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?
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?
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