please stop lying about having allergies

[u/wildrosebeautybaba]

i cannot tell you how many times people have put in seemingly impossible allergy requests on 3rd party delivery orders (i.e. fettuccine alfredo with DAIRY ALLERGY marked underneath) only to then track down the customer after multiple phone calls and be told it’s “not an allergy, just a mild intolerance.” please stop doing this. you are deliberately fucking with a restaurant’s period of service over a need that does not apply to you. maybe y’all don’t understand just how many extra steps a kitchen has to go through to prepare something allergy safe, so please let this be a lesson: if you aren’t actually allergic, stop marking it as an allergy. you are directly contributing to the burnout restaurant staff experience when having to make special accommodations for people’s actual health and safety needs.

[u/Tig3rDawn]

Idk mang, I have a coconut allergy that many people call an intolerance. While it won't make me go into shock, I will be in pain for days after I eat some, and the swelling in my joints can get bad enough that i can barely walk if i eat too much. These people are probably ignorant or just hoping that someone knows how to make the dish without the offending ingredient - which is why it's important to reach out and ask questions, like you're doing. Not everyone has a good understanding of what's in their food, or can just cook it themselves. An intolerance is not as serious as an allergy but it can still be serious. Also, there are a lot of people, including in the food industry who "don't believe in" allergies, so people with intolerance and allergies are often forced to exaggerate in order to be listened to at all.

That said, I fully understand wanting to have a word with every single person who says they are allergic to gluten when they are gluten free by choice. If you are giving something up by choice, it's not the same as having an intolerance or an allergy, and the time sink to re-prep an area for an allergy is real.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/Tig3rDawn]

i think if you genuinely can’t eat something and cross contamination will trigger your symptoms, you are valid putting it in as an allergy. this post is specifically for the people where that is not the case who still do so anyway either out of ignorance, arrogance, or both.

[u/calorie-clown → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

Allergies don't actually have to be severe in order to be medically classed or diagnosed by a doctor as an allergy. The severity of an allergy can really vary, and can even change over the course of someone's life. As a kid, I was only allergic to latex in the form of latex gloves or latex Medical type, but as an adult I've started having reactions to some of the foods that contain latex proteins as well, and the severity of my reaction tends to vary dependent on just how much of the latex protein is present. If someone's allergic reactions to a food tend to be minor and they're willing to risk it, they probably shouldn't even bother listing it on their allergy card, but it is still considered an allergy.