Allergic To Common Sense, Part 29

I work in a restaurant in a hotel resort.

Customer: “I am allergic to vinegar, sugar, gluten, yeast, mushrooms, and citrus.”

Me: “That is noted, ma’am. What would you like to order?”

Customer: “The breaded fish lunch wrap.”

This is made with pre-breaded fish and comes with both slaw and a dill and lemon mayonnaise, so that’s going to go down well in the kitchen!

Customer: “And some bread for the table.”

Me: “I’m afraid that we don’t have any gluten-free or yeast-free bread available at the moment, ma’am.”

Customer: “Why not?! You said you cater to allergies!”

Me: “We try to do our best, ma’am, and we can try and have some ready for you tomorrow. We weren’t aware of your allergies until just now.”

She didn’t tell anyone she had these allergies until the day she arrived despite being asked twice on the phone. It’s our policy; we’re too remote to go on shopping trips for single customers.

We do our best to cater to her, and she complains that the meal is bland and not as described on the menu. We leave her with a menu to take to the room so that she can think about what she wants to eat the next night and let us know so that we might be able to cater to her better, but of course, we hear nothing from her.

She’s back the next night.

Customer: “I want the smoked duck with mushroom sauce.”

Me: “Yes, ma’am. That meal normally contains citrus, mushroom, sugar, vinegar, and nutritional yeast. It might not taste the same as described in the menu.”

Customer: “I don’t want something different than what is on the menu! I expect it to taste the same.”

Me: “Maybe the kitchen can work with something if they knew how severe your allergic reaction is or if it’s specific to certain ingredients — if you don’t mind me asking. For example, I have a mild reaction to pine nuts, but it’s something I can manage—”

Customer: “Oh, it’s not that. I don’t like them because they give me gas. But still, you’re an expensive resort, and I expect to eat good food!”

Me: *Eye twitching* “I’ll… relay that information to the kitchen, ma’am.”

It ended up taking the manager to confirm that she, in fact, had zero allergies. She just took “health advice” from her friends and some YouTube channels and bamboozled herself into thinking she should avoid those foods.

He had suspected as much when he saw her coming back from the town earlier in the day eating a huge baguette and a jelly donut.

Related:
Allergic To Common Sense, Part 28
Allergic To Common Sense, Part 27
Allergic To Common Sense, Part 26
Allergic To Common Sense, Part 25
Allergic To Common Sense, Part 24