imbelle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
Do most restaurants have allergy coordinators (not being snarky, genuinely curious)? I don't see how shifting the responsibility to the manager alleviates the risk to the customer (they probably received the same allergy training, if any, as the server).Couldn't you call your manager or allergy coordinator to take over then?
Also, you could say the same thing about driving, if despite your best intentions or circumstances beyond your control, you run over someone with your car, wouldn't you face similar consequences?
Here's what we do to keep our DS5 safe and has worked so far
-research restaurants ahead of time that are allergy-friendly
-ask questions
-examine food when it arrives
-ask more questions if you have doubts
We haven't had issues with restaurants, and we eat out or do carry out 2-4 times a week. What we had issues so far are daycares, school, and social gatherings. I've had to rush him to the ER 5 times in the first 5 years of his life.
The point is, regardless of how much training the restaurant staff receives or how well they follow procedures, there are countless ways something can be cross contaminated in a restaurant. I thought back to my college days when I worked in a restaurant and it literally made my head hurt to think of all the ways it could happen: the source of every ingredient, every employee (some of whom may not speak English well) who comes in contact with every element, the list is endless.
While it's unfortunate if the cross contamination results in discomfort or brief illness for the customer, it's another thing all together if the customer knows that they have a life-threatening allergy and forces the restaurant staff to share their risk. Having worked in a restaurant, there is no way that I would take on that risk either as server or as the customer with a life threatening allergy. There are just too many ways that it could go south.
We all know that we are accepting the risk of an accident when we get behind the wheel of a car. Medical personnel know that their field includes risk. I don't think servers go to work with the expectation of causing death by food. Should they? In a perfect world, maybe. But that's a pretty big expectation to trust your life to someone who serves food as a job just to make a living. Does it suck that a person with a life-threatening allergy can't confidently expect to eat safely in a restaurant? Of course it does. But when that meal may be your last meal, is it really worth it?