It will KILL ME! But I'll eat it anyway!

[karath]

I dont have a problem with that at all. I order all my burgers: Cheeseburger plain.
Then at home I add what I want extra, like mustard because I dont want the burger smothered with it.
But I dont make up any reason, allergies, dont like. I just say what I want.

The Guy/Gal at window sees so many people come thru the drive-thru, they dont care what you want or dont, they just need to get it right and get you on the way.

I did have one encounter once that I will never forget.
Wendy's, I order a Single with Cheese Plain. I usually check my food before I leave and yupe this time I didnt.
Got home, opened it up and saw.. every single condiment possible, and onions, pickles, tomatos and also Bacon. So it wasnt a vege burger.
Pretty much I got the exact opposite because of all the things that were in it, it was missing the meat and cheese.

Aww, sorry about that Miyon! I get more requests for plain burgers than I can count but can recall the faces of everyone who orders their sandwich vegetarian style; strange that you got the opposite there. Do you know if that restaurant was part of the actual chain or franchised? If they're part of corporate then they are seriously screwed the next time they get inspected...

But in relation to your first post, I LOVE having people like you in the drive-thru. Nice, simple, and quick. And you're right about the general attitude of drive-thru employees, at least at my restaurant; so long as we can get you through in as little time as possible, we're happy

[zara1269]

At the restaurant I used to work at they took food allergies very seriously. Nuts come into contact with just about every single thing we made. Our policy was that if someone expressed an allergy to nuts or any other type of allergen we were urged not to serve any type of baked good at l because of the potential for cross contamination. I guess they figured a lost sale was better than a potential lawsuit. I am so thankful that I do not have a food allergy or sensitivity. It has to be really hard finding places to eat out at.

It was amazing how many people's allergies disappeared when you informed them you weren't allowed to sell them anything with the offensive product in it.

I despise black olives with an immense passion (I love green ones though) but luckily there are few places that automatically add them.

[Pagan]

She too made a HUGE stink about how she couldn't eat tomatoes... and proceeded to bombard her burger with ketchup while explaining it was okay because ketchup was processed and thus, no longer a tomato product.

So I'm guessing that she doesn't think that bacon is pork either?

I almost wish I was allergic to seafood so my fiance will stop making fun of me for not eating the stuff.

I just don't like it.

You sound kind of like my best friend, but it's more than just seafood. As she puts it, "If it lives in water, I won't eat it." I keep trying to tell her she doesn't know what she's missing not eating salmon grilled on a cedar plank with some butter and lemon. Yummy!

She's not very adventurous with food, but I think that has to do with what she was and was not offered growing up. Me, except for a certain category of meat, I'll eat, or at least try, just about anything.

I love tomatoes and love to eat them raw. Like apples.

If you don't want your tomatoes, can I have them?

Can you save me some, too. And have you ever noticed (oh geez, I sound like Andy Rooney, gah) that people either love or hate them? There is no like?

See, my problem is that waitstaff could possibly become jaded after a while if people are lying about food allergies like that. Luckily, my worst one is capsaicin, and I can smell that from a mile away. I'd have to be stupid to put it in my mouth (even though once I smell it, everything starts to swell.)

Sad for me, I can't trust most Asian-style restaurants to not make something spicy. I just have to go with all the sweet dishes instead.

Oooh, no Mexican food for you either. I don't know what I'd do if I had that problem, seeing as I'm addicted to chile!

I have a problem with citric acid sometimes causing my mouth to break out, but it only lasts, maybe, 30 minutes. It's not a allergy. I think it's just a sensitivity that got started when I had a throat infection start at the top of my throat and decided to move into my mouth. I was reduced to tea, jell-o, and broth for about 3 weeks. That was 20 years ago. Good times! It's annoying, but doesn't really stop me from eating or drinking stuff, though.

And Zara, send any black olives you get my way. I love them!

[karma_gypsy]

I don't like tomatoes ... but I'm not allergic ... luckily, I don't have any food allergies, so I never ask to leave anything off a burger or whatnot .. I just pick it off myself later on (no biggie for me, I've done it for so long now, it doesn't bother me). My husband always asks what don't I just order a burger with no tomatoes ... mainly because I don't want a spit burger and I'm perfectly capable of plucking the tomato off myself ...


My step-son on the other hand is the complete, although extremely weird, opposite. Tells us he doesn't like onions (NO ONIONS - not even minced, diced, in a sauce ...). So, we always have to make it a big deal whenever we order him food, no onions, pickles, basically meat, cheese and ketchup. What does he order a few weeks back? A Rodeo Cheeseburger (onion rings, with bacon, etc) and a side of onion rings. Well, if that wasn't a forehead slapping moment as we're telling him -- "you KNOW what's in ONION rings. ... right??"

[auntiem]

I have a friend that can't eat raw tomotes but can have tomato based products. The way he puts it is "they are fine to eat after the evil humors have been cooked out".

[mariamousie1]

I hate olives. My brother and sister in law put olives in everything, including the meals they cook for us. They're like "just pick them off" but I can still taste them, darn it!
I think you're right, those people equate allergy with "don't like the flavour". I'm not sure why they'd think they'd die. Just being dramatic and trying to drum up some sympathy, maybe.

[Ree]

I think people say they're allergic because they feel that ensures the staff will take extra care to make sure there aren't any mistakes.

