend in particular was very eye-rolley/disparaging about peanut free. She just didn't get the "big deal". Peanut butter is easy - I get it. DS LOVES pb&js. He eats them almost daily . But if we were told no more, o.k. then, we'd find another easy lunch.
Kids can DIE from peanut allergies. Why people can't find another lunch for their kids in order to make sure their kid's classmates stay safe is beyond me.
It was infuriating and I ended up defrended a mutual acquaintance. If peanuts might KILL me, I don't care how obnoxious I have to be to get my point across.
I explain that it's like inhaling second hand smoke, except the deadly part comes right away. My allergy is severe enough to be airborne. It's works most of the time, except for the most obtuse.
There were actually people saying that this was unfair to those who want peanuts, and that they'd "show them" by bringing their own peanuts on board. I still get angry thinking about the idiocy.
OMG!!!!! Heaven forbid!!! They have to go 2, 3, 4 hours w/o peanuts?!? However will they survive?
Oh wait, they'll survive just fine. But someone with a serious allergy could get sick or even fricking DIE. But no - NO!!!!! - we must have our rights to peanuts.
Maybe these peanut advocates should hook up w/ the NRA. They seem to share the same lack of reason.
I was going to say something similar, but didn't want to bring up guns again. But I'm pretty sure there's already significant overlap between those contingencies, anyway. People worked up about their "rights" (never mind the fact that a free snack is not a "right").
As a restaurant manager, no, this doesn't happen all the time. When someone asks about a specific ingredient, we are extremely careful, especially with peanuts and gluten. I would be inclined to ask for them to pay whatever medical expenses were incurred. They were seriously negligent with a customer who has an allergy that is known to cause severe reactions.
Eta: I do wonder how seriously they questioned and how much information they gave the server though. Did they tell him up front that the child is allergic to peanuts? If they didn't ask before ordering his main dish, the server may not have thought the kid was allergic. It's concerning to me from that end if they didn't make that clear from the very beginning. Servers aren't mind readers. So, while I don't want to put this on the guest, I would be irked as the restaurant if the guest wasn't clear from the beginning.
This really makes me mad. I get why a certain sort of restaurant--super busy, high turnover, etc. might have servers that don't know about allergies and what foods contain. But I think they should all train their servers to understand how serious allergies can be, and to ask the chef, don't just give an answer!
My coworker has a nut allergy and told her server at the beginning of the meal. This was at a local very expensive restaurant. All was fine with the meal, but then at the end he brought out a complimentary dessert thing that had peanut butter as one of the main ingredients! She just didn't eat it but was appalled that he did that when she specifically told him about her allergy and quizzed him on several of the dishes.
In this case, though - there's a lot of factors. Was it that there was peanut flour in the dish? Or just that it encountered peanuts and that was enough for a reaction? In that case, the server could have been right - there were no peanuts in the dish. Which doesn't mean that there was no cross contamination involved. Different questions being asked and answered.
Don't get me wrong - I think that restaurants in general should train their staff better, but it's also not exactly a restaurant I would expect top notch service from.
It was some sort of dessert dish that was like a deconstructed peanut butter and jelly dish. I can't remember the details but the description/name of the dish was "peanut butter and jelly blah blah". That's why I think it was so egregious. And my coworker had no problem because the second the waiter said "Here I am with a complimentary pb & J something or other" she told him to not even put it on the table and reminded him of her allergy.
It was some sort of dessert dish that was like a deconstructed peanut butter and jelly dish. I can't remember the details but the description/name of the dish was "peanut butter and jelly blah blah". That's why I think it was so egregious. And my coworker had no problem because the second the waiter said "Here I am with a complimentary pb & J something or other" she told him to not even put it on the table and reminded him of her allergy.
Oh sorry, I meant "this case" = OP. Peanut butter dish is pretty damn obvious!
Oh sorry, I misunderstood. I do agree with you about the OP.
I don't know of any minor peanut allergies. They're kind of life-threatening by nature, as far as I know. So you do your best, have Epi-Pen(s) on hand, and go about your life.
