Please Don't Die from this Doughnut

[Norton]

Customersruinmylife's food allergy thread reminded me of an experience I had while working at Krispy Kreme. I don't want to thread-jack, so I've written a seperate post.

There was no suck from the customers in this story, but it was still a nerve-wracking situation.

It's evening at good ol' KK. The Hotlight is beaming an invitation to all passing sugar-addicts. For those of you unfamiliar with the Hotlight, it's a big red/orange light proclaiming that we are serving hot, original glazed doughnuts. In walks a family - mother, father, and son. Son is roughly 10 years old and much calmer than most kids his age in a doughnut shop.

The parents started asking me questions about the doughnuts' ingredients, and where they're manufactured. I was pretty knowledgeable and able to answer most of their questions. They asked whether the doughnuts contained any peanuts. I knew for a fact that the mix had no nut products, and we currently had no doughnuts with any nut toppings. They go on to ask me if any product from our supply factories contained peanuts, not just what we sold.

They then explained that their son was deathly allergic to peanuts. Even the slighest trace of peanuts in food would quickly kill him. Apparently, this even applied to foods that had no peanuts in the ingredients, but were exposed to peanuts at some point. I excused myself to make a quick call to our general manager. She told me that serving the original glazed doughnuts would be fine, but not to take a chance on anything with chocolate frosting. The frosting was made in a different factory that used peanuts in some of its products.

I headed back out front and related what my manager said to the family. They asked my assurance a few times. I repeated what the GM told me, but I grew increasingly nervous. What if she was wrong?

I handed the kid a doughnut. I'm not religious at all, but I still silently prayed that the doughnut wouldn't kill this bright-eyed, quiet kid. As he took a bite, his parents and I all held our breath, hoping for the best. After he swallowed, his face changed...


And broke out in a big, beaming grin as I and his parents heaved a sigh of relief. He said in awe "This is the first time I've ever had a doughnut from a store!". His parents thanked me warmly, bought some doughnuts and left looking much happier than when they came in.

I've had many awful experiences at KK, but this one stands out in mind above them all. Nothing like a happy ending.

[IT Grunt]

I wholeheartedly agree, that had to be nerve-wracking. In today's production facilities, you have no guarantees what other ingredients from other foodstuffs that are being produced that might inadvertently get into something that's not supposed to contain it, even in miniscule amounts. It seems your GM had the inside info on how and where most of the donuts came from, so that's good.

[Sliceanddice]

i have a problem with allergies. Peanut oil being one of them. Yes if you are alleric its great to avoid but commercial stuff (the stuff you should cook with rather) is so refined and filter the allergin in Peanuts is gone, completelty so either resteraunts are spending to much on oil or the peanut allergy suffers have another undiagnosed allergy

[Aramika]

I all held our breath, hoping for the best. After he swallowed, his face changed...

My heart stopped for a second when I read that line. I thought the worst had happened until I read the next one.

good job with the build-up!

[RebeccaOTool]

D'awwww, that's a great story! Makes me want a doughnut, tho.

[Ree]

Our youth service club served an Easter breakfast a few weeks ago.
Our phone was listed as the contact for info.

I had a lady phone, and she never actually mentioned nut allergies, except to say that we should have a nut free sign for the handmade chocolate eggs I made to sell for fundraising. I wasn't about to do that, because I couldn't guarantee they were nut free.

Anyway, the morning of the breakfast, this lady came in and asked if any of the food had come into contact with nuts, because her son was very allergic.
She even went into the kitchen and demanded to know if anyone cooking the food had eaten peanut butter, and then I had to check with all the kids who were volunteering to make sure none of them had eaten peanut butter.

We certainly held our breath until they left the hall, but there were no reactions.

I understand the need to be careful, and if this lady hadn't acted like such a wingnut about it, I would have been fine with it.
She was just so pushy about it, but, seriously, if a person has an allergy like that, in my opinion, the onus isn't really on us to ensure any of our stuff is nut free.

[RobotPlanet]

I had a similar situation to the OP when I worked at the Bread Co., but it was a whole family. Apparently the father had allergies to basically everything (nuts, wheat, eggs, etc.) and his kids had inherited the trait.

They were very nice and friendly, and the first time they came in they spent a good bit of time looking through our ingredients book to figure out what they could eat. I believe the only stuff they could eat without it killing them was pumpkin and zucchini muffins, one or two of the bagels, and one or two other pastries (I can't remember the whole list as it's been years by now). We knew the family by sight and they would sometimes call in during busy times to have us set aside some of the food they could eat (very smart on their part).