One of our former foster daughters insisted she was allergic to nuts, yet she ate them all the time, and as far as I know, only had hives once. She ate peanut butter, and her favourite chocolate bar was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Either she got some wrong information, or she didn't care, because she liked them.

[edible_hat]

My brother used to claim he didn't like prawns. Then he accidentally ate one and now that he's actually tried them, he loves them.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

It bugs me though that people (without a good reason like Chron's, etc) will say "I'm allergic" because then it makes the people who really are allergic look like liars, and you get waiters who say "what will it hurt?" like we've read about in other threads. I ask for my food that I'm paying for the way I want it, if you don't comply it gets sent back plain and simple. You don't need to know why I don't want tomato but love ketchup, if something can cause me harm I'd stay away from it all together.

That's how I feel. I held my mom's hair while she was sick, because she was lied to. My mom is VERY allergic to mushrooms, and asked if the casserole being served had mushrooms. She was told no. One bite, she looked at the person and said "Did you use cream of mushroom soup?" Reply was basically "Yes, does that count"

Counted enough to have my mom very sick for the next day and a half. Sadly, over the years this has happened many times, and her allergy has gotten worse, to the point that she's been in the hospital on IV fluids due to dehydration from vomiting.

[MadMike]

I hate the taste of dill pickles. And, I hate raw tomatoes. So, I _always_ order burgers "xxxx with no tomatoes and no pickles, please". When I have to send them back and they invariably ask "why?" ... I say "because I ordered this without those items".

I'm the same way with mayo. I can't stand the taste, the smell, or the texture. I find it gross in every way.

One time when I was out to dinner with my family, we had ordered our food, and a bit later, the server came back and told me they had put mayo on my burger by mistake, and asked if that would be OK. Since I can't stand mayo, I politely told him no, it would not be OK.

When my burger arrived, they had obviously tried to wipe the offending condiment off, and didn't even do a good job of it. Needless to say, I sent it back.

[DesignFox]

mmm who was giving away tomatoes? I looooove raw tomotoes! *drool*

Also, you can take my olives. My ex introduced me to olives by shoving one in my mouth unexpectedly. Yicky, salty little things.... Black olives are no better. (just my opinion)

I don't know why anyone would lie about having a food allergy. If you don't like something, just be up front about it. You can order your food a certain way, expect it to be served that way, and not be a jackass.

I think if you have a severe allergy, then it is on you to let the staff know so they can accomodate you (or not if they can't insure that there are no contaminates).

I'm grateful that my litany of food allergies are at least minor, now. As a kid, my parents had to have me on a special diet because I was allergic to just about everything. "Bad" foods wouldn't kill me, but they made me terribly ill. I also had to go for shots every two weeks..then every three...until I outgrew most of my allergies.

Thanks to the shots, I can eat all the good stuff I couldn't enjoy as a kid, though.
Milk and cheese still occasionally bug my stomach if I overindulge...but a little bit doesn't bother me.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

DesignFox, just to explain, my mother has not really had issues with resturaunts. They have always fixed her food if a mistake has been made. But friends houses, church pot-lucks, and mission trips are another story.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

See I have a mild reaction to onions but I was reluctant to call it an allergy. I wasn't going to die if I had something with onions and the more processed the onions were the less chance of reaction. One of my friends insisted on describing (when eating out) as an allergy & I have to admit that I finally gave up & do too. It's just easier to say, 'I have a mild allergy to onions, are there any in this dish?" than explaining the whole problem.

For example, I no longer eat onion rings or French onion soup, but the shallots in the fondue Saturday did not give me any problems (for which I am profoundly thankful).

OTOH, one of my dear college friends is deathly allergic to mushrooms. As in, when we found part of one on the pizza we were eating she went to the bathroom to induce vomiting because that was better than the alternative.

[AnqeiicDemise]

So I'm guessing that she doesn't think that bacon is pork either?

Regular bacon isn't pork, but Canadian is.

It doesn't matter how many times our butcher Chef explained there's no pork in Canadian bacon just like there is no real cheese in head cheese.

And I feel the pain about that one poster whose sister won't visit a seafood house due to fear. I know its stupid of me but I *do* go to sushi houses and explain that I can and will die if I eat something contaminated with crustacean. I like my sushi... I adore my sushi.

When I die, I will die at the consumption of sonoban rolls (i.e. salmon,shrimp, avocado, nori and salmon eggs) and crab sashimi (boiled crab leg). I *miss* the yummy taste of shrimp and it sucks.

*fun fact, I didn't have an allergy until I consumed six pounds of shrimp on my own as a toddler. And my sister did the same with tomatoes. YES, we have a highly addictive family. (i.e. bro's an alcoholic, dad will eat spice even if he's crying,sweating and dying, I will find a food type I like and Ill eat it until I get sick off of it and can't have it anymore. Sis will find an obsession and stick with it until she can't anymore....horrible.)

[Amethyst Hunter]

I don't get what the big deal is to just say "I don't like those, don't put them on my food." Why make up some lie about it? There's no shame in not liking a food.

People have certain food 'beliefs' that are so ingrained that anybody who deviates from this 'norm' gets looked at with something almost akin to suspicion...

I DESPISE: ketchup, mustard, hamburgers and pickles, to name a few things. I REFUSE to eat any of these because I can't effing stand them.

I tell people this, and they look at me like "What planet are YOU from??"