There are degrees of sensitivity, for sure. I have never had a reaction to eating M&Ms, for example, though they have the standard disclaimer that they're produced in a facility that also processes peanuts and tree nuts. Some people do react at that level. But in any case, once a reaction has been triggered, peanut allergy=serious business.
Ahh ok, I see what you mean. When gretchen said life threatening I took that to mean that with cross contamination, such as your M&M example, she would have an anaphylactic reaction every time.
Well it could be. I react to kissing H hours after he's eaten peanuts.
But I still the chances of a cross contamination like that at most places is slim.
I would not sue. I do think the onus in these situations is on the parent or person with the allergy.
As the mom of one of these kids, it happen ALL the time. I just took my son to a restaurant and actually called first to make sure they didn't use peanut oil to fry the chicken nuggets as it was an Asian restaurant and almost everything else seemed to contain peanuts. Spoke to manager who assured me no. Spoke to server about it again when I got there and looked at the oil they used and kitchen facility to ensure no cross contamination.
Then he got his meal, which were the chicken fingers, rice, steamed veggies....and included their special rolls that clearly contained peanuts. So, after all of that they still screwed it up. No biggie because I triple check everything, but we won't be going back.
TRIGGER- My coworkers step daughter died in her early 20s from Her allergy because she wasn't 'annoying' about it. Virtually none of her friends knew she was allergic to peanuts and one of them served her cake that contained them. Horrible. I want my son to tell everyone and he does. He won't eat ANYTHING without checking first.
Post by gretchenindisguise on Mar 4, 2015 21:15:14 GMT -5
I personally *hate* the "manufactured in a facility that contains [every allergen known to man]" because I feel like it tells nothing and isn't helpful. It's a catch all to prevent lawsuits.
Manufactured on same equipment is at least a bit more understandable.
I also know that it's easier for me to say as an adult, who obviously knows her reactions and how to get help (and who after a scare last fall actually carries an epi pen around with her). L is allergic to walnuts but hasn't shown a reaction to other nuts. I'd probably be more hyper vigilant with her. I just think there is a happy medium between being over vigilant and being lax. My parents somehow managed to find that and I'd hope that I would be able to as well.
I don't know of any minor peanut allergies. They're kind of life-threatening by nature, as far as I know. So you do your best, have Epi-Pen(s) on hand, and go about your life.
There are degrees of sensitivity, for sure. I have never had a reaction to eating M&Ms, for example, though they have the standard disclaimer that they're produced in a facility that also processes peanuts and tree nuts. Some people do react at that level. But in any case, once a reaction has been triggered, peanut allergy=serious business.
Ahh ok, I see what you mean. When gretchen said life threatening I took that to mean that with cross contamination, such as your M&M example, she would have an anaphylactic reaction every time.
I think the thing is, you just don't know. My mom has a shellfish allergy that just developed a few years ago. She found out because she almost died. Like they were losing her in the ambulance that thank goodness my sister was around to call. It came out of nowhere and she's been strongly urged by her doctor to avoid any and all cross contamination because it could result in death. It all sounds very dramatic, but in reality nothing could happen OR she could die. You just don't know until it happens, so you can't take any chances.
She tends to order really safe stuff when she's out, and ALWAYS tells the server that she has a life threatening shellfish allergy. So far, so good, she hasn't had a reaction since and who knows if she's been exposed -it's entirely likely that a server was wrong and the shrimp actually WERE fried in the same fryer as the chips at some place. But she still has to ask and emphasize the "life threatening" part every time.
It really sucks. I feel so bad for her when we go out to eat and she has like 1-2 options on the menu that she can eat. That's not the case everywhere, but lots of places are have very few safe items.
In the case of the OP, I probably wouldn't sue. I think back in horror to my days as a server when nobody ever trained me on what to do in the case of an allergy. I don't really remember it coming up, but IDK that I would have understood the seriousness back then when I didn't know anyone personally who had almost died. Like it probably wouldn't have even occurred to me at 21 that my customer could die if I didn't do due diligence to check on something like what happened in the OP.
This doesn't matter, but I'm curious what the dessert was?
i actually don't know.
we spoke again briefly earlier. i asked some questions and turns out they went to ER but left because the wait was too long and he was fine. no epipen or benadryl was used nor did she have any of that on her (wtf? i don't have allergies nor does my kid but isn't that common fucking sense???)
she is so stupid. they apparently have found a lawyer that will take their case. i asked if it was contingency or hourly. she said hourly for $200/hour.
i'm done with her.
