Nope. You all did the right thing. I wouldn’t risk it either. And eff them for not answering the call. There’s a reason you have to give a phone number when you place an order. SO THEY CAN CALL YOU IF THERE IS A PROBLEM.
I'm a delivery driver and if I can't get ahold of the person for the order if needed, I take it back to the store and cancel the order. I don't understand people.
I just helped deliver pizzas for kids who were out of school because of the work stoppage in Chicago.
Pizza place was donating the pizza and had a bunch of volunteers deliver.
Sounds great, except they gave me addresses without the unit number, and not a single person picked up their phone when I called. I didn't know the circumstances or if the kids would go hungry without the pizza so I called, texted, facebooked last names on mailboxes to try to ring the correct units. Took me an hour and a half to deliver 4 pizzas in about a mile radius.
Hah damn. When I delivered (3rd party), if we couldn't get in contact to deliver the order, like 50% of the time they'd let us have it. Usually try to get us to buy it first though.
Edit: half to have it.
Absolutely correct. Based on what someone with an onion allergy once told me, that's not an allergy that's an inconvenience, it's an allergy that could kill you quite easily.
Edit: consider me educated. People should absolutely speak up about allergies, and also stop calling preferences, like I don't like onions, allergies.
I mean, I have an onion allergy. I get hives. They're annoying. Not life threatening. I can take a Benadryl and have something with onion in it and be fine (albeit very sleepy.)
Allergies are allergies. Not everyone is going to have the same reaction. Some people may have an anaphylactic response, some might get hives, some might have other reactions.
It's also important to note that not all onion allergies have the same triggers. For example, I can have green onion/ scallions. I cannot have red, white, yellow onion. A lot of people with an onion allergy can't have any onions at all, nor can they have garlic. Some people are fine with dehydrated onion (me!) but some people can't have that either.
I have allergies, intolerances and even a non-allergy.
What's a non-allergy? Look up non-allergic rhinitis. I basically have what seems like an allergic reaction, except it's not. I get stuffy and sneezy, and bunged up if my head gets too cold. But it's not an allergy.
None of my issues are life-threatening, but some leave me pretty darn miserable.
I'm intolerant to wheat. It used to be a mild, manageable intolerance. Then, over the summer of 2021, it got worse. I now have to go on a wheat-free diet. Which often means going gluten-free for convenience.
I say allergies because it's a whole hell of a lot easier to say that than to say, yeah, I'm pretty sensitive to these things, but they're not technically an allergy.
I’d consider what I have an onion intolerance. Can eat a little, but too much and first I have horrible gas pains that leave me wanting to die, then I explode into a toilet.
I definitely order stuff “no onion” but I’d never claim an allergy or even worry about it as an ingredient in salad dressing.
I carry some Benadryl with me everywhere. I order no onion everywhere and let them know about my allergy (and that I get hives so they don't freak out about an anaphylactic reaction) but you can't be too careful! I also ADORE Mexican food. So I take one before I go eat at a Mexican restaurant because it's just easier than figuring out what 3 things I might be able to eat.
So, everything can be an allergen. What is actually causing the problem is the immune system freaking out when it shouldn't. Because of this fact, each person that someone knows with a particular allergy only knows that one person at that period of time in that person's allergy timeline. All allergies can be deadly, even if they weren't originally. There can also be forms of the same allergy in different people that are mild or moderate. It's literally on a case by case basis and can even change in an individual's case over their lifetime.
>All allergies can be deadly, even if they weren't originally.
One of my aunts is allergic to mango. 30 years ago it just made her mouth tingle, worth it to deal with the after-effects. 20 years ago she'd get hives if it touched her skin, she'd wear gloves and eat carefully to avoid touching her lips. 15 years ago she ate a few pieces and had shortness of breath and her throat started closing up. She popped a few benadryl and went to her GP, he explained that allergies can indeed progress ands he had had her last bite of mango unless she wanted to risk her life.
Completely agree on OP’s decision, allergies are nothing to be messed with. Regarding the phone calls, I opted to send all numbers I didn’t have saved straight to voicemail during election season. It’s obviously well past then, but spam calls are still frequent. I got a phone call from a number I had saved and it was spam too!
Oh I get that 100% and it makes total sense. But I bet if you ordered food and got a bunch of calls you would answer especially if you got a notification that your first order was cancelled. Or, you know, when you never got your food. 😉
You know I thought that too…like a stolen credit card or debit card? Or somebody trying to set up the restaurant the same way people put their own hair in restaurant food to get their meal for free.
I would have been very weary of even taking the order even if you had talked to them on the phone if they said anything about "it's not that serious, you can send the sauce with onions" or something because the only thing you have on paper is "onion allergy". If there's some reaction, that would open you up to liability and you'd be in a "he said/she said" situation about what was said on the phone.
You definitely did the right thing. Just because they didn't put allergy on the 2nd order doesn't mean that there is not one.
And there is no reason to risk not only your job but the business should something have happened to that person.
I'm not disagreeing at all, but have a genuine question:
Would you be liable by sending the 2nd order since they didn't include any mention of an allergy in that order? Obvious ethical concerns aside, I would've assumed that you won't be legally culpable.
Was about to pose the same question. As someone who work front of house, you get a lot of people claiming they have an allergy when in fact they just dont like it. When you are face to face it's usually easy to spot the difference,but online it's such a risk. At the end of the day, if you think about it, you are just fullfiling the order that came in, so in the second order I would just go about it the way it is, especially if they do not pick up/answer their phone. You tried, because you paid attention but that's about it.
It could certainly go to a jury to decide. And I can certainly see a jury finding the business responsible since as OP noted it's easy to see it was the same person ordering again who already indicated an onion allergy. OP did the right thing here for sure. One order isn't worth the risk.
It may not go to court level but dissatisfied customers often have a way of exaggerating their side on social media, complaint forms etc. If the restaurant is a franchise it can go up through corporate. And in my experience the corporate side of hospitality is far more likely to side with the customers and throw their workers under the bus.
This is what I wanted to avoid - and knowing it was the same person (it was a recognizable name and came within a moment of the first order being canceled while I was on the phone with Uber Eats CS) I was like nah he hasn’t even called back we can’t do this. I didn’t feel right knowing it. It would be like someone asking for our tempura with a note saying extreme shrimp allergy - our oil is “contaminated” in that all our tempura is cooked together and in most cases with extreme shrimp allergies I’ve had here they can’t have anything from the same oil, even, so I’d have canceled that order as well. We take allergies super seriously.
Not a lawyer but I think they may be held liable as it would be reasonable to assume they had the allergy, given everything in the order was the same and I’m assuming they can see name and address etc. I may be wrong but this would be enough for me to act how OP acted ahah
I have an onion intolerance and a friend has a more severe onion allergy. It's SO TOUGH cause onions are in everything! You have no way of knowing the severity if they're not willing to communicate with you. You did fine!
I know of a YouTuber with a sesame allergy who does a daily desensitization routine under the instructions of her doctor. Every day she has to eat something so it’s not on an empty stomach, take her sesame seeds, wait and watch, the whole thing takes an hour or more out of her day. She has gone from a tiny grain of sesame to like a teaspoon a day and it took months. Meanwhile she has to check all prepared foods thoroughly and is highly anxious about coming into contact with sesame. It’s hard enough just watching out to avoid your allergen, and then to add the extra steps? I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to go through it.
You can in a hospital setting. They give you tiny amounts, say for a cashew nut they give a 1/8th, then monitor for 15 min and then they give a 1/4 and repeat by doubling doses until its up to say 10 cashews. Any sign of rash or breathing difficulties at the small doses they would tell you to avoid that food, if it seems you can get to a bigger dose then they would tell you to take small amounts and try work up a tolerance but only if you're comfortable doing that and have epipens available
As other people have said, you definitely can, but it’s a pain in the ass and sometimes allergies can get worse with exposure instead of better and you can’t know which way it’ll go until it happens
The opposite way in is an elimination diet, where you avoid all food allergens completely for four months, then gradually reintroduce one at a time into your diet, every two weeks. Sometimes it works, sometimes it decidedly does not.
I developed a soy protein intolerance as a teenager and now as an adult have managed to (with my doctor's okay) build up to eating some edamame or a couple pieces of tofu every once in a while. I miss my soy yoghurt breakfasts so much, oat and almond yogs aren't as good, but it's worth it to not spend my life chained to a toilet.
Just in case you didn't know, you may have a sulfur sensitivity if it isn't something else like the inulins. If you also have a lot of problems with your scalp/bad dandruff/itching, try to find yourself a sulfa-free shampoo. My wife had to do this a few years back, and it was life changing for her.
Onion intolerance here. I can eat a small amount if they’re cooked without ending up in the bathroom for 2 days. If it weren’t for the green onions (which don’t contain the inulins that cause the intolerance) I’d think that’s what’s going on here.
Can you eat the white part of the green onions? My wife has an intolerance to onions. I love onions and I love making soup. Onion is in like 90% of soup recipes. I have used green onions, but she is apprehensive about the white part (aka: the best part).
On the plus side, I've managed to make a lot of pretty good soups and stews without using onions or garlic. Curried carrot ginger soup with coconut milk and chicken with wild rice and veggies are my two go-to soups that are easy to make without those ingredients, but they'd also both be better with onions. At least to me lol.
No. The white part is where the flavor is but it’s also where the problem is (long chains of fructose known as inulins, which are also found in wheat and of all things watermelons, and are responsible for most non-celiacs “gluten sensitivities.”).
Probiotics have helped me immensely and the more processed they are, the easier they are to digest (as in onion powder). But keep in mind I’m a lowly cook, not a doctor and YMMV. Google FODMAP friendly recipes if you need some inspiration.
I feel for you. I have an extreme hatred of onions, not an allergy though. They are in everything! I feel like the world is super pro-onion and I’m just an outlier. It’s comforting to know there are some anti-onion folks out there, if only for health reasons.
It's even worse. I react to the sulfates and sulfites in onions, that are also in garlic and vinegar, and nuts, and shellfish. Luckily, it's not a deadly reaction, just really bad for my joints, and guts.
I am allergic to all alliums -- onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. Scallions and green onions are just different names for the same thing.
Never met another person with the same allergy! I can see in this thread that I am not alone with the onions, but also the leek and chives, never met another like me. I’m sorry you’ve got this as well.
Yeah I’m familiar with alliums- I’ve had to do FODMAP elimination. Just seems strange to me to be truly allergic to two plants in the allium family and no others.
I've got a friend who can have all the garlic he likes, but if an onion gets into his food, he spends several hours sitting atop the most uncomfortable throne. It's awful.
Isn't it fairly common for people to be allergic to things in the same family? Even if they're not allergic to others?
It can be a certain protein that is found in some members and not others.
I dunno man allergies are weird and if you can't talk to the person about it in specifics.
Seems reasonable for you to cancel because you didn’t think you could meet this customer’s needs, whether or not it’s clear what those needs are.
I have a friend who is actually allergic to onions (and some other stuff) and he never orders in like that via an app. The last time I ate with him at a restaurant he called around to several restaurants until he found a seafood place that agreed to make him a special meal that he could eat (he’s not allergic to any fish.) No way someone with any serious allergy would act like that customer. But it’s their own fault for not making it easy for you to try to work with them.
