The grumpy thread

[Wack]

Went to a cafe this morning , the girl who took my order  asked if I had any allergies, no, why are you asking me , it's a new law that's coming in , anyone selling food has to ask

why is it their problem if a customer has an allergy , if the customer is allergic to food in a cafe they shouldn't eat in a cafe they should eat food they've prepared so they know 100% it's safe, especially if it could kill them.

21st century bollocks, everything is somebody else's problem, personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past.

[New POD]

To be fair, if you opened a nut free wheat free dairy free cafe, and could guarantee that nothing had an alleged, you'd make a fucking fortune. 

I tried buying stuff in the shops to treat a nephew and every fucking thing may contain traces of something. 

[artdjones]

They may  contain nuts.They probably don't but if the factory uses nuts in anything there's no way to guarantee that they won't have a tiny bit in,and it's almost impossible to check.As the consequences are so serious,most companies have to put the disclaimer on to protect themselves.

[anonymous user]

Something in my house is beeping every few minutes. I don't know what and I can't find it. It is not the smoke alarms, I've stood under all of them and the beep is definitely somewhere else , plus they're mains wired and there is no fault showing on the panel. (I've stood next to that as well) It's not the oven either. It is driving me up the wall.

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, anonymous user said:

Something in my house is beeping every few minutes. I don't know what and I can't find it. It is not the smoke alarms, I've stood under all of them and the beep is definitely somewhere else , plus they're mains wired and there is no fault showing on the panel. (I've stood next to that as well) It's not the oven either. It is driving me up the wall.

do ya have a Carbon monoxide alarm or such perhaps that's beeping at ya?

 

[anonymous user]

The alarms have all been checked, now checking in case it's a dying phone. I'm slightly deaf and my directional hearing is poor, so whilst I can hear it enough for it to annoy me I can't work out what direction it's from.

[omegod]

3 hours ago, Wack said:

Went to a cafe this morning , the girl who took my order  asked if I had any allergies, no, why are you asking me , it's a new law that's coming in , anyone selling food has to ask

why is it their problem if a customer has an allergy , if the customer is allergic to food in a cafe they shouldn't eat in a cafe they should eat food they've prepared so they know 100% it's safe, especially if it could kill them.

21st century bollocks, everything is somebody else's problem, personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past.

Quite sad that a 16 yr old lad died of a nut allergy last weekend after getting a pizza from a local takeaway, I can't think of anything they sell having nuts in as it's just pizza and kebabs ?

[Floatylight]

Went to a cafe this morning , the girl who took my order  asked if I had any allergies, no, why are you asking me , it's a new law that's coming in , anyone selling food has to ask
why is it their problem if a customer has an allergy , if the customer is allergic to food in a cafe they shouldn't eat in a cafe they should eat food they've prepared so they know 100% it's safe, especially if it could kill them.
21st century bollocks, everything is somebody else's problem, personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past.

Had a look and cant find any such legislation, stuff which is made onsite and packaged is going to need the ingredients listing.. it's got far more to do with all food places becoming risk averse imo.. Mrs FL has a food intolerance and places are getting much better an being aware of what is in their dishes..

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[Kiltox]

3 hours ago, Wack said:

it's a new law that's coming in

People don't half spout some shite and use this statement to back it up!  

I bought a set of number plates on Amazon the other day for the Golf - the seller said "they're only supplied with sticky pads because the law is changing to stop you from mounting them using screws" - absolute utter fucking bullshit, but the sticky pads are presumably cheaper.

[wuvvum]

Aside from the questions around personal responsiblity, risk averseness etc - what the hell is going on these days with bloody allergies?  It seems that every second person now is allergic to something or other.  When I was a kid the concept of somebody dying through eating a tiny bit of peanut was pretty much unheard of.

[TrabbieRonnie]

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Aside from the questions around personal responsiblity, risk averseness etc - what the hell is going on these days with bloody allergies?  It seems that every second person now is allergic to something or other.  When I was a kid the concept of somebody dying through eating a tiny bit of peanut was pretty much unheard of.

They probably just didn't make it sadly...  these things are spotted much earlier now, and preventative measures can be taken I guess?

[dozeydustman]

3 hours ago, Wack said:

Went to a cafe this morning , the girl who took my order  asked if I had any allergies, no, why are you asking me , it's a new law that's coming in , anyone selling food has to ask

why is it their problem if a customer has an allergy , if the customer is allergic to food in a cafe they shouldn't eat in a cafe they should eat food they've prepared so they know 100% it's safe, especially if it could kill them.

21st century bollocks, everything is somebody else's problem, personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past.