What?? So, basically nothing happened and she wants to sue? Nutter.
What?? So, basically nothing happened and she wants to sue? Nutter.
yes! greedy. she's the fool if she's going to pay a lawyer to pursue this. unless there are facts i'm not hearing, this is a loser if i ever heard one.
Ahhh. Now I see why you weren't leaning towards suing. How are they going to recover without damages? I mean, even if they think they're going to get fraud out of this (which, no), but even if, you can't treble $0.00.
TRIGGER- My coworkers step daughter died in her early 20s from Her allergy because she wasn't 'annoying' about it. Virtually none of her friends knew she was allergic to peanuts and one of them served her cake that contained them. Horrible. I want my son to tell everyone and he does. He won't eat ANYTHING without checking first.
We almost did this to a friend in university in the last week of school. I had every class with him for four years and absolutely no idea he had tree nut allergies. During a grad celebration event, we actively encouraged him to try the baklava, which he said he'd never eaten in his life. Sure enough, he didn't have his epipen on him but someone had Benadryl so we OD'd him on Benadryl and managed to get him across the street into the hospital within minutes. It could have been so much worse. I still feel terrible about it to this day. He admits that he never brought it up.
This actually JUST happened to us the other night, albeit not as severe. I looked online at the menu for something DS could eat. Found the burger and fries were safe. I then mentioned it to the server and asked her to double check with the people in the kitchen that the burger, fries and bun were safe (dairy and milk allergy). Out comes the food and the bun is shiny, but I let it go. DS had hives on his face within minutes and refused to eat anything (I think it must have made him feel sick or something, but he's 2, so I don't really know). I asked to speak to the manager and explained everything. She swore there was no dairy or eggs in anything and that the shiny bun was NOT from butter. I had to believe her, but obviously SOMETHING caused the hives. No one offered to comp our meal or anything. I was upset (not about the lack of free food, but I thought I was doing everything right by him and something still happened) but a lawsuit was nowhere in my mind.
However, if an ER trip had been warranted, I think I'd have felt a bit differently.
Ok, I put in my response before I read the update.
There's no way to know if it was even an allergic reaction! My DD has thrown up at dinner before and we later found out she had acid reflux.
And if you have a kid with a severe allergy (DS's isn't even severe!) you ALWAYS carry Benadryl and an epi pen. And if you think you need to go to the ER, you call 911 and get an ambulance b/c they'll get you in right away. That's what my allergist (and all the blogs) said and we've done it twice. Once it was sort of my fault b/c I didn't know DS was allergic to lentils so I sent them to daycare and his lips swelled and once when he accidentally got ahold of another kids' milk at daycare and threw up after the benadryl. should I sue them? I was pissed b/c they didn't follow my action plan (epi him) but I never once thought to sue them.
It's a pretty bad sign your case is a dud if the Plaintiff's attorney wants $200/hour. Whatever happened to all of the attorneys pointing at the screen saying "No fee unless we get money for YOU! ....or you have a shitty case."
This grosses me out, but it grosses me out even more that an attorney would agree to take this on.
My kid has a life threatening allergy. I would sue.
Question for the lawyers (@cse1960, @misoangry, cville, elle, and everyone else whose names I can't remember) - since this would be a he said/she said issue (I would guess that no one has anything in writing stating that X server said X food didn't have X allergen), how far could a claim like this go? @savestheday I'm not picking on this post at all - just grabbed one that mentions suing. Couldn't the server/restaurant say no one asked them? What kind of proof would they need to win a claim like this?
My kid has a life threatening allergy. I would sue.
Question for the lawyers (@cse1960, @misoangry, cville, elle, and everyone else whose names I can't remember) - since this would be a he said/she said issue (I would guess that no one has anything in writing stating that X server said X food didn't have X allergen), how far could a claim like this go? @savestheday I'm not picking on this post at all - just grabbed one that mentions suing. Couldn't the server/restaurant say no one asked them? What kind of proof would they need to win a claim like this?