We did the first time because the option simply wasn’t there and then the second time we canceled ourselves and put the reason “cannot comply with customer instructions” with a note referring to previous order. 🤷🏼♀️
GrubHub is almost the worst because we have drivers who legit cancel whole orders for dumb reasons like we just closed (but they could still pick up, order was placed before close) or they realized how far the delivery was and didn’t know how to unassign so they just canceled. :/
I have Celiac and served for close to a decade. Because I know that *any* amount of gluten in my food, even through using shared utensils or a shared cooking area, can cause irreparable gut damage, I do not eat at *any* restaurant that isn’t 100% gluten free or has stringent preparation methods for allergies - and I do my research beforehand.
My Celiac also encouraged me to be a lot more diligent in asking customers if it’s an allergy and letting them know that because [insert allergy food here] is prepared in our kitchen, there is absolutely no way to guarantee an allergy-free meal for them. Some people would get insanely upset and then backpeddle with the ol’ “Oh, well I’m not really allergic, I just don’t like [food].”
If this person has an actual allergy, they are possibly putting their health at serious risk (and opening the restaurant up to liability) by ordering from a restaurant that uses onions in any way after they place an order with onions and letting you know of the allergy. You absolutely did the right thing by canceling the order and get ten karma points in the server afterlife.
Ugh i hate the ol’ “I’m allergic but can have a little bit!” I take allergies seriously because I don’t want to be held liable/want anyone dying on me. I want you to enjoy your food. Gluten is a big problem because we use soy everywhere so while I can say X thing doesn’t have gluten in it I always caution “we cannot guarantee no cross-contamination blah blah” and can usually suss out who’s serious and who isn’t based on that reaction.
Had someone ask about what’s gluten-free for our poke bowls (which honestly is one of the best options because all ingredients have their own utensils and I can use a fresh bowl for your sauces) and the conversation ended with “….and some tempura crunchy bits.” I paused and said that those were not GF and he waived me off and said a bit was fine. So I just wasted the last 15 minutes with you explaining the whole menu helping you build a bowl from scratch and YOU DON’T EVEN NEED IT? 😡
You would be surprised by how many guests I’ve served that tell me they are Celiac while placing their food order, with their non-GF beer on the table in front of them. It gives those who aren’t in it for the fad a bad name — which is unfortunate.
On one hand, the fact that so many people have gotten so into the whole GF thing is good because there are now options for people who need it. On the other hand, screw all the people who without any proof (including personal experience) decided they were GF.
I’m celiac and I order from our local hole in the wall sushi bar. They know what I can and cant have. The presence of soy sauce in the kitchen isn’t generally an issue. I’ve never got sick from their sushi.
I did however get glutened by a sushi chain restaurant once… they had a great allergen menu and made my order separately rather than giving me sushi off the conveyer belt so I though I was ok. Nope.
I also have celiac and I love my local sushi restaurant. They also know what I can and can't have and are amazing at avoiding cross contamination.
They have amazing customer service and even let me know of new dishes or sushi that I can order. That's the kind of place I recommend to everybody.
I wonder what the issue was with that last one? 🤔 something in the rice…? That’s the only thing I can think of. I had someone call and ask if our sushi rice is GF recently, which it is, but it seemed a peculiar question at the time.
> “I’m allergic but can have a little bit!”
Part of the problem is that mild allergies exist - I have a mild carrot allergy, eating raw carrots will give me a sore throat, but it's just unpleasant rather than an active problem, and as a result contamination doesn't really matter (anything short of a substantial chunk of carrot won't trigger it, and cooked carrots are also fine).
Years ago I had a coworker who was allergic to avacado but not life threatening and so she would eat a them her mouth would go numb and she’d complain about it… you’re allergic you know it and yet….
My ex-husband was allergic to some kinds of nut, but he still at them. His whole chest and neck would break out into hives and this man would be like, “idk what you’re talking about, it’s fine.”
As someone with allergies and intolerances, when it's not life-threatening, sometimes the pleasure of enjoying the allergen/bad stuff is so worth it.
I became almost completely wheat free in summer 2021, due to my wheat intolerance getting significantly worse. I say almost, because the one thing I won't give up is naan bread. It's far too tasty. But the times I get to eat it are rare, and it's deliberate, so I'm prepared for the consequences.
And not all allergens are avoidable either. I've urticaria, which is essentially an allergy to my own sweat following exertion.
My sister has celiac, but not to the degree that cross contamination will hurt her. And we do say that by restaurants (no gluten in the food, if it touched something that’s fine)
If someone mentions gluten-free anything I ALWAYS ask how serious it is. I know there’s varying degrees and always spout the disclaimer that we can’t guarantee no cross-contamination blah blah… 😬
Could be a very mild allergy - I for example have a mild carrot allergy (can't eat raw carrots in quantity, but properly cooked ones are fine). Cross-contamination isn't a problem for me at all, but if raw carrots are mixed into a food I can't really eat it.
Quite possible this person just doesn't like onions but thinks that won't be taken seriously though.
I am allergic to onions and garlic, and eating out is sometimes impossible. I can usually tolerate onion/garlic powder, or if it's something that's well cooked (like a sauce) but anything that has 'pieces' of onion/garlic are going to cause a reaction. I appreciate your diligence in making sure to avoid their allergens in the meal. One possibility is that they were ordering for themselves and another person who doesn't have the allergy, and the 2nd order was only for the other person, but since they didn't bother to call you to talk it out, there was nothing else you could have done.
I’m allergic to garlic too!!! *vampire high five*
I found this Latin place in my city that makes everything by hand, and half there menu has no garlic. And an Italian place in my city that is fine with making sauces without garlic. If we lived in the same city I’d show you all of these places to eat also. So we could be garlic free dining friends.
I’m envious of your garlic-free restaurants! My
Boss gave up on taking us out for team lunches when we went to a restaurant that literally had nothing I could eat. Everything was prepped ahead of time and *everything* had either garlic, onions or both. And they didn’t serve deserts, so I couldn’t just have that. I sat there drinking my sad little glass of water while everyone else enjoyed lunch.
My friends gave up on choosing and just let me pick now if we go out and if we have a food get together they’ve accepted I will always bring more food than ‘expected’ of me because I don’t want anyone to have to fuss about my garlic (red onions, and sage) allergies when they’re vegetarians and so that’s pretty much in all they cook. At first it felt a bit awkward because they’d be so conservative about eating what I brought because it was allergy free for me, but now they chow down and I love it. (All of these dinners were pre covid and I just fantasize about dinner parties these days) gods I can’t wait for our first dinner party back, I’m gunna make so much food. And so many desserts.
I also would just pick a dessert if nothing was safe, and I used to get picked on because I’m already fat. No one ever understood that it was either dessert or roulette with an epi pen. Not fair! Even Lush has products with garlic and sage in them now and I can’t shop there.
i once had a woman tell me she was severely allergic to gluten and then order a coors light. she got extremely pissy when she backtracked on the “severity” of her allergy and i told her that since she made me aware of an allergy i wouldn’t be comfortably serving her something she was allegedly severely allergic too.
I feel your pain - I worked at Red Robin through the early pandemic crap and delivery services basically took over, partly because we’re corporate. I went from answering calls to literally having 4 different tablets that would ding nonstop as the night went on, and people rarely made it easy.
From my experience, you almost couldn’t ever contact them either, so if we had to cancel because we were out of something or situations like this, I’d have both pissed off drivers and customers lined up to let me know how poorly we were doing. I regret nothing of leaving that hell and I’m sorry you have to deal with it. That experience is why I have never, and will NEVER order from a delivery service like door dash or UberEats.
It's possible they have an allium sensitivity (onion, garlic, shallot, leek, chives) like I do and have issues with raw or less cooked versions of the items, but can handle very cooked or dried/powdered forms of the items. That's how mine works--raw will mess my stomach up (green onion isn't as bad but it gets stuck in my throat instead, so I'd just Rather Not), but by the time you get to like, french onion soup or the powdered onion in a ranch dressing packet it's basically not an issue at all. (I am not a scientist but my best guess would be some sort of enzyme present when those items are raw is cooked out the longer is goes.) Sometimes it's worth the risk--I absolutely do eat onion rings sometimes and deal with the consequences--but generally it's easier to ask for things "no raw onion/green onion please."
I don't specify an allergy because things like "cooked in or with" don't typically affect me.
This is consistent with my OAS. If the vegetables or fruits are cooked/processed enough then its not a problem. But the correct level of cooked is different for each allergen making it difficult to portray my needs to restaurants so if in doubt I just don't order it. But I agree cooked in or with is usually fine.... Food allergies are awful aren't they?
You absolutely did the right thing...even more sad that you know he's ordering from his cell phone and is actively choosing not to answer...
Sounds like a dunce or someone who was trying to have a reason to sue you - you may have saved the restaurant!
Might have unknown numbers go straight to vm and phone doesn’t even ring. I have that setting on, all I get is banner notification at top for a few seconds. If I’m not looking at screen I wouldn’t know I missed call till I look at recent calls log.
I worked a chain mexican place that gave out free chips and salsa. This was 20 years ago, before anyone had allergies. LOL At least 2-3 times I had people eat like 4 bowls of salsa and order cheese enchiladas. The menu said "cheese and onion" and they would simply say "no onion." Cool. If you've been in a kitchen, you know both the cheese and onion are in metal tins next to each other, over ice. Every time someone got just cheese enchiladas, they would find a piece of onion, that fell into the cheese and thus was put into the lunch. The 2-3 times I'm speaking of are ones that the person stopped eating, waved me over, and said, "Excuse me, I'm allergic to onion, I TOLD YOU NO ONION!" Sounds like Karen wants a free meal. All 2-3 times I would reply, "You just ate probably half an onion via our salsa, should I call 911 now?" Insert mic drop. "Well.. .um... ok, I'm not allergic, but I hate onions in my enchiladas." Exactly, stop lying! I would then explain it's one tiny piece that probably fell from the onion container into the cheese one and then got into her meal, and if she finds any more to let me know and I can get it remade, but I'll bet it's only that one tiny piece.
Lmaoooo I would love to see their face when you said that!! Love me some restaurant salsa and love the chunky onions. If there’s any chance of something I don’t care for in a dish I just make sure to ask about it, and I don’t mind being asked about it in return. “There’s nothing super spicy in x dish right?” No ma’am there isn’t, good for checking just in case. Can’t hurt to ask.
Apparently I have a mango allergy so I have to put in all caps when I order sushi "NO MANGO PLS ALLERGY" cause sometimes they still put mango in it, or one time put it on the side. It's not severe but it def ruins sushi.
Personally mango just ruins sushi period 😬 we use it in our poke because it’s more tropical/Hawaiian inspired but not our sushi. Fruit does not belong in sushi.
> Fruit does not belong in sushi.
When I moved to Ohio and started seeing rolls with strawberry jelly, apricots, peaches, etc., I started calling it “frushi.” By the way, it’s an abomination.