Mr Wack. I had been eating Chinese food for years and years with no apparent problems. One day I had some Chinese, after half an hour of finishing my meal my face swelled up and I lost my breath. Hospital ensued and I discovered I was allergic to soya through blood tests. Bodies have a tolerance level which in my case had been exceeded. My dad and brother in law were exactly the same with prawns.

Anaphylaxis is not fun.

The problem is not the allergy but the suing culture that we seem to be developing and the business wants to cover its own arse. AFAIK it's not a legal requirement to ask a customer, however as for some people it is a matter of life of death if they have soya, or peanut, or latex.

Allergies aren't 21st century bollocks, people just died before we knew what they were and how they were caused.

[reb]

Re "new legislation"; having run a fast food emporium (very poorly, I'll admit) it's often easier to tell your (mentally, at least) 16 year old counter staff that it's the law to do something rather than try and get them to do it by being a good manager. I've not heard of any such legislation, as far as I can tell it's just the foodservice industry collectively losing its shit. SOP for us now is provide all of the information to the customer in the form of a comprehensive allergen information leaflet and leave them to it basically.

 

A particularly fond memory between a young-ish customer back when I was still in charge;

"Can I have a Hawaiian* without mushrooms on half because my friend is allergic**"

"I'm sorry, it's against our policy to put toppings on a pizza which we have been advised the customer has an allergy to."

"But it's only on half!"

"Sorry, I can't do that."

"So you're discriminating against her because she has an allergy??!!" (i nearly burst out laughing at this)

"If you have any concerns about our policies you can contact [customer service number] but unfortunately they will tell you the same as I just have. I can make two smaller pizzas for the same price though, as an apology for the inconvenience."

"NO! I WANT TO TALK TO THE MANAGER"

(At this point I wanted to walk away and come back, but such childishness gets you complaints)

"I'm the duty manager today and our store manager won't be here for the next two weeks. How can I help?"

I think she walked out at this point and a different customer came in and ordered the same pizza.

Being a jobsworth in situations like that is all that got me through in that store. Well, and towards the end just not giving a flying toss. I walked out of my last shift there (with area manager approval!) when the store manager was over two hours late to take over for the evening shift. I stood outside chain smoking and watching our aforementioned bunch of 16 year olds actually do a pretty good job of running the shop on their own. Alas they all left within a month of my departure but they're all in better jobs now anyway.

* Ham, mushroom and pineapple back then, because apparently that's what it means.

** Mushrooms aren't on our list of allergens but we were getting it drummed into us that any stated allergy must be taken seriously even if it's not on our list.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

Mr Wack. I had been eating Chinese food for years and years with no apparent problems. One day I had some Chinese, after half an hour of finishing my meal my face swelled up and I lost my breath. Hospital ensued and I discovered I was allergic to soya through blood tests. Bodies have a tolerance level which in my case had been exceeded. My dad and brother in law were exactly the same with prawns.

Anaphylaxis is not fun......

Given that soya seems to be a common ingredient of vegan cuisine, I wonder if you might be vegan-intolerant? (In much the same way that a fundamentalist Islamist in Bedfordshire is called "Luton Intolerant")

[Wack]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

Mr Wack. I had been eating Chinese food for years and years with no apparent problems. One day I had some Chinese, after half an hour of finishing my meal my face swelled up and I lost my breath. Hospital ensued and I discovered I was allergic to soya through blood tests. Bodies have a tolerance level which in my case had been exceeded. My dad and brother in law were exactly the same with prawns.

Anaphylaxis is not fun.

The problem is not the allergy but the suing culture that we seem to be developing and the business wants to cover its own arse. AFAIK it's not a legal requirement to ask a customer, however as for some people it is a matter of life of death if they have soya, or peanut, or latex.

Allergies aren't 21st century bollocks, people just died before we knew what they were and how they were caused.

I didn't say allergies were 21st century bollocks , I said passing the problem to the business was 21st century bollocks 

 

I watched dark dark waters last week , a statement at the end of the film said that it's thought 99% of life on the planet including all humans have some C8 in their bodies , the chemical DuPont dumped and contaminated a town via the water supply.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-du-pont-lawsuit-west-virginia-idUSKBN15S18U

intensive farming , chemicals that weren't around 50 years ago in the food chain , processed food , I think it's all connected to allergies and cancers.