I always felt bad for the kids though, as the bakery display had all these awesome looking chocolate/fruit/nut pastries set out that they couldn't eat. I always thought about how lame it would be to see all that and then be stuck with pumpkin and zucchini muffins (yuck for me personally). They were very nice though, and understood that all our dough was made in the same factory.

[friendofjimmyk]

That would really suck to have an allergy that bad you could die from mere traces of the food.

But as far as the kids who can't eat chocolate or yummy-looking stuff - to me, that's sad - they miss out on all the fun kid foods!

[ebonyknight]

It's kind of odd that peanut allergies are a first world problem. There are very few instances of peanut allergies in the third world.

Makes me wonder if we really are making ourselves sick.

[edible_hat]

It's kind of odd that peanut allergies are a first world problem. There are very few instances of peanut allergies in the third world.

Maybe there are very few instances of peanuts in the third world.

Seriously though... at a party I attended a few years ago there was a big six-way conversation about peanut allergies. Suddenly everybody, simultaneously, with no pre-planning, said the exact same thing: "These days we're too clean and we don't train our kids' immune systems."

Super strong nut allergies are a real problem. My parents can't have peanut products in their house because of a few students at my mum's kindergarten. If she touches one of these kids within a few hours of touching a peanut, their throat will start swelling up (the kids' throats, not the peanuts')

[AriRashkae]

From what I understand, peanut butter is used as a weaning food in third world areas.

Here, we tell Moms-to-be not to even look at the stuff until the kid is well past weaning. Then we wonder why they don't react well. Now, I gave my kid PB as soon as I was sure he wouldn't choke on it, and I didn't give it up just because I was providing for him. No allergies.

Strawberries, OTOH, both my kids have and we can't figure out why.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

When I worked at Arby's, we had a woman come up to us and ask if there were any steroids in the chicken. I told her that there were no preservatives, but I wasn't sure about steroids. She demanded to see a manager, so I got one for her. The manager told her, "I don't know, we don't raise the chickens."

The thought of a chicken coop in the back of the restaraunt as well as a stable for cows made me crack up.

[unclejampuff]

I'm allergic to metal. I have to be UBER careful about a lot of clothes(can't wear jeans with studs in them, no metal zippers, can't wear an underwire, etc), and some foods I have to be careful about. It's a double suck because I'm anemic and iron pills make me violently puke. I can't have metal fillings in my teeth, or else my mouth swells up and I can't breathe. I really feel for those who miss out on yummy foods and awesome pets because of allergies. I'll never be able to wear a wedding ring... God forbid I'm in an accident and need screws or plates in my bones.
I'm curious about the "not training immune systems" thing. My older brother and my little sister both have severe animal and pollen allergies(I only have the metal). My brother received his immuniation(sp?) shots, while my sister and I received none at all. My mother was kind of a hippy, no antibiotics unless absolutely needed(strep throat no, pnemonia yes), breastfed, no antibiotic soap, organic foods, etc etc etc. Do you think this tactic failed with my siblings and me?

[csever01]

At my restaurant, when someone has a nut allergy, I will not guarantee them anything. I always say, "We do use peanuts in the store, and it's possible that they may have come in contact with your product at some point."

I'm fine with trying to accommodate requests for this type of thing, but there was one lady who I wouldn't do it for. She came in at 11 a.m. on a Sunday. At that time on a Sunday, we are completely full and on a waiting list about 20 minutes long. In other words, we are BUSY. This lady not just asked, but EXPECTED us to stop what we were doing when we got to her meal, scrub every grill in the store clean, cook her food separate from anyone else's, and not start anyone else's orders until we were DONE with hers.

She threw a fit when I wouldn't do it. I very politely explained why (if she wasn't SC material she would've already known why), but she just wouldn't have it. Of course the conversation ended with her telling me she was going to have me fired for discrimination.

[technical.angel]

It's a double suck because I'm anemic and iron pills make me violently puke.

It's a bit OT, but I was having some anemia problems before my surgery. One of my symptoms of the Chiari was IBS. I was getting really sick with them too. It finally got to the point where I had to decide to try to find a way to deal with the IBS (I didn't know yet it was a symptom) before I could deal with the anemia.

So, believe me, I feel your pain.