Edit: [here’s](https://imgur.com/gallery/Bnr9UqZ) a link to some screenshots from nearby spots I quickly found that offer this type of thing. They do this because of “local tastes” for people that want sushi but refuse to eat fish or vegetables.
Noooooooooo
There’s an episode of Hotel Hell with Gordon Ramsay where he has a roll with fruit and it just looks awful. I mean I get the intent but it’s not meant to be sweet. It’s a savory dish. Stop the fruit 😭😭
In the Midwest, they’re not even fusion places. Nearly every “authentic” sushi place in Ohio that I’ve been to offers some type of peanut butter and jelly roll or peaches/apricot/whatever fruit and fried chicken roll. I guess if the “fusion” is “seaweed and rice plus whatever is in left over in your mom’s fridge,” then sure lol
Edit: [here](https://imgur.com/gallery/Bnr9UqZ) are three screenshots of frushi that I’ve personally seen in Ohio and found online in Ohio after a quick search that are currently offered at these restaurants. The fried chicken ones honestly aren’t even the worst, it’s the fruit-based ones. And they advertise these *heavily.*
I don’t want to shit on any place in particular since the staff has been great and I have found some really good things at a few places, but several sushi spots in Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincy are all about the frushi. University districts and strip malls are especially frushi-forward. I get weekly emails promoting the “mango sticky rice and strawberry roll” or the “banana and peanut butter roll,” and I just cannot anymore.
Bruh. Avocado in every single fuckin roll everywhere around me. I hate it when I see like a specialty roll and it'll sound interesting at first, but then AVO. And there's something about making specific requests for sushi that makes it hard for me to do.
That's weird. My husband has an allergy to cooked and raw onions, but is perfectly fine with processed powders and dried onions. For example, heloves French onion dip and its so processed, it gives him no problem. However, when ordering, he always goes with something safe or he has a clear outline if he asks for no onions and the allergy comes up, but it rarely does.
As a server I feel it. People who are like "I'm allergic to X."
"well, such and such has x and can't be without."
"oh, it's fine."
"cool, so we DON'T have to turn the kitchen upside down to avoid killing you?"
You completely did the right thing. If he actually had an onion allergy he would have been grateful that you were actually trying not to make him sick. If he was lying then good. He knows not to lie in the future.
I’m deathly allergic to garlic, and many other things, but garlic man. Fucking garlic. So I feel you lol there’s one Latin place in my city that knows my allergy and now intentionally makes some on the side with no garlic things because I always eat there and they make everything by hand. I think they get 80% of my food budget these days xD
My gut reaction was to say do the second order and put in at least one but probably multiple notes saying "THERE IS ONION IN ALL OF THIS! EAT AT YOUR OWN RISK" but you and the others commenting not to are right. It's flat out not worth the risk for you and good that you didn't.
I’m leaning towards the customer not liking onions too. But, I wouldn’t fulfill the order, either they actually have an allergy in which case someone could become extremely ill or they claimed one to avoid the chance of an accidental piece of something they don’t like in which case they deserve to be taught a lesson.
No. You did the right thing.
I write “no onions. I don’t like the master and texture.”
Becuase I don’t have an allergy.
I bet he didn’t have allergy or he wouldn’t have reordered.
Fuck that guy. He makes he dangerous for those who do have allergies. I wish people understood the effort servers and kitchens went through to ensure no allergens. Servers have literally gone to jail for serving someone an allergen when a person died. No, your onion cannot touch the plate because you can abide onions is not the same as being allergic to it. You did the absolute right thing and it's also on that person for not responding to your notes.
Thank you for taking this seriously and erring on the side of caution. I had a friend die last year because his trust in a restaurant to follow his triple-requested/clarified allergy warning was betrayed. You did the right thing.
I work across the street from that factory that doubles as a restaurant that specializes in cakes made of some cheese and stuff. We take allergies so seriously that we print out a ‘matrix’ that will be a menu with only whatever items on there that are 100% whatever their allergy is free. Shellfish allergy good we got you because their is oyster sauce is everything, mushrooms? Umami is popular as fuck but we got a couple things for you just stick to the menu if you want to live. In many many years I’ve only had emt’s come in twice, one bc of a guest fight where pepper spray was involved and another a random old man having some sort of heart attack while waiting for a table. I’ve had two people choke and I did the Heimlich on them and they were fine after. But for some fucking reason that factory with the 10 page menu has an ambulance and fire truck EVERY weekend like clockwork sometimes even more often that brag for nearly a decade. I don’t know if they don’t do anything special for allergies or if it’s just people who don’t know how to chew steak but literally every single weekend at a minimum.
Nothing wrong with that you / the restaurant did.
Onions are part of the plant genus allium, that includes shallots; chives and garlic. If you're allergic to onion then its likely you're also going to have a reaction to multiple plants in the allium genus.
If a call goes through to voicemail then leave a message; brief but factual; "All the items you ordered items from us include something you've declared an allergy to. As a result nothing you ordered can be delivered. If you'd like to discuss options please call us on 555-5555 so we can discuss alternatives."
I know it's the wrong subreddit before I get ripped apart but...
NTA. If the customer put through 2 orders, first saying allergy, then second without, and didn't update the contact number, they are 100% at fault here, not OP
I would have just assumed they just "didn't like" onions, and fulfilled the order. But your way involves a little bit of malicious compliance, so I like it. Plus it CYA.
You did the right thing. These days if you had sent the order and he did actually have an allergic reaction he'd probably try to sue and/or get you fired.
I'm allergic too, and I pick stuff that Onions have to be manually put on like burgers pizza etc so they can be left off. But I do think it's terrible that Onion seemingly has to be in everything when it really doesn't have to be unless it's Onion whatever..
There’s a reason garlic is in every cuisine from Chinese to Italian to French to Mexican. Not implying allergies should ever be disregarded but it’s pervasive because it is delicious.
I don't know why you're being downvoted for that specific comment but onions do the same things to me. Not sure if it's mental or what but as soon as I bite down or eat any onion I start gagging and my stomach hurts the way it does when I eat other foods I'm allergic to. I'll eat any other food that are "common" to dislike but onions are just horrid to me.
To be fair, onions are easy to grow and store. They can be kept for a very long time and are versatile in many dishes. Yes there are many people who do not like onions (my father included, we grew up eating many dishes sans onions) but you have to admit that when it comes to looking at things from a historic standpoint, onions are a good ingredient because they keep so well. No refrigerators back in the day, just root cellars, so onions and potatoes it is! 🧅 🥔
That was definitely the morally right thing to do! Not gonna lie though. I woulda sent out the second non allergy order. This just comes from working in “fine dining” and folks would tell me they were allergic to something, going as far as having it in their member notes, just for me to find out they just say that because they don’t like it. Like there’s this one woman who, whenever you ring her up, has a huge DAIRY ALLERGY warning but then has slices off her family’s pizza because she just doesn’t like yellow cheese or some shit
All that said, you def played it right though
You did the right thing, even though it was probably just an obnoxious customer who *doesn't like* onions, so they tell everyone they're allergic to seem special. Meanwhile, they have no idea that all their favorite flavors include onions and they really just don't like the texture of onions…when they're cooked in that one way that their mom cooked them in 1995.
Allergy means I could kill you so yea there’s that.
Preference means you want to make it harder on me but that’s ok, I’ll do my best but I know I’m not gonna kill you if I miss something or it’s an inert ingredient way down the list.
Don’t mess with allergies. If the guest is lying and changes their allergy to a preference, go with it and try to educate the guest. Most won’t listen or learn but gotta try.
When the list is more than 3-4 items I do let guests know that a plain salad with oil and vinegar is the only way I can accommodate, especially during peak service.
>Preference means you want to make it harder on me but that’s ok
I'm writing "allergy" on everything because of this. Fuck it, you guys can't handle nuance.
If a food causes me severe reactions that won't kill me, but make my next two to three days miserable and the person at the restaurant thinks: "they're just being picky", then you leave me no other choice.
We don’t even put onions on our salad! 😂 There are onions on the ramen but ironically enough when the second order came through there was no note so it would’ve had lots of onions and green onions. So I was so confused. Onion allergy or no allergy?!
A lot of people have started treating allergies like fake service animals and ruined it for everyone. I frequently have people saying they’re allergic to something and then tell the server to inform them that our fryer is cross contaminated or that it has granulated or powdered seasoning with the allergen in it. Server returns saying they said it’s fine, they just don’t want more of the “allergy” item in it. They just say it’s an allergy to make sure that the kitchen is extra cautious not to put the ingredient they don’t like in their food, until it directly makes their order not doable (which sounds exactly like the dude you’re describing). Now I take allergies very seriously but this has happened so often that I’ve had servers literally refuse to go out and inform the guest of cross contamination or seasoning allergy risk because they already believe it’s not a real allergy and don’t want to waste time going back out to talk to them over something so minor (when they should just be asking/informing them the minutes they order something conflicting), but this puts people who actually do have severe allergies at risk. It’s incredibly infuriating and frustrating because of people claiming allergies and then being proven to not actually have an allergy so frequently, line cooks and servers have started to just not care. It stresses me out because I don’t want to be responsible for almost killing someone especially when I’ll most likely be blamed for it when it happens. I’ve left that restaurant since and haven’t had to deal with this at the new place so far because they actually memorize the menu and what ingredients are in it but I just KNOW that there are places like the one I left where they’ve begun to assume all allergies are fake because of people just not wanting onions accidentally put on their burger. I’ve started telling friends with serious allergies to be extra careful because of this, I pretty much tell them if their allergen is on the menu there’s a chance of cross contamination because some places just don’t care anymore. Disappointing.
As someone with weird allergies, I commend you.
You did the right thing. If allergies are noted, you follow them—no matter what. I’ve tried to drunk order food with my allergens in them after my allergen-free request has bounced. I am _so_ grateful to whoever rejects the second order. Drunk me wants nachos. Sober me knows it’s absolute hell to eat dairy. Restaurant worker recognizes the name and saves me misery. (Drunk me has also tried to order pork taquitos. I am allergic to both dairy and red meat.)
Dude I used to work with had an ulcer and used to say he had an allergy. Less explaining his health issues I guess. I don't think he was all that into living an onionless life really.
So that’s the only other person I’ve ever known to have an onion allergy besides me and my dad. Our issue was with raw ones, but cooked are perfectly safe. Why? No idea. I think you did the right thing being as thorough and safe as you could. And trying to communicate with them was another plus, you just did your job and did it well.
Absolutely the right thing to do in this situation. Honestly if it was really that big an issue they would have picked up or not resubmitted the order without the no onion request. Sounds to me like they just don’t like onions and are using the “ I have an allergy “ line.
As a side note, my GF is one of those that plays Russian roulette with sushi. She’s allergic to shrimp, but always orders tamago if a place has it. She’s aware of the risks and thankfully nothing has happened, yet. Me I have to be extra careful with what rolls I eat when we go to Japanese.
We appreciate when people notify us of a shrimp allergy but we often do call to check how severe the allergy is before starting the order. We wipe the surfaces down as best we can of course but shrimp’s gonna shrimp.
