Wednesday, September 24, 2014

I love this restaurant's 'we don't care about your allergies' sign; Carrie Bradshaw take note

As a whole, Americans seem to be afflicted with a lot more food allergies now than we were several years ago.  Is it because we're more aware of/educated about them, or because we're pickier/afraid of everything and facilitate allergies by not exposing ourselves to stuff?

If you happen to work in the food service industry, you've probably become irritated by people's allergies on more than one occasion.  The chef/owner of a San Francisco Chinese restaurant recently decided he'd had enough, and posted this sign in the window of his establishment (the blurred out word is f*ck):



It brings to mind a scene from an episode of Sex and the City (Season 6 No. 6, entitled "Hop, Skip and a Week" for the die-hards) that always drove me crazy.  I can't find the clip on YouTube, so here's the dialogue:

Waiter: Good evening. You folks are ready to order?
Carrie: Um... yes! Let's see, um,...I'm going to start with goat cheese salad and then I'll have the tuna but, sir, can you make sure there's no parsley on anything? I'm just really allergic. Not even a sprinkling ever on the plate.
Berger: Hey, you got her. No parsley.
Carrie: And, can... actually can, uh,...can you ask the chef if the marinade for the tuna has parsley in it? Because if it does I should probably change my order.
Waiter: I'll go check/ Thank you.
Berger: You're not allergic.
Carrie: What?
Berger: You're not allergic.
Carrie: I don't like it!
Berger: Why don't you just say that?
Carrie: Because when I say that, parsley somehow, magically appears on the plate and I feel bad because I have to send it back.
Berger: You didn't even order something that usually comes with parsley.
Carrie: It comes with everything.

My issue with this is that she completely takes for granted all of the extra (and in in this case unnecessary) time-consuming effort and precautions the restaurant will take out of fear of her having an allergic reaction.

Here's how I see it: You're the one making a choice to eat in the restaurant.  You shouldn't expect to be accommodated if what you're asking for is outside the realm of what is normally offered.


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