Did the Customer Lie? You be the Judge!

[Misty]

Let me set the scene. A woman and her daughter (who looked about 15) order yogurt. I serve both of them and send them to the register. A few seconds later the woman walks back over holding her daughter's untouched yogurt with a somewhat distasteful look on her face.

Her: Excuse me, what's that?

I look over and see that an almond sliver has gotten mixed in with the kiwis.

Me: Oh, that's an almond. Sorry about that.

She hands it back to me.

Her: My daughter has a nut allergy.

Me: Okay, I'll make you a new one.

Now, when things get busy the toping bar gets messy, and some toppings get a little mixed together. For example, if a customer asks for chocolate chips they might also end up with a little heath bar in the cup as well. Just a little. Until that moment no one had ever complained.

I don't think the daughter had a nut allergy. I think they were just very fussy eaters but the mother didn't want to admit it, so she lied. Here's my reasoning:

One, my friend has a nut allergy, and every time we eat out the first thing he says to the server is "I have a nut allergy." It's the same with the customers with nut allergies who come into our store. The first thing they say is, "I have a nut allergy. Does this have nuts?" When the do choose a topping, it doesn't matter how far away it is from the peanut butter topping, they always ask if we would fetch it from the back. In this case, I was not made aware of any nut allergy until after they received the yogurt.

Two, I might be wrong, but I believe that most nut allergies are peanut based. We have three nut toppings: peanut butter crunch, sliced almonds, and mixed nuts (pine nuts, almonds, cashews). We have very specific handling instructions for the peanut butter crunch; we keep the dirty containers separate from the other dirty dishes, and have to wash them separately. The other nut toppings do not get this special treatment.

Third, I know that some people lie about allergies because they are extremely fussy but don't want to come across as a PITA, or they don't trust the server to prepare their order just right. That was the vibe I got from this woman.

What do you think?

[tropicsgoddess]

Sounds like a lie to me. My youngest sister has been allergic to peanuts and peanut butter since she was 4. She'd always ask if it has peanuts in it or to make sure no peanuts are in her food and that's what anybody who has food allergies would do. Not act like everything's cool when they make the order and turn around to say "oh can you make a new one? I'm allergic to ____".

[KiaKat]

Peanuts are different from nuts. Peanuts are legumes, whereas nuts are not.

I have a nut sensitivity. It's not a true allergy, but it does make me itch like the dickens. I frequently won't bother asking if something has nuts, but if it does have nuts, I'll politely ask them to re-make whatever was contaminated.

Or I'm an idiot and I screw up and eat it by accident.

[MoonCat]

She could have been lying. I personally know a very, very fussy eater who would have been bothered by that, although she might not have insisted on a new yogurt. She would never complain to the people she got her food from, though...she just bitched about it at the table.

OTOH, people can indeed be allergic to almonds. There is a DJ on the radio here who is very allergic to them, and has told a story about he once had a very bad reaction to a very small amount of almonds (required a trip to the ER).

[ArcticChicken]

Two, I might be wrong, but I believe that most nut allergies are peanut based.

There's a peanut allergy, and then there's a tree nut allergy. A peanut allergy has no bearing on whether you have a tree nut allergy and vice versa. (Interesting fact: Brazil Nuts can be sexually transmitted for the purpose of allergies.)

[Pixilated]

Have to admit, if I had a food allergy, I'd make it clear when ordering, just to avoid having to send something back (or becoming ill).

[Draco]

Two, I might be wrong, but I believe that most nut allergies are peanut based. We have three nut toppings: peanut butter crunch, sliced almonds, and mixed nuts (pine nuts, almonds, cashews). We have very specific handling instructions for the peanut butter crunch; we keep the dirty containers separate from the other dirty dishes, and have to wash them separately. The other nut toppings do not get this special treatment.

I'm not certain if "most" are peanut based, but I know for certain that one can be allergic to cashews and not allergic to any other type of "nut". My brothers are identical twins. The one is highly allergic to cashews. Ate them for years, but one day he just suddenly puffed up and had to go to the ER. He was confirmed to be allergic to cashews (which are, amazingly, in the same family as mangoes, poison ivy, and sumac).

While he has that allergy, I can't recall him EVER checking if anything has cashews in it... Someone remind me to smack him upside the head. >.>

[iPanda]

Hmm, I think the mom was just being super fussy but the daughter may have a nut allergy.

My parents keep insisting that I'm not allergic to everything I'm allergic to but how would they explain the fact that my cheeks swell and my throat becomes super itchy and painful? I've never gone into anaphylactic shock - I'm not that bad.

But my niece on the other hand, will go to anaphylactic shock just by touching peanuts and inhaling too much nut dust that gets into the air when you have a bowl of it and shake it around. So when we go out, we have to check EVERYTHING for her.

I just have to skim over the ingredient list or avoid obvious choices. Strangely, I'm allergic to almonds, walnuts, cashews, and things but not at all to peanuts :P

[mariamousie1]

She would have a reaction to eating yogurt that was contaminated, not just the nut itself. At least that's how I've always heard nut allergies work.

[Aria]

My sister's boyfriend actually has a tree nut allergy. He can't eat almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, you name it. But he CAN eat peanuts since they're actually legumes. It's actually much less hassle than a peanut allergy. However, I very much agree that she was probably lying. He'd definitely mention the problem if there were almonds lying around.

[taxguykarl]

Every Halloween, I get three or four kids who come back and exchange the candy bar I gave them for a nut-free one.

[PepperElf]

i'm thinking if it was a true allergy then ... what about the cross contamination from the nut hitting the other toppings? wouldn't that affect her too?


but who knows. at least they can't say you didn't fix it for them

[FenigDurak]

I'm in the almond nu allergy/sensitivity category. I get hives from almonds, almond oil, English Toffee, a kiss from my sweetie after he's eaten almonds, etc. I didn't develop this allergy until 23, so I know exactly what I'm missing. Doesn't stop me from pre-dosing with meds and scarfing a handful of hot toffee roasted almonds at Faire every year. That's some good scratchin' afterward.

My point is, in the situation from the OP, I probably wouldn't make the allergy known ahead o time I I were ordering non-nut toppings. Doesn't mean the look on the lady's face was OK though.

[lvceline]

I have a nut allergy as well and like some have pointed out, that doesn't apply to peanuts (I'm actually surprised to see how many people realize they are legumes, not nuts, so I can eat them). It probably depends on the allergy. A sliver of almond wouldn't do anything to me and I wouldn't return the item for that. Usually, I will read the description on the menu; they typically let you know if there are nuts in the item. I will ask the server too, as some desserts include nuts that you can't see in the picture or may not be included in the description.

[csquared]

I'm not certainThe one is highly allergic to cashews. Ate them for years, but one day he just suddenly puffed up and had to go to the ER.

Learned something interesting the other day. The shell of the cashew nut has a toxic/caustic oil. To process it, they dry the shell to remove the oil, then they remove the nut. Done incorrectly, the nut is contaminated.

On three or four occasions, I got a "fever blister" on my lip after eating cashews. It makes me think that I got a contaminated nut. I wonder if that is what happened to your brother.