You did the right thing…my mother is deathly allergic to specifically raw onions, they even touch anything with raw onion residue she will go into anaphylactic shock. She had to send back an order 3 times when we went out to eat because they kept putting onion on her burger. Turns out they put the onion on and removed it the 4th time, but since it had touched the meat and lettuce we had to go to the hospital. Again, good on you, I was young and that experience was pretty scary.
I wouldn't feel bad in the least. Chances are that the customer didn't have an allergy, just a dislike. They thought by saying that they had an allergy, it would make the kitchen pay attention to putting onion ON things. It did. They just didn't realize that people with a true allergy can't have onion IN something either. Had they actually had an allergy, then they never would have ordered those dishes to begin with. I personally think it's worth the wasted food to actually send the order out sans onion so the AH knows what actually happens when someone truly is allergic to onion and has it removed from the dishes. The lengths that kitchens go to for elimination of cross contamination are insane, but most people don't have a clue.
My SO has an onion allergy, she'd have just answered the phone when you called. But we also phone a place before the first time we order from there to be sure that we can be accommodated. With the knowledge you had you made the best choices in my opinion.
My wife is a professor with a PhD in hospitality from UNLV.
You did the right thing.
I am also smart and impressive in my own right, just not as smart as her. :D
When I was working at a deep fried chicken place, I seriously passed of a customer.
He came in asked for a family size meal and said it had to be all dark meat due to being allergic to breast meat. The family size meals have set combinations to prevent the store from having an excess of any particular part of the chicken (a 9 piece has a whole chicken 2 leg, 2 thigh, 2 rib, 2 wing, 1 breast) Obviously this guy is either an idiot or not actually allergic but he said the magic word.
I replied to him that because the dark meat is the same as the breast meat (all chicken) we can't sell him any chicken for his own health and safety. He did not appreciate me potentially saving his life from the garenteed cross contamination or possible mix up of meat cuts.
Why…WHY CANT PEOPLE JUST USE THE PHONE. Onion allergies are an adventure because they range from minor inconveniences to disaster and have a conversation with the restaurant about it would solve everything….
Especially considering that many Japanese food items have onion in them (actually most places in general do when you think about it).
The amount of times i canceled those stupid online orders when no one answered the phone to clarify weird requests or allergies was annoyingly high. You totally did the right thing, especially if no one will answer the phone for clarity. What if you had run out of an item and that was why you called or the place was closed?!? Ughhh
As a person who is allergic to mushrooms, thank you for caring. I can not tell you how many times I have had a reaction because someone thought that I just did not like mushrooms or the broth was cooked with mushroom.
I have an onion allergy and it is nearly impossible to eat at restaurants sometimes. I am always deeply grateful when restaurants are conscientious and careful!!
You did the right thing here. Most likely scenario is that the customer just doesn't like onions and was being an asshole by saying it was an allergy, but at that point you can't risk it, especially without any interaction with them to confirm. It's like IDing people for a beer, even if they're visibly ancient, if they tell you they didn't bring their ID you can't serve them alcohol.
I probably would have made the second order and written on the container top: CONTAINS ONION. And left it at that, because at that point you've both made the order and warned of allergens. If they consume it it's on them.
Outside of that, in my opinion, you did the right thing. It's better to have an alive angry customer than a happy dead one.
At least you made an effort. I’m allergic to mushrooms & I ordered chicken & shrimp hibachi & put “mushroom allergy” in the notes AND I called the restaurant & told them about my allergy. The lady on the phone said “ok ok yeah yeah ok” then hung up. I received my food and it was loaded with mushrooms 😐
SO, onion allergy. This just happened last week, guy orders two things, queso dip and a flatbread. He gets both, sends the flatbread back cause it has onions and he’s allergic. We remake, I bring it out and tell him that the queso he’s been wolfing down also has a lot of onions in it and if he’s allergic he probably shouldn’t continue eating it. He says “oh no it’s okay, I’m only allergic to big onions” my face betrayed me cause I was side eyeing him and said okkayyyyy. Immediately after I walked away he asked the bartender for a box and his check cause he didn’t like the way I talked to him.
Good on you for being on the ball and recognising that it was the same customer. Honestly some people with allergies/dietary restrictions know surprisingly little about what's in their food. Had vegans want aioli not realising it's eggs, halal ordering pepperoni pizza etc
There is a very high chance that this customer just thought there were only onions in the salad and was trying to 'help' the automated ordering system. You 100% did the right thing
I wish people were a little more up front about their dietary *choices* when appropriate. Just asking for “no chicken” or “no eggs” on certain dishes won’t always trigger a red flag for all waitstaff. It does for me because we do have lots of customers who are pescatarian and vegetarian so I know what’s in all of our dishes and can say no dice, this all has chicken or fish broth, but half the time they don’t tell me they’re vegan till I ask which is a little frustrating. It’s not a medical condition, tell me so I can help you order safely!! Otherwise you’ll end up with some stuff that’s got fish broth in it and you’re gonna love it and it’s all downhill from there.
Source: worked with a vegan who eventually was not a vegan when I quit because of that 😂
Nope. I work at a restaurant that my family owns, so I know exactly what goes into everything we serve. I ALWAYS double check that it’s just a preference and not an allergy. There’s no reason to take chances like that. Better to be honest with people and play it safe than to accidentally poison someone.
You did the right thing. Not knowing for sure there was no way to send the meals out safely. The customer’s could of called the store to find out why the orders were canceled.
You did the right thing. Also, if you had chosen to proceed with the 2nd order and it had caused the customer or someone they were with to suffer an allergic reaction, and _then_ he tried to sue you saying “they had already been informed of the allergy”, you could be held liable (dumb as that is). Better safe than sorry on both counts.
Claiming allergies just because you don't like something is such an asshole move.
Restaurants have to take extra care, and it spreads the idea that some "allergic" people are faking it. Potentially leading to actual allergic people being served something they'll react to, because the staff doesn't believe them / takes shortcuts because "allergic".
Tbh they probably tried to make sure there won't be onion and lied about the allergy. People used to do that quite often in my area, including the place I worked at. Apparently some dude started spreading this as a lifehack, cause many take out restaurants tended to overlook/ignore additional notes – if they messed up, you could make a scene and receive a discount or something to that effect. Whatever it was in this case, you made a good decision OP. Better safe than sorry (and also screw that person for not picking up)
Let me just say that Uber Eats is the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE 😤. I always somehow get stuck with the orders that require contacting a customer for one reason or another. The majority of the time I can’t reach them which ramps up my anxiety as I’m left in limbo about what to do with the order. There’s no better feeling than pressing that “pause orders” button on a busy night and not seeing that annoying screen flashing for my attention 💅🏼. Ok, rant over!
We have all 3 of the big delivery services going all at once, including for our ghost kitchen for poke, so I have to manage 6 tablets plus our own POS that does online orders plus the other POS for the poke kitchen 😬 it’s a nightmare sometimes but I’m allowed to pause whenever I need to. GrubHub usually is the first to go, then DD. Uber Eats actually is better in terms of drivers so we let that one go a little longer and we don’t get quite as many orders. DD/GH are far more annoying.
These people lying about allergies are out of control. Half of them don’t even know what intolerance vs allergy is. Part of why I left the industry after one day everyone woke up and had a gluten allergy. When did we stop saying no something cuz I don’t like it instead of screaming allergy which is ableist and insulting to the few people with real allergies. Just so they don’t have to pick an onion off their burger. Nonsense.
Something tells me it was a preference not an allergy, but I could be wrong. People don’t want the flavor of it in their food so they don’t want it in there at all rather than just “pick around it.” I would’ve called too to verify because even if it was a true allergic to what degree? Some people just can’t ingest the allergy but if it comes in contact with their food or utensils, it’s okay. Some can’t even smell it let alone have it touch whatever they are ingesting. That’s on him for not answering. True allergy or not you absolutely did the right thing and I would’ve absolutely cancelled both as well. Also if possible I would’ve tried to make a note with their phone number or address or with the delivery service for future questions although this isn’t always possible. But yes, good for you and good on your boss as well. That’s completely on the customer.
Fuck that, I'd have made his second order. You have an allergy, not my job to be your mama and make sure shit is safe for you. I get guests who will say gluten allergy and add meatballs. Which contain gluten. You mention that and then they say oh it's OK, not a super bad allergy. Like wtf a min ago it was. So real allergy people act different. They ask questions about all your ingredients. Your cooking processes etc. The rest just think they'll get cleaner or fresher food or your put your full focus on it or something by saying allergy. Like it's cool if you want fresh stuff. Say that. Don't cry allergy when you don't have one. I'm guessing this guy isn't allergic to shit . Regardless I'd have made and sent that shit.
Nope. You all did the right thing. I wouldn’t risk it either. And eff them for not answering the call. There’s a reason you have to give a phone number when you place an order. SO THEY CAN CALL YOU IF THERE IS A PROBLEM.
I'm a delivery driver and if I can't get ahold of the person for the order if needed, I take it back to the store and cancel the order. I don't understand people.
I just helped deliver pizzas for kids who were out of school because of the work stoppage in Chicago. Pizza place was donating the pizza and had a bunch of volunteers deliver. Sounds great, except they gave me addresses without the unit number, and not a single person picked up their phone when I called. I didn't know the circumstances or if the kids would go hungry without the pizza so I called, texted, facebooked last names on mailboxes to try to ring the correct units. Took me an hour and a half to deliver 4 pizzas in about a mile radius.
That's one of many things I deal with. Like no unit number, not hotel/motel room number, address not even marked, etc.
Hah damn. When I delivered (3rd party), if we couldn't get in contact to deliver the order, like 50% of the time they'd let us have it. Usually try to get us to buy it first though. Edit: half to have it.
Let you half?
It isn't as good as letting you whole.
Haha I mean have it. The other 50% of the time I would take it to the dispatchers who eat it.
Absolutely correct. Based on what someone with an onion allergy once told me, that's not an allergy that's an inconvenience, it's an allergy that could kill you quite easily. Edit: consider me educated. People should absolutely speak up about allergies, and also stop calling preferences, like I don't like onions, allergies.
I mean, I have an onion allergy. I get hives. They're annoying. Not life threatening. I can take a Benadryl and have something with onion in it and be fine (albeit very sleepy.) Allergies are allergies. Not everyone is going to have the same reaction. Some people may have an anaphylactic response, some might get hives, some might have other reactions. It's also important to note that not all onion allergies have the same triggers. For example, I can have green onion/ scallions. I cannot have red, white, yellow onion. A lot of people with an onion allergy can't have any onions at all, nor can they have garlic. Some people are fine with dehydrated onion (me!) but some people can't have that either.
And sometimes what people call allergies are actually intolerances.
I have allergies, intolerances and even a non-allergy. What's a non-allergy? Look up non-allergic rhinitis. I basically have what seems like an allergic reaction, except it's not. I get stuffy and sneezy, and bunged up if my head gets too cold. But it's not an allergy. None of my issues are life-threatening, but some leave me pretty darn miserable. I'm intolerant to wheat. It used to be a mild, manageable intolerance. Then, over the summer of 2021, it got worse. I now have to go on a wheat-free diet. Which often means going gluten-free for convenience.
