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gwentheeditor
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:22 am 
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Location: Toronto
Not sure if you all receive our new e-NewsReport. Can view it here:

Includes the article I did for the CBC "Time to Stop Mocking Food Allergies".

Given the comments, we can see it's an uphill battle to gain respect. e.g. this from a waiter:
http://www.allergicliving.com/eletters.asp?copy_id=396

Quote:
As much as I feel for people with real life threatening food allergies and would be willing to accomodate them reasonably, I have a HUGE problem with the whiners and hypochondriacs.
I am a server in a restaurant and cringe when they come in to DEMAND service for their "ailment". These people amaze me in more than a highly annoying kinda way. My question is this..."if you're health is so endangered then WHY go eat out????? Do you actually think in the middle of a dinner rush while I have alot of other customers waiting, I am going to query the entire cooking staff ( who have as many as 40 orders on the go) as to what and how many ingredients are threatening to you personally??? Needless to say I never get a really warm reception from the cooks.... soooooo then I'm supposed to go and personally locate original packaging and ingredient lists of everything used??????? You people are attention starved buttheads and you need to go visit a doctor...the other kind...shrinks....get a life and get over yourselves!!!!

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_Susan_
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:50 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:17 pm
Posts: 6252
Location: Ottawa
Ugh! :freak I try not to read the comments on articles as so many of them are blatently nasty. I suspect it has something to do with the anonymity making people bold.

We don't eat out a lot and when we do, I prefer to contact the manager, inquire about their abilities to accomodate us and request a time that suits them best.

gwentheeditor wrote:
Given the comments, we can see it's an uphill battle to gain respect. e.g. this from a waiter:
http://www.allergicliving.com/eletters.asp?copy_id=396

Quote:
As much as I feel for people with real life threatening food allergies and would be willing to accomodate them reasonably, I have a HUGE problem with the whiners and hypochondriacs.
I am a server in a restaurant and cringe when they come in to DEMAND service for their "ailment". These people amaze me in more than a highly annoying kinda way. My question is this..."if you're health is so endangered then WHY go eat out????? Do you actually think in the middle of a dinner rush while I have alot of other customers waiting, I am going to query the entire cooking staff ( who have as many as 40 orders on the go) as to what and how many ingredients are threatening to you personally??? Needless to say I never get a really warm reception from the cooks.... soooooo then I'm supposed to go and personally locate original packaging and ingredient lists of everything used??????? You people are attention starved buttheads and you need to go visit a doctor...the other kind...shrinks....get a life and get over yourselves!!!!

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Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb
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Eldi
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:43 pm 
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Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 5:15 pm
Posts: 354
Location: Regina, Sask
I hardly ever eat out but if I do I always go to a higher end restaurant where I can talk to the chef and tell him/her what I CAN eat and they are always able to come up with a really nice meal for me. I try to e-mail/phone ahead to make sure that they can accommodate my severe corn allergy.

I was in Calgary this weekend and I ordered a plain steak (no salt, marinades or seasonings) cooked with only EVOlive oil, a plain baked potato, and steamed veggies. I did not have a reaction and the meal was excellent!

The main thing is that you have to tell them what you CAN eat, not what you CAN'T eat...makes it sooooooo much easier!
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GirlfromNWO
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:11 pm 
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Joined: Sun Nov 29, 2009 7:43 pm
Posts: 75
He probably is hated by the kitchen staff for being such a whiny brat and that is why they didn't help him...haha. I have several friends who work in the restaurant business and I have never heard them once bad mouth people with allegries, because as they say "We were trained to handle this, it is our job."

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Fiance: Ana. to Dairy, Eggs, Peanuts/Nuts and Horse. Also has asthma.
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gwentheeditor
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:27 pm 
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Location: Toronto
In better news - someone e-mailed me to point out this newer comment:

Quote:
To all the restaurant staff (kitchen and floor) who commented with respect to their apparent disdain for allergy stricken customers...you're bad at your jobs. I've run restaurants for a long time and if I knew that attitude was prevalent on my floor I'd be very concerned for the health of my clientele. Keeping someone alive is much more a respectable part of your profession than is pocketing a gratuity.

If you don't like it, hearken back to the scene in Reservoir Dogs...you know the one where Mr. Pink says..."Learn to (expletive) type."


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/ ... alcomments#ixzz0puz7GsQe

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~Lisa~
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:58 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 4:27 pm
Posts: 300
Location: Montreal
First off, Gwen the article was great...definitely something that needs to be said. I didn't even venture to the comments section because of people like him. It angers me beyond words which is another reason I am writing that small book of mine. I have eaten out A LOT, all my life. Gone to weddings, parties, everything and anything. Being served by attentive staff is what sets apart the good restaurants from the bad ones and you know what? they always got a nice tip out of it if they took extra care. Some people expect us to live inside a cave or something and never go out and LIVE....this is ridiculous and hurtful. In life, there are always people facing some sort of adversity, whether it be based on physical characteristics, religion, etc. and even things like life-threatening food allergies. The answer is not to shut those people away...
Ok that's my rant. Good job again Gwen :)

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Allergies to all nuts and legumes except soy and green beans.
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DaveR
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:08 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 11:48 pm
Posts: 13
I can't help but wonder if those involved with civil rights issues have any ideas how to educate the public that allergies are real.
The combined experience and expertise of those who fight racism and hate groups goes back hundreds of years.
Getting people to drop old ways of thinking wrong is what they do.

Perhaps there could be discussion between the two groups.

Has this been done?
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gwentheeditor
PostPosted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:29 pm 
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Location: Toronto
It's an interesting consideration.

No, don't believe anything like that has been raised.

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gwentheeditor
PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:55 am 
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Location: Toronto
And thanks, Lisa.

FYI folks (veering off topic alert) - watch for Parting Shots in the Summer issue of AL.
A great column by none other than Lisa of our Forum.

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~Lisa~
PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 3:40 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 4:27 pm
Posts: 300
Location: Montreal
:thanksign Gwen

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Becky
PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:23 am 
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Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:05 am
Posts: 595
Location: AB, Canada
Wow, that waiter is shockingly rude and inconsiderate. Although once my blood stopped boiling, I do feel that if special consideration is needed it is much better to go at a quieter time, so that the wait/kitchen staff *can* give you better service attention, and I do always call ahead to speak to a manager before venturing out anywhere.

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gwentheeditor
PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:40 pm 
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Location: Toronto
Hadn't looked in the past week. Notice that the last comment says ...
Quote:
but an allergy is NOT a disease


:banghead Drat, it's so unfortunate when the person with the last word is dead wrong.

It's probably not appropriate for me to comment - but if anyone else cares to, (as we all know here), yes, there is a spectrum of "allergic diseases."

In fact, the U.S. gov't dept. dealing with allergies is the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/allergi ... fault.aspx

Sigh.
e.g. World Allergy Org. says 'disease': http://www.worldallergy.org/adrc/
All the medical texts call it "allergic disease".

You don't "catch" arthritis or diabetes either, but they still are diseases.
Oy, the learning curve.

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