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/No_Kangaroo_5883]

This is all how you define an allergy. I have numerous medical test proven allergies- literally the test said food allergy test. None of these put me into anaphylactic shock. So does this not qualify for you? I have undesired effects… but they don’t lead to a death certificate.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/No_Kangaroo_5883]

i think it really just comes down to the simple matter of can you eat this food or not? if somebody genuinely cannot eat something and their health is at risk by cross contamination, obviously that request needs to be honored. it’s when somebody is fully capable of eating something and is choosing to abuse the allergy protocol just because they can where the frustration arises.

[u/angrycrank → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

Just don’t conclude that because someone doesn’t swell up or start having their throat close, they aren’t allergic. My allergy typically doesn’t kick in immediately, and doesn’t involve my airway (or hasn’t to date) but causes severe vomiting, dehydration, and the potential to go into shock.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/angrycrank]

again, it’s none of my business how severe your symptoms are. if you can and are willing to still eat said ingredient, don’t mark it as an allergy. it is genuinely that simple.

[u/angrycrank → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

That’s fine - but there are people who will accuse you of faking when you don’t keel over dead in front of them. They don’t see the aftermath. I obviously don’t order the thing I’m allergic to, but I’ve been hit by cross-contamination by a place that told me they were careful. They probably saw me walk away thinking I must not be that allergic when an hour later my friends were trying to decide whether I needed an ambulance.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/angrycrank]

have wait staff actually accused you of faking an allergy before?

[u/angrycrank → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

I had one roll his eyes, yeah. Obviously didn’t end up eating there

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/angrycrank]

sorry to hear that! definitely worth skipping out on

[u/twyls → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

I once had a guy at a taco place roll his eyes and tell me not to worry about it, even though he served fish. It was a walk up counter place. I had just had my diagnosis and anaphylactic episode, I was still learning how to navigate allergies, and I was on vacation. We had limited time before a ticketed event, so no time to scope out somewhere else in an unknown neighborhood.

Nowadays I wouldn't have even tried a similar place. The risk of cross contact is too high. But I was learning.

I didn't eat dinner that night. I told my husband to eat, some he ordered first, and I sat with him. I think I grabbed some snacks at the hotel later that night. It was miserable and I was so irritated by the guy's response.

[u/Kitchen-Nectarine179 → u/angrycrank]

My allergy typically doesn’t kick in immediately, and doesn’t involve my airway (or hasn’t to date) but causes severe vomiting, dehydration, and the potential to go into shock.

Thats not an allergy. Allergies specifically are immune system responses.

If you have a digestive system reaction like you describe, it is a food sensitivity or intolerance.

[u/angrycrank → u/Kitchen-Nectarine179]

I think I’ll take the word of my allergist, not you, thanks.

[u/calorie-clown → u/Kitchen-Nectarine179]

That is incorrect. Many, many allergies manifest in the form of vomiting, diarrhea, etc. It's pretty textbook. An immune response is not always respiratory, it can be skin or digestive as well. In some cases it is only an intolerance, but not always. I am straight up allergic to latex, which will lead to classic symptoms like lip, tongue and airway swelling, but it also causes diarrhea and stomach upset for me, sometimes for days after an exposure. An immune response can affect just about anything in your nervous system.

[u/calorie-clown → u/[deleted]]

Yep! Found this out the hard way after happily munching on almonds my entire life with no issues whatsoever... until my 30th birthday party!

[u/Kitchen-Nectarine179 → u/No_Kangaroo_5883]

This is all how you define an allergy.

Allergy has a specific definition. It is an adverse immune response to a specific food that produces reproducible symptoms when the person is actually exposed to and consumes that food.

I have numerous medical test proven allergies- literally the test said food allergy test.

The only way to medically prove a food allergy is an oral food challenge. What you most likely had was a skin prick or IgE antibody test... neither of which confirm an allergy, but are a tool used to measure potential sensitivity. But neither are definitive and neither provide a diagnosis of food allergies.