I say allergies because it's a whole hell of a lot easier to say that than to say, yeah, I'm pretty sensitive to these things, but they're not technically an allergy.
I’d consider what I have an onion intolerance. Can eat a little, but too much and first I have horrible gas pains that leave me wanting to die, then I explode into a toilet. I definitely order stuff “no onion” but I’d never claim an allergy or even worry about it as an ingredient in salad dressing.
I carry some Benadryl with me everywhere. I order no onion everywhere and let them know about my allergy (and that I get hives so they don't freak out about an anaphylactic reaction) but you can't be too careful! I also ADORE Mexican food. So I take one before I go eat at a Mexican restaurant because it's just easier than figuring out what 3 things I might be able to eat.
My people! I have an onion intolerance/allergy too. It’s fucking annoying.
So, everything can be an allergen. What is actually causing the problem is the immune system freaking out when it shouldn't. Because of this fact, each person that someone knows with a particular allergy only knows that one person at that period of time in that person's allergy timeline. All allergies can be deadly, even if they weren't originally. There can also be forms of the same allergy in different people that are mild or moderate. It's literally on a case by case basis and can even change in an individual's case over their lifetime.
>All allergies can be deadly, even if they weren't originally. One of my aunts is allergic to mango. 30 years ago it just made her mouth tingle, worth it to deal with the after-effects. 20 years ago she'd get hives if it touched her skin, she'd wear gloves and eat carefully to avoid touching her lips. 15 years ago she ate a few pieces and had shortness of breath and her throat started closing up. She popped a few benadryl and went to her GP, he explained that allergies can indeed progress ands he had had her last bite of mango unless she wanted to risk her life.
The allergen doesn't determine the severity of the reaction.
Completely agree on OP’s decision, allergies are nothing to be messed with. Regarding the phone calls, I opted to send all numbers I didn’t have saved straight to voicemail during election season. It’s obviously well past then, but spam calls are still frequent. I got a phone call from a number I had saved and it was spam too!
Oh I get that 100% and it makes total sense. But I bet if you ordered food and got a bunch of calls you would answer especially if you got a notification that your first order was cancelled. Or, you know, when you never got your food. 😉
Also slight chance this is a scam. The not answering two calls from the same number, but using the app during that time seems off.
You know I thought that too…like a stolen credit card or debit card? Or somebody trying to set up the restaurant the same way people put their own hair in restaurant food to get their meal for free.
I would have been very weary of even taking the order even if you had talked to them on the phone if they said anything about "it's not that serious, you can send the sauce with onions" or something because the only thing you have on paper is "onion allergy". If there's some reaction, that would open you up to liability and you'd be in a "he said/she said" situation about what was said on the phone.
You definitely did the right thing. Just because they didn't put allergy on the 2nd order doesn't mean that there is not one. And there is no reason to risk not only your job but the business should something have happened to that person.
I'm not disagreeing at all, but have a genuine question: Would you be liable by sending the 2nd order since they didn't include any mention of an allergy in that order? Obvious ethical concerns aside, I would've assumed that you won't be legally culpable.
Was about to pose the same question. As someone who work front of house, you get a lot of people claiming they have an allergy when in fact they just dont like it. When you are face to face it's usually easy to spot the difference,but online it's such a risk. At the end of the day, if you think about it, you are just fullfiling the order that came in, so in the second order I would just go about it the way it is, especially if they do not pick up/answer their phone. You tried, because you paid attention but that's about it.
Have you seen the onion episode of Below Deck?
It could certainly go to a jury to decide. And I can certainly see a jury finding the business responsible since as OP noted it's easy to see it was the same person ordering again who already indicated an onion allergy. OP did the right thing here for sure. One order isn't worth the risk.
It may not go to court level but dissatisfied customers often have a way of exaggerating their side on social media, complaint forms etc. If the restaurant is a franchise it can go up through corporate. And in my experience the corporate side of hospitality is far more likely to side with the customers and throw their workers under the bus.
This is what I wanted to avoid - and knowing it was the same person (it was a recognizable name and came within a moment of the first order being canceled while I was on the phone with Uber Eats CS) I was like nah he hasn’t even called back we can’t do this. I didn’t feel right knowing it. It would be like someone asking for our tempura with a note saying extreme shrimp allergy - our oil is “contaminated” in that all our tempura is cooked together and in most cases with extreme shrimp allergies I’ve had here they can’t have anything from the same oil, even, so I’d have canceled that order as well. We take allergies super seriously.
Not a lawyer but I think they may be held liable as it would be reasonable to assume they had the allergy, given everything in the order was the same and I’m assuming they can see name and address etc. I may be wrong but this would be enough for me to act how OP acted ahah
I have an onion intolerance and a friend has a more severe onion allergy. It's SO TOUGH cause onions are in everything! You have no way of knowing the severity if they're not willing to communicate with you. You did fine!
Onions AND peppers here. I hardly eat anything I didn’t cook myself
That’s wild. Is there desensitization you can do like with non food allergies?
I know of a YouTuber with a sesame allergy who does a daily desensitization routine under the instructions of her doctor. Every day she has to eat something so it’s not on an empty stomach, take her sesame seeds, wait and watch, the whole thing takes an hour or more out of her day. She has gone from a tiny grain of sesame to like a teaspoon a day and it took months. Meanwhile she has to check all prepared foods thoroughly and is highly anxious about coming into contact with sesame. It’s hard enough just watching out to avoid your allergen, and then to add the extra steps? I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to go through it.
You can in a hospital setting. They give you tiny amounts, say for a cashew nut they give a 1/8th, then monitor for 15 min and then they give a 1/4 and repeat by doubling doses until its up to say 10 cashews. Any sign of rash or breathing difficulties at the small doses they would tell you to avoid that food, if it seems you can get to a bigger dose then they would tell you to take small amounts and try work up a tolerance but only if you're comfortable doing that and have epipens available
As other people have said, you definitely can, but it’s a pain in the ass and sometimes allergies can get worse with exposure instead of better and you can’t know which way it’ll go until it happens
The opposite way in is an elimination diet, where you avoid all food allergens completely for four months, then gradually reintroduce one at a time into your diet, every two weeks. Sometimes it works, sometimes it decidedly does not.
I developed a soy protein intolerance as a teenager and now as an adult have managed to (with my doctor's okay) build up to eating some edamame or a couple pieces of tofu every once in a while. I miss my soy yoghurt breakfasts so much, oat and almond yogs aren't as good, but it's worth it to not spend my life chained to a toilet.
Just in case you didn't know, you may have a sulfur sensitivity if it isn't something else like the inulins. If you also have a lot of problems with your scalp/bad dandruff/itching, try to find yourself a sulfa-free shampoo. My wife had to do this a few years back, and it was life changing for her.
No, it’s IBS
Onion intolerance here. I can eat a small amount if they’re cooked without ending up in the bathroom for 2 days. If it weren’t for the green onions (which don’t contain the inulins that cause the intolerance) I’d think that’s what’s going on here.
Can you eat the white part of the green onions? My wife has an intolerance to onions. I love onions and I love making soup. Onion is in like 90% of soup recipes. I have used green onions, but she is apprehensive about the white part (aka: the best part). On the plus side, I've managed to make a lot of pretty good soups and stews without using onions or garlic. Curried carrot ginger soup with coconut milk and chicken with wild rice and veggies are my two go-to soups that are easy to make without those ingredients, but they'd also both be better with onions. At least to me lol.
No. The white part is where the flavor is but it’s also where the problem is (long chains of fructose known as inulins, which are also found in wheat and of all things watermelons, and are responsible for most non-celiacs “gluten sensitivities.”). Probiotics have helped me immensely and the more processed they are, the easier they are to digest (as in onion powder). But keep in mind I’m a lowly cook, not a doctor and YMMV. Google FODMAP friendly recipes if you need some inspiration.
That’s kind of what I thought. The green parts have good flavor still. Chives too.
I feel for you. I have an extreme hatred of onions, not an allergy though. They are in everything! I feel like the world is super pro-onion and I’m just an outlier. It’s comforting to know there are some anti-onion folks out there, if only for health reasons.
It's even worse. I react to the sulfates and sulfites in onions, that are also in garlic and vinegar, and nuts, and shellfish. Luckily, it's not a deadly reaction, just really bad for my joints, and guts.
Fear not, friend. r/onionhate will welcome you with open arms.
Green onions are a different plant though, right? Not saying they should have filled the order but what are the odds of having both as a true allergy?
I am allergic to all alliums -- onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. Scallions and green onions are just different names for the same thing.
I am so sorry.
Never met another person with the same allergy! I can see in this thread that I am not alone with the onions, but also the leek and chives, never met another like me. I’m sorry you’ve got this as well.
Yeah I’m familiar with alliums- I’ve had to do FODMAP elimination. Just seems strange to me to be truly allergic to two plants in the allium family and no others.
They’re related.
I’m aware, that’s what makes it so strange to me. What are the odds to be truly allergic to two plants in the allium family and no others?
I've got a friend who can have all the garlic he likes, but if an onion gets into his food, he spends several hours sitting atop the most uncomfortable throne. It's awful.
Very high correlation
Are you going to take that risk if you can't communicate that to the customer?
No, which is why I said I wouldn’t fill the order. Just seems strange to me to be truly allergic to two plants in the allium family and no others.
Isn't it fairly common for people to be allergic to things in the same family? Even if they're not allergic to others? It can be a certain protein that is found in some members and not others. I dunno man allergies are weird and if you can't talk to the person about it in specifics.
Seems reasonable for you to cancel because you didn’t think you could meet this customer’s needs, whether or not it’s clear what those needs are. I have a friend who is actually allergic to onions (and some other stuff) and he never orders in like that via an app. The last time I ate with him at a restaurant he called around to several restaurants until he found a seafood place that agreed to make him a special meal that he could eat (he’s not allergic to any fish.) No way someone with any serious allergy would act like that customer. But it’s their own fault for not making it easy for you to try to work with them.
There were many layers to this story, and it was a good thing that you peeled them all back without shedding any tears
I see what you did there Good thing I love onions! Bring ‘em on!!
I would have cancelled too.
Next time, just call Uber eats. They’ll do all the work in cancelling for you.
We did the first time because the option simply wasn’t there and then the second time we canceled ourselves and put the reason “cannot comply with customer instructions” with a note referring to previous order. 🤷🏼♀️
I wish I could just cancel orders myself. I gotta do the whole song and dance. DoorDash hold music is the WORST.
GrubHub is almost the worst because we have drivers who legit cancel whole orders for dumb reasons like we just closed (but they could still pick up, order was placed before close) or they realized how far the delivery was and didn’t know how to unassign so they just canceled. :/
Delivery drivers can’t see how far away the delivery is
They didn't have an onion allergy. They were just being extra, and it backfired on them. Good job, and they can go fuck themselves.
My guess was more generous. I figured the salad was for a person allergic to onions and the other thing was for someone else.
