Shrimply Irresistible

I was a catering server at a venue that primarily hosted weddings. At many of those weddings, people wanted shrimp cocktail during cocktail hour, so we would load up a whole tray of shrimp and walk around offering it to the guests.

I would often try to use the bathroom at the end of cocktail hour, while the guests were being seated, because it was a natural lull in service. One evening, I was washing my hands when a guest appeared at the sink next to me.

Guest: *Gesturing to her neck.* “Does this look red to you?”

Me: “Not really, but it’s sort of dark in here. I certainly wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out.”

At this point, I assumed she had rosacea or something and was feeling self-conscious.

I left and started taking care of the beginning-of-service tasks. A little later, I noticed that the guest was sitting alone on a bench near the entrance, so I went over to see if she needed help.

Me: “Is everything okay?”

Guest: “Could you find my daughter? I think I’m having an allergic reaction, and she has Benadryl.”

Me: “Oh, no. Do you know what might have caused it?”

I’m worried that someone might have f***ed up when announcing the allergens in the passed hors d’oeuvres.

Guest: “Yes. I’m allergic to shellfish, but I had one of the shrimps because I thought one would be fine.”

Obviously, instead of searching for her daughter, I got my manager and explained that a guest was having an allergic reaction, and I didn’t know what to do, seeing as I was an inexperienced teenager.

By the time I returned with my manager, the woman’s daughter and a doctor who happened to be attending the wedding were also with her.

Guest: “I’m fine. I just need my daughter to drive me to the pharmacy so I can get some Benadryl.”

Doctor: “Yeah, that’s the first thing the paramedics are going to give you when they get here, but your throat is closing. You’re going to the hospital.”

The woman was ultimately fine, but I will never understand why she ruined both her and her daughter’s evening and risked her life for a single piece of mediocre shrimp cocktail.

It wasn’t even an accident. She took an entire shrimp from a large pile of shrimp that I carried around while repeatedly saying, “Shrimp cocktail?”

Madness.