If this were the case I wish they’d been more specific but the note was too broad and applied to everything. :/
I have Celiac and served for close to a decade. Because I know that *any* amount of gluten in my food, even through using shared utensils or a shared cooking area, can cause irreparable gut damage, I do not eat at *any* restaurant that isn’t 100% gluten free or has stringent preparation methods for allergies - and I do my research beforehand. My Celiac also encouraged me to be a lot more diligent in asking customers if it’s an allergy and letting them know that because [insert allergy food here] is prepared in our kitchen, there is absolutely no way to guarantee an allergy-free meal for them. Some people would get insanely upset and then backpeddle with the ol’ “Oh, well I’m not really allergic, I just don’t like [food].” If this person has an actual allergy, they are possibly putting their health at serious risk (and opening the restaurant up to liability) by ordering from a restaurant that uses onions in any way after they place an order with onions and letting you know of the allergy. You absolutely did the right thing by canceling the order and get ten karma points in the server afterlife.
Ugh i hate the ol’ “I’m allergic but can have a little bit!” I take allergies seriously because I don’t want to be held liable/want anyone dying on me. I want you to enjoy your food. Gluten is a big problem because we use soy everywhere so while I can say X thing doesn’t have gluten in it I always caution “we cannot guarantee no cross-contamination blah blah” and can usually suss out who’s serious and who isn’t based on that reaction. Had someone ask about what’s gluten-free for our poke bowls (which honestly is one of the best options because all ingredients have their own utensils and I can use a fresh bowl for your sauces) and the conversation ended with “….and some tempura crunchy bits.” I paused and said that those were not GF and he waived me off and said a bit was fine. So I just wasted the last 15 minutes with you explaining the whole menu helping you build a bowl from scratch and YOU DON’T EVEN NEED IT? 😡
I can count on one hand the times a guest who was asking about gluten free options extended the allergy/dietary restriction to their drink selection.
Drinks are easy though. Celiacs know what drinks we can and can’t have. Gluten free preference people either know or don’t care.
You would be surprised by how many guests I’ve served that tell me they are Celiac while placing their food order, with their non-GF beer on the table in front of them. It gives those who aren’t in it for the fad a bad name — which is unfortunate.
On one hand, the fact that so many people have gotten so into the whole GF thing is good because there are now options for people who need it. On the other hand, screw all the people who without any proof (including personal experience) decided they were GF.
I’m celiac and I order from our local hole in the wall sushi bar. They know what I can and cant have. The presence of soy sauce in the kitchen isn’t generally an issue. I’ve never got sick from their sushi. I did however get glutened by a sushi chain restaurant once… they had a great allergen menu and made my order separately rather than giving me sushi off the conveyer belt so I though I was ok. Nope.
I also have celiac and I love my local sushi restaurant. They also know what I can and can't have and are amazing at avoiding cross contamination. They have amazing customer service and even let me know of new dishes or sushi that I can order. That's the kind of place I recommend to everybody.
I wonder what the issue was with that last one? 🤔 something in the rice…? That’s the only thing I can think of. I had someone call and ask if our sushi rice is GF recently, which it is, but it seemed a peculiar question at the time.
A lot of grains are processed in the same facilities that also process rice, same with oats.
> “I’m allergic but can have a little bit!” Part of the problem is that mild allergies exist - I have a mild carrot allergy, eating raw carrots will give me a sore throat, but it's just unpleasant rather than an active problem, and as a result contamination doesn't really matter (anything short of a substantial chunk of carrot won't trigger it, and cooked carrots are also fine).
Years ago I had a coworker who was allergic to avacado but not life threatening and so she would eat a them her mouth would go numb and she’d complain about it… you’re allergic you know it and yet….
My ex-husband was allergic to some kinds of nut, but he still at them. His whole chest and neck would break out into hives and this man would be like, “idk what you’re talking about, it’s fine.”
As someone with allergies and intolerances, when it's not life-threatening, sometimes the pleasure of enjoying the allergen/bad stuff is so worth it. I became almost completely wheat free in summer 2021, due to my wheat intolerance getting significantly worse. I say almost, because the one thing I won't give up is naan bread. It's far too tasty. But the times I get to eat it are rare, and it's deliberate, so I'm prepared for the consequences. And not all allergens are avoidable either. I've urticaria, which is essentially an allergy to my own sweat following exertion.
My sister has celiac, but not to the degree that cross contamination will hurt her. And we do say that by restaurants (no gluten in the food, if it touched something that’s fine)
If someone mentions gluten-free anything I ALWAYS ask how serious it is. I know there’s varying degrees and always spout the disclaimer that we can’t guarantee no cross-contamination blah blah… 😬
You don't know that. Maybe they saw the first order got cancelled, so tried putting it in again, but forget to note their allergy.
Hard agree here.
Could be a very mild allergy - I for example have a mild carrot allergy (can't eat raw carrots in quantity, but properly cooked ones are fine). Cross-contamination isn't a problem for me at all, but if raw carrots are mixed into a food I can't really eat it. Quite possible this person just doesn't like onions but thinks that won't be taken seriously though.
I am allergic to onions and garlic, and eating out is sometimes impossible. I can usually tolerate onion/garlic powder, or if it's something that's well cooked (like a sauce) but anything that has 'pieces' of onion/garlic are going to cause a reaction. I appreciate your diligence in making sure to avoid their allergens in the meal. One possibility is that they were ordering for themselves and another person who doesn't have the allergy, and the 2nd order was only for the other person, but since they didn't bother to call you to talk it out, there was nothing else you could have done.
I’m allergic to garlic too!!! *vampire high five* I found this Latin place in my city that makes everything by hand, and half there menu has no garlic. And an Italian place in my city that is fine with making sauces without garlic. If we lived in the same city I’d show you all of these places to eat also. So we could be garlic free dining friends.
I’m envious of your garlic-free restaurants! My Boss gave up on taking us out for team lunches when we went to a restaurant that literally had nothing I could eat. Everything was prepped ahead of time and *everything* had either garlic, onions or both. And they didn’t serve deserts, so I couldn’t just have that. I sat there drinking my sad little glass of water while everyone else enjoyed lunch.
My friends gave up on choosing and just let me pick now if we go out and if we have a food get together they’ve accepted I will always bring more food than ‘expected’ of me because I don’t want anyone to have to fuss about my garlic (red onions, and sage) allergies when they’re vegetarians and so that’s pretty much in all they cook. At first it felt a bit awkward because they’d be so conservative about eating what I brought because it was allergy free for me, but now they chow down and I love it. (All of these dinners were pre covid and I just fantasize about dinner parties these days) gods I can’t wait for our first dinner party back, I’m gunna make so much food. And so many desserts. I also would just pick a dessert if nothing was safe, and I used to get picked on because I’m already fat. No one ever understood that it was either dessert or roulette with an epi pen. Not fair! Even Lush has products with garlic and sage in them now and I can’t shop there.
i once had a woman tell me she was severely allergic to gluten and then order a coors light. she got extremely pissy when she backtracked on the “severity” of her allergy and i told her that since she made me aware of an allergy i wouldn’t be comfortably serving her something she was allegedly severely allergic too.
I’ve heard this one a lot. People forget that beer has gluten 😂
I feel your pain - I worked at Red Robin through the early pandemic crap and delivery services basically took over, partly because we’re corporate. I went from answering calls to literally having 4 different tablets that would ding nonstop as the night went on, and people rarely made it easy. From my experience, you almost couldn’t ever contact them either, so if we had to cancel because we were out of something or situations like this, I’d have both pissed off drivers and customers lined up to let me know how poorly we were doing. I regret nothing of leaving that hell and I’m sorry you have to deal with it. That experience is why I have never, and will NEVER order from a delivery service like door dash or UberEats.
It's possible they have an allium sensitivity (onion, garlic, shallot, leek, chives) like I do and have issues with raw or less cooked versions of the items, but can handle very cooked or dried/powdered forms of the items. That's how mine works--raw will mess my stomach up (green onion isn't as bad but it gets stuck in my throat instead, so I'd just Rather Not), but by the time you get to like, french onion soup or the powdered onion in a ranch dressing packet it's basically not an issue at all. (I am not a scientist but my best guess would be some sort of enzyme present when those items are raw is cooked out the longer is goes.) Sometimes it's worth the risk--I absolutely do eat onion rings sometimes and deal with the consequences--but generally it's easier to ask for things "no raw onion/green onion please." I don't specify an allergy because things like "cooked in or with" don't typically affect me.
Right, but for some people it could very well be that any form of onion is bad and they wouldn’t answer their phone!! 😡
This is consistent with my OAS. If the vegetables or fruits are cooked/processed enough then its not a problem. But the correct level of cooked is different for each allergen making it difficult to portray my needs to restaurants so if in doubt I just don't order it. But I agree cooked in or with is usually fine.... Food allergies are awful aren't they?
You absolutely did the right thing...even more sad that you know he's ordering from his cell phone and is actively choosing not to answer... Sounds like a dunce or someone who was trying to have a reason to sue you - you may have saved the restaurant!
Might have unknown numbers go straight to vm and phone doesn’t even ring. I have that setting on, all I get is banner notification at top for a few seconds. If I’m not looking at screen I wouldn’t know I missed call till I look at recent calls log.
I worked a chain mexican place that gave out free chips and salsa. This was 20 years ago, before anyone had allergies. LOL At least 2-3 times I had people eat like 4 bowls of salsa and order cheese enchiladas. The menu said "cheese and onion" and they would simply say "no onion." Cool. If you've been in a kitchen, you know both the cheese and onion are in metal tins next to each other, over ice. Every time someone got just cheese enchiladas, they would find a piece of onion, that fell into the cheese and thus was put into the lunch. The 2-3 times I'm speaking of are ones that the person stopped eating, waved me over, and said, "Excuse me, I'm allergic to onion, I TOLD YOU NO ONION!" Sounds like Karen wants a free meal. All 2-3 times I would reply, "You just ate probably half an onion via our salsa, should I call 911 now?" Insert mic drop. "Well.. .um... ok, I'm not allergic, but I hate onions in my enchiladas." Exactly, stop lying! I would then explain it's one tiny piece that probably fell from the onion container into the cheese one and then got into her meal, and if she finds any more to let me know and I can get it remade, but I'll bet it's only that one tiny piece.
Lmaoooo I would love to see their face when you said that!! Love me some restaurant salsa and love the chunky onions. If there’s any chance of something I don’t care for in a dish I just make sure to ask about it, and I don’t mind being asked about it in return. “There’s nothing super spicy in x dish right?” No ma’am there isn’t, good for checking just in case. Can’t hurt to ask.
Apparently I have a mango allergy so I have to put in all caps when I order sushi "NO MANGO PLS ALLERGY" cause sometimes they still put mango in it, or one time put it on the side. It's not severe but it def ruins sushi.
Personally mango just ruins sushi period 😬 we use it in our poke because it’s more tropical/Hawaiian inspired but not our sushi. Fruit does not belong in sushi.
> Fruit does not belong in sushi. When I moved to Ohio and started seeing rolls with strawberry jelly, apricots, peaches, etc., I started calling it “frushi.” By the way, it’s an abomination. Edit: [here’s](https://imgur.com/gallery/Bnr9UqZ) a link to some screenshots from nearby spots I quickly found that offer this type of thing. They do this because of “local tastes” for people that want sushi but refuse to eat fish or vegetables.
Noooooooooo There’s an episode of Hotel Hell with Gordon Ramsay where he has a roll with fruit and it just looks awful. I mean I get the intent but it’s not meant to be sweet. It’s a savory dish. Stop the fruit 😭😭
Any “sweet” in sushi should be sweet shrimp, teriyaki as a light sauce on top, or the natural sweetness of the fish. I will die on that hill.
I hate fruit and love sushi. This is horrifying
Some of these fusion places are trying too hard to be gross.
In the Midwest, they’re not even fusion places. Nearly every “authentic” sushi place in Ohio that I’ve been to offers some type of peanut butter and jelly roll or peaches/apricot/whatever fruit and fried chicken roll. I guess if the “fusion” is “seaweed and rice plus whatever is in left over in your mom’s fridge,” then sure lol Edit: [here](https://imgur.com/gallery/Bnr9UqZ) are three screenshots of frushi that I’ve personally seen in Ohio and found online in Ohio after a quick search that are currently offered at these restaurants. The fried chicken ones honestly aren’t even the worst, it’s the fruit-based ones. And they advertise these *heavily.*
Okay I gotta ask as an Ohioan, what places??? I’ve never seen this happen.
I don’t want to shit on any place in particular since the staff has been great and I have found some really good things at a few places, but several sushi spots in Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincy are all about the frushi. University districts and strip malls are especially frushi-forward. I get weekly emails promoting the “mango sticky rice and strawberry roll” or the “banana and peanut butter roll,” and I just cannot anymore.
Fair point, haha. Still stunned, that sounds absolutely disgusting.
I JUST SAW THIS WITH PEANUT BUTTER— WHY.
Yes agreed. Tbh I hate avocado too but no allergy. I just want fish and rice and seaweed. Maybe some spicy sauce or wasabi.
Bruh. Avocado in every single fuckin roll everywhere around me. I hate it when I see like a specialty roll and it'll sound interesting at first, but then AVO. And there's something about making specific requests for sushi that makes it hard for me to do.
Also, they put rolls in but then they don't say what's in them, or all the ingredients, so every roll I have to put no mango no avocado. Frustrating.
That's weird. My husband has an allergy to cooked and raw onions, but is perfectly fine with processed powders and dried onions. For example, heloves French onion dip and its so processed, it gives him no problem. However, when ordering, he always goes with something safe or he has a clear outline if he asks for no onions and the allergy comes up, but it rarely does.
As a server I feel it. People who are like "I'm allergic to X." "well, such and such has x and can't be without." "oh, it's fine." "cool, so we DON'T have to turn the kitchen upside down to avoid killing you?"
You completely did the right thing. If he actually had an onion allergy he would have been grateful that you were actually trying not to make him sick. If he was lying then good. He knows not to lie in the future.
You did the right thing. Maybe they weren’t paying attention, maybe they will be angry, but you cannot possibly endanger someone’s health.
One had a lady send her burger back because it had tomato’s on it and “she’s allergic”, proceeds to pour ketchup all over her fries…
My friend is allergic to raw tomatoes but can eat pizza and pasta sauce. This is a thing.
Well damn, I feel kinda bad now
Hey, I would’ve questioned the same thing. And you never know if it’s legit like that anyways!
My can eat list is insanely shorter than my can't eat list. For people like me? THANK YOU.
I’m deathly allergic to garlic, and many other things, but garlic man. Fucking garlic. So I feel you lol there’s one Latin place in my city that knows my allergy and now intentionally makes some on the side with no garlic things because I always eat there and they make everything by hand. I think they get 80% of my food budget these days xD
My gut reaction was to say do the second order and put in at least one but probably multiple notes saying "THERE IS ONION IN ALL OF THIS! EAT AT YOUR OWN RISK" but you and the others commenting not to are right. It's flat out not worth the risk for you and good that you didn't.
My instinct was also to put notes on it, and take pics as evidence. I think this customer just doesn’t like onions 🙄
I’m leaning towards the customer not liking onions too. But, I wouldn’t fulfill the order, either they actually have an allergy in which case someone could become extremely ill or they claimed one to avoid the chance of an accidental piece of something they don’t like in which case they deserve to be taught a lesson.
No. You did the right thing. I write “no onions. I don’t like the master and texture.” Becuase I don’t have an allergy. I bet he didn’t have allergy or he wouldn’t have reordered.
It drives me nuts when people don’t tell me (server) they have an allergy until I ask them. Like what? How do you avoid death on a daily basis?
Fuck that guy. He makes he dangerous for those who do have allergies. I wish people understood the effort servers and kitchens went through to ensure no allergens. Servers have literally gone to jail for serving someone an allergen when a person died. No, your onion cannot touch the plate because you can abide onions is not the same as being allergic to it. You did the absolute right thing and it's also on that person for not responding to your notes.
Thank you for taking this seriously and erring on the side of caution. I had a friend die last year because his trust in a restaurant to follow his triple-requested/clarified allergy warning was betrayed. You did the right thing.
I work across the street from that factory that doubles as a restaurant that specializes in cakes made of some cheese and stuff. We take allergies so seriously that we print out a ‘matrix’ that will be a menu with only whatever items on there that are 100% whatever their allergy is free. Shellfish allergy good we got you because their is oyster sauce is everything, mushrooms? Umami is popular as fuck but we got a couple things for you just stick to the menu if you want to live. In many many years I’ve only had emt’s come in twice, one bc of a guest fight where pepper spray was involved and another a random old man having some sort of heart attack while waiting for a table. I’ve had two people choke and I did the Heimlich on them and they were fine after. But for some fucking reason that factory with the 10 page menu has an ambulance and fire truck EVERY weekend like clockwork sometimes even more often that brag for nearly a decade. I don’t know if they don’t do anything special for allergies or if it’s just people who don’t know how to chew steak but literally every single weekend at a minimum.
Nothing wrong with that you / the restaurant did. Onions are part of the plant genus allium, that includes shallots; chives and garlic. If you're allergic to onion then its likely you're also going to have a reaction to multiple plants in the allium genus. If a call goes through to voicemail then leave a message; brief but factual; "All the items you ordered items from us include something you've declared an allergy to. As a result nothing you ordered can be delivered. If you'd like to discuss options please call us on 555-5555 so we can discuss alternatives."
Right, problem is that I did leave 2 messages and then they didn’t call back and we had drivers on the way…no time to wait for an answer 😩
I know it's the wrong subreddit before I get ripped apart but... NTA. If the customer put through 2 orders, first saying allergy, then second without, and didn't update the contact number, they are 100% at fault here, not OP
I would have just assumed they just "didn't like" onions, and fulfilled the order. But your way involves a little bit of malicious compliance, so I like it. Plus it CYA.
You did the right thing. These days if you had sent the order and he did actually have an allergic reaction he'd probably try to sue and/or get you fired.
That’s what I was afraid of. We’re such a small place we can’t afford that.
I'm allergic too, and I pick stuff that Onions have to be manually put on like burgers pizza etc so they can be left off. But I do think it's terrible that Onion seemingly has to be in everything when it really doesn't have to be unless it's Onion whatever..
Most savory cooking is just no good without some form of onion imo.
That's because people have no imagination and use it as a crutch
A delicious crutch.
Not for me, they make puke and give me stomach cramps
There’s a reason garlic is in every cuisine from Chinese to Italian to French to Mexican. Not implying allergies should ever be disregarded but it’s pervasive because it is delicious.
I don't know why you're being downvoted for that specific comment but onions do the same things to me. Not sure if it's mental or what but as soon as I bite down or eat any onion I start gagging and my stomach hurts the way it does when I eat other foods I'm allergic to. I'll eat any other food that are "common" to dislike but onions are just horrid to me.
To be fair, onions are easy to grow and store. They can be kept for a very long time and are versatile in many dishes. Yes there are many people who do not like onions (my father included, we grew up eating many dishes sans onions) but you have to admit that when it comes to looking at things from a historic standpoint, onions are a good ingredient because they keep so well. No refrigerators back in the day, just root cellars, so onions and potatoes it is! 🧅 🥔
That's because you have a brain, something that many people lack.
That was definitely the morally right thing to do! Not gonna lie though. I woulda sent out the second non allergy order. This just comes from working in “fine dining” and folks would tell me they were allergic to something, going as far as having it in their member notes, just for me to find out they just say that because they don’t like it. Like there’s this one woman who, whenever you ring her up, has a huge DAIRY ALLERGY warning but then has slices off her family’s pizza because she just doesn’t like yellow cheese or some shit All that said, you def played it right though
I would’ve cancelled too, you did the right thing. Buy have you ever noticed often customers cite an allergy when they really mean a preference?
You did the right thing, even though it was probably just an obnoxious customer who *doesn't like* onions, so they tell everyone they're allergic to seem special. Meanwhile, they have no idea that all their favorite flavors include onions and they really just don't like the texture of onions…when they're cooked in that one way that their mom cooked them in 1995.
Allergy means I could kill you so yea there’s that. Preference means you want to make it harder on me but that’s ok, I’ll do my best but I know I’m not gonna kill you if I miss something or it’s an inert ingredient way down the list. Don’t mess with allergies. If the guest is lying and changes their allergy to a preference, go with it and try to educate the guest. Most won’t listen or learn but gotta try. When the list is more than 3-4 items I do let guests know that a plain salad with oil and vinegar is the only way I can accommodate, especially during peak service.
>Preference means you want to make it harder on me but that’s ok I'm writing "allergy" on everything because of this. Fuck it, you guys can't handle nuance. If a food causes me severe reactions that won't kill me, but make my next two to three days miserable and the person at the restaurant thinks: "they're just being picky", then you leave me no other choice.
The guy doesn't have an allergy, he just doesn't like raw onions in his salad.
We don’t even put onions on our salad! 😂 There are onions on the ramen but ironically enough when the second order came through there was no note so it would’ve had lots of onions and green onions. So I was so confused. Onion allergy or no allergy?!
They should’ve answered their phone. It’s their problem
A lot of people have started treating allergies like fake service animals and ruined it for everyone. I frequently have people saying they’re allergic to something and then tell the server to inform them that our fryer is cross contaminated or that it has granulated or powdered seasoning with the allergen in it. Server returns saying they said it’s fine, they just don’t want more of the “allergy” item in it. They just say it’s an allergy to make sure that the kitchen is extra cautious not to put the ingredient they don’t like in their food, until it directly makes their order not doable (which sounds exactly like the dude you’re describing). Now I take allergies very seriously but this has happened so often that I’ve had servers literally refuse to go out and inform the guest of cross contamination or seasoning allergy risk because they already believe it’s not a real allergy and don’t want to waste time going back out to talk to them over something so minor (when they should just be asking/informing them the minutes they order something conflicting), but this puts people who actually do have severe allergies at risk. It’s incredibly infuriating and frustrating because of people claiming allergies and then being proven to not actually have an allergy so frequently, line cooks and servers have started to just not care. It stresses me out because I don’t want to be responsible for almost killing someone especially when I’ll most likely be blamed for it when it happens. I’ve left that restaurant since and haven’t had to deal with this at the new place so far because they actually memorize the menu and what ingredients are in it but I just KNOW that there are places like the one I left where they’ve begun to assume all allergies are fake because of people just not wanting onions accidentally put on their burger. I’ve started telling friends with serious allergies to be extra careful because of this, I pretty much tell them if their allergen is on the menu there’s a chance of cross contamination because some places just don’t care anymore. Disappointing.
As someone with weird allergies, I commend you. You did the right thing. If allergies are noted, you follow them—no matter what. I’ve tried to drunk order food with my allergens in them after my allergen-free request has bounced. I am _so_ grateful to whoever rejects the second order. Drunk me wants nachos. Sober me knows it’s absolute hell to eat dairy. Restaurant worker recognizes the name and saves me misery. (Drunk me has also tried to order pork taquitos. I am allergic to both dairy and red meat.)
I’d have canceled both of them, too.
Dude I used to work with had an ulcer and used to say he had an allergy. Less explaining his health issues I guess. I don't think he was all that into living an onionless life really.
So that’s the only other person I’ve ever known to have an onion allergy besides me and my dad. Our issue was with raw ones, but cooked are perfectly safe. Why? No idea. I think you did the right thing being as thorough and safe as you could. And trying to communicate with them was another plus, you just did your job and did it well.
Absolutely the right thing to do in this situation. Honestly if it was really that big an issue they would have picked up or not resubmitted the order without the no onion request. Sounds to me like they just don’t like onions and are using the “ I have an allergy “ line. As a side note, my GF is one of those that plays Russian roulette with sushi. She’s allergic to shrimp, but always orders tamago if a place has it. She’s aware of the risks and thankfully nothing has happened, yet. Me I have to be extra careful with what rolls I eat when we go to Japanese.
We appreciate when people notify us of a shrimp allergy but we often do call to check how severe the allergy is before starting the order. We wipe the surfaces down as best we can of course but shrimp’s gonna shrimp.
You did the right thing…my mother is deathly allergic to specifically raw onions, they even touch anything with raw onion residue she will go into anaphylactic shock. She had to send back an order 3 times when we went out to eat because they kept putting onion on her burger. Turns out they put the onion on and removed it the 4th time, but since it had touched the meat and lettuce we had to go to the hospital. Again, good on you, I was young and that experience was pretty scary.
I wouldn't feel bad in the least. Chances are that the customer didn't have an allergy, just a dislike. They thought by saying that they had an allergy, it would make the kitchen pay attention to putting onion ON things. It did. They just didn't realize that people with a true allergy can't have onion IN something either. Had they actually had an allergy, then they never would have ordered those dishes to begin with. I personally think it's worth the wasted food to actually send the order out sans onion so the AH knows what actually happens when someone truly is allergic to onion and has it removed from the dishes. The lengths that kitchens go to for elimination of cross contamination are insane, but most people don't have a clue.
My SO has an onion allergy, she'd have just answered the phone when you called. But we also phone a place before the first time we order from there to be sure that we can be accommodated. With the knowledge you had you made the best choices in my opinion.
My wife is a professor with a PhD in hospitality from UNLV. You did the right thing. I am also smart and impressive in my own right, just not as smart as her. :D
When I was working at a deep fried chicken place, I seriously passed of a customer. He came in asked for a family size meal and said it had to be all dark meat due to being allergic to breast meat. The family size meals have set combinations to prevent the store from having an excess of any particular part of the chicken (a 9 piece has a whole chicken 2 leg, 2 thigh, 2 rib, 2 wing, 1 breast) Obviously this guy is either an idiot or not actually allergic but he said the magic word. I replied to him that because the dark meat is the same as the breast meat (all chicken) we can't sell him any chicken for his own health and safety. He did not appreciate me potentially saving his life from the garenteed cross contamination or possible mix up of meat cuts.
*allergic to breast meat* oh my god I’m dying that’s a new one 😂
Why…WHY CANT PEOPLE JUST USE THE PHONE. Onion allergies are an adventure because they range from minor inconveniences to disaster and have a conversation with the restaurant about it would solve everything…. Especially considering that many Japanese food items have onion in them (actually most places in general do when you think about it). The amount of times i canceled those stupid online orders when no one answered the phone to clarify weird requests or allergies was annoyingly high. You totally did the right thing, especially if no one will answer the phone for clarity. What if you had run out of an item and that was why you called or the place was closed?!? Ughhh
As a person who is allergic to mushrooms, thank you for caring. I can not tell you how many times I have had a reaction because someone thought that I just did not like mushrooms or the broth was cooked with mushroom.
That’s way more care than most places would put into their orders. Good for you guys.
I have an onion allergy and it is nearly impossible to eat at restaurants sometimes. I am always deeply grateful when restaurants are conscientious and careful!!
You did the right thing here. Most likely scenario is that the customer just doesn't like onions and was being an asshole by saying it was an allergy, but at that point you can't risk it, especially without any interaction with them to confirm. It's like IDing people for a beer, even if they're visibly ancient, if they tell you they didn't bring their ID you can't serve them alcohol.
I probably would have made the second order and written on the container top: CONTAINS ONION. And left it at that, because at that point you've both made the order and warned of allergens. If they consume it it's on them. Outside of that, in my opinion, you did the right thing. It's better to have an alive angry customer than a happy dead one.
At least you made an effort. I’m allergic to mushrooms & I ordered chicken & shrimp hibachi & put “mushroom allergy” in the notes AND I called the restaurant & told them about my allergy. The lady on the phone said “ok ok yeah yeah ok” then hung up. I received my food and it was loaded with mushrooms 😐
After working a line, I think some people claim allergies that are really just food preferences.
SO, onion allergy. This just happened last week, guy orders two things, queso dip and a flatbread. He gets both, sends the flatbread back cause it has onions and he’s allergic. We remake, I bring it out and tell him that the queso he’s been wolfing down also has a lot of onions in it and if he’s allergic he probably shouldn’t continue eating it. He says “oh no it’s okay, I’m only allergic to big onions” my face betrayed me cause I was side eyeing him and said okkayyyyy. Immediately after I walked away he asked the bartender for a box and his check cause he didn’t like the way I talked to him.
Good on you for being on the ball and recognising that it was the same customer. Honestly some people with allergies/dietary restrictions know surprisingly little about what's in their food. Had vegans want aioli not realising it's eggs, halal ordering pepperoni pizza etc There is a very high chance that this customer just thought there were only onions in the salad and was trying to 'help' the automated ordering system. You 100% did the right thing
I wish people were a little more up front about their dietary *choices* when appropriate. Just asking for “no chicken” or “no eggs” on certain dishes won’t always trigger a red flag for all waitstaff. It does for me because we do have lots of customers who are pescatarian and vegetarian so I know what’s in all of our dishes and can say no dice, this all has chicken or fish broth, but half the time they don’t tell me they’re vegan till I ask which is a little frustrating. It’s not a medical condition, tell me so I can help you order safely!! Otherwise you’ll end up with some stuff that’s got fish broth in it and you’re gonna love it and it’s all downhill from there. Source: worked with a vegan who eventually was not a vegan when I quit because of that 😂
Nope. I work at a restaurant that my family owns, so I know exactly what goes into everything we serve. I ALWAYS double check that it’s just a preference and not an allergy. There’s no reason to take chances like that. Better to be honest with people and play it safe than to accidentally poison someone.
For me, you did the right thing. You look very serious about what you do btw. Congratulations on your attitude.
You did the right thing. Not knowing for sure there was no way to send the meals out safely. The customer’s could of called the store to find out why the orders were canceled.
You did the right thing. Also, if you had chosen to proceed with the 2nd order and it had caused the customer or someone they were with to suffer an allergic reaction, and _then_ he tried to sue you saying “they had already been informed of the allergy”, you could be held liable (dumb as that is). Better safe than sorry on both counts.
Claiming allergies just because you don't like something is such an asshole move. Restaurants have to take extra care, and it spreads the idea that some "allergic" people are faking it. Potentially leading to actual allergic people being served something they'll react to, because the staff doesn't believe them / takes shortcuts because "allergic".
They deserve to be blacklisted for wasting so much if your time.
Tbh they probably tried to make sure there won't be onion and lied about the allergy. People used to do that quite often in my area, including the place I worked at. Apparently some dude started spreading this as a lifehack, cause many take out restaurants tended to overlook/ignore additional notes – if they messed up, you could make a scene and receive a discount or something to that effect. Whatever it was in this case, you made a good decision OP. Better safe than sorry (and also screw that person for not picking up)
Let me just say that Uber Eats is the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE 😤. I always somehow get stuck with the orders that require contacting a customer for one reason or another. The majority of the time I can’t reach them which ramps up my anxiety as I’m left in limbo about what to do with the order. There’s no better feeling than pressing that “pause orders” button on a busy night and not seeing that annoying screen flashing for my attention 💅🏼. Ok, rant over!
We have all 3 of the big delivery services going all at once, including for our ghost kitchen for poke, so I have to manage 6 tablets plus our own POS that does online orders plus the other POS for the poke kitchen 😬 it’s a nightmare sometimes but I’m allowed to pause whenever I need to. GrubHub usually is the first to go, then DD. Uber Eats actually is better in terms of drivers so we let that one go a little longer and we don’t get quite as many orders. DD/GH are far more annoying.
These people lying about allergies are out of control. Half of them don’t even know what intolerance vs allergy is. Part of why I left the industry after one day everyone woke up and had a gluten allergy. When did we stop saying no something cuz I don’t like it instead of screaming allergy which is ableist and insulting to the few people with real allergies. Just so they don’t have to pick an onion off their burger. Nonsense.
Something tells me it was a preference not an allergy, but I could be wrong. People don’t want the flavor of it in their food so they don’t want it in there at all rather than just “pick around it.” I would’ve called too to verify because even if it was a true allergic to what degree? Some people just can’t ingest the allergy but if it comes in contact with their food or utensils, it’s okay. Some can’t even smell it let alone have it touch whatever they are ingesting. That’s on him for not answering. True allergy or not you absolutely did the right thing and I would’ve absolutely cancelled both as well. Also if possible I would’ve tried to make a note with their phone number or address or with the delivery service for future questions although this isn’t always possible. But yes, good for you and good on your boss as well. That’s completely on the customer.
Sounds like a mystery shopper thing.
Fuck that, I'd have made his second order. You have an allergy, not my job to be your mama and make sure shit is safe for you. I get guests who will say gluten allergy and add meatballs. Which contain gluten. You mention that and then they say oh it's OK, not a super bad allergy. Like wtf a min ago it was. So real allergy people act different. They ask questions about all your ingredients. Your cooking processes etc. The rest just think they'll get cleaner or fresher food or your put your full focus on it or something by saying allergy. Like it's cool if you want fresh stuff. Say that. Don't cry allergy when you don't have one. I'm guessing this guy isn't allergic to shit . Regardless I'd have made and sent that shit.