[dozeydustman]

43 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Given that soya seems to be a common ingredient of vegan cuisine, I wonder if you might be vegan-intolerant? (In much the same way that a fundamentalist Islamist in Bedfordshire is called "Luton Intolerant")

Far from it. I’ll happily cater for vegans if I know in advance they are coming. When I have had dinner at veggie or vegan friends they give me quorn not soya protein. Some veggie and vegan food is better tasting than meat based food, it’s just not a full-time diet that suits me in particular.

[dozeydustman]

Just now, Wack said:

intensive farming , chemicals that weren't around 50 years ago in the food chain , processed food , I think it's all connected to allergies and cancers.

There is that. I cook 95% of dinners from scratch using the best quality ingredients which as a family we can afford.

Occasionally as a family we’ll get a takeaway or have the odd sauce from a jar, or have a ding meal but it’ll make me feel shit afterwards.

[Craig the Princess]

8 hours ago, Wack said:

I didn't say allergies were 21st century bollocks , I said passing the problem to the business was 21st century bollocks 

So people with allergies can't eat out to stop you suffering the pain of having to say "no, I don't have any allergies".

[GrumpiusMaximus]

3 minutes ago, Craig the Princess said:

So people with allergies can't eat out to stop you suffering the pain of having to say "no, I don't have any allergies".

I think that's how it's supposed to work, yeah.  Apparently.  Wack must be worth a lot to his local restaurant economy.

[Wack]

 

10 minutes ago, Craig the Princess said:

So people with allergies can't eat out to stop you suffering the pain of having to say "no, I don't have any allergies".

I dont know what the response to yes is so they might be able to eat in there once the cafe lawyers have spoken to them or they might have to go home 

If you have allergies it's your responsibility to make sure you're eating safe food but it seems like it's just something that cafe has decided to do as I can't find anything about an incoming law

So as you were, it's the grumpy thread and I was grumpy 

[Snipes]

1 hour ago, Craig the Princess said:

So people with allergies can't eat out to stop you suffering the pain of having to say "no, I don't have any allergies".

If I had a potentially fatal allergy I wouldn't be eating out. Seriously why would you take that chance?

[PhilA]

Difference is foodservice prep for someone who states they have allergy to X is different from "don't it any mushrooms in it please, I don't like mushrooms".

One requires all the surfaces and knives and such to be completely scrubbed and prepped before the food is prepared, the other involves normal kitchen business and not putting ingredient X in.

It's surprising how many people claim allergy when in fact they just don't like the ingredient and have had some kitchen in the past forget it was requested to be left off the order, so claim allergy to make sure.

Assholery through ignorance.

Phil

 

Edit: there does seem to have been a spike in allergies to these things though, all around the time that "produced with generic engineering" became a thing. Connected? Evidently the plants are more hardy and now kill the pests that eat them... Wait, is that as good thing, plants that kill things that are considered food?

[motorpunk]

13 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Aside from the questions around personal responsiblity, risk averseness etc - what the hell is going on these days with bloody allergies?  It seems that every second person now is allergic to something or other.  When I was a kid the concept of somebody dying through eating a tiny bit of peanut was pretty much unheard of.

I fly for work quite a bit and nothing has me wanting to spray roasted KP around like so much buckshot than an announcement which I often hear; “due to a passengers severe nut allergy we won’t be serving any food or drink on this flight”. 
 

ETA - my annoyance is at the blame/claim culture and money saving “not my job” attitudes here, not the few people with the lurgy.

[dozeydustman]

1 hour ago, Sir Snipes said:

If I had a potentially fatal allergy I wouldn't be eating out. Seriously why would you take that chance?

It’s quite easy to eat out if you have allergies - Ask for the allergies book. Most of the allergen ingredients are found in sauces, glazes and dressings. The restaurant will make sure an allergy sufferer’s meal is cooked in isolation from other dishes.

I tend to stick to a mixed grill or steak with a jacket potato and some fresh veg. Relatively healthy, tasty and (for me at least) allergy free.

[barefoot]

Has anyone noticed how UK road users appear to be adopting the French principle of Priorité à droite - although obviously from the left.

At lower, town speeds, folk approaching a junction on your left will simply pull out expecting you to slow just enough to let them out. I used to swear about it, but realise that I've gradually  accepted it as the new norm.

[Snipes]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

It’s quite easy to eat out if you have allergies - Ask for the allergies book. Most of the allergen ingredients are found in sauces, glazes and dressings. The restaurant will make sure an allergy sufferer’s meal is cooked in isolation from other dishes.

I tend to stick to a mixed grill or steak with a jacket potato and some fresh veg. Relatively healthy, tasty and (for me at least) allergy free.

Until one day they don't and then you're dead cos a bit of seaseme found it's way into your artichoke baguette. 

[Wack]

6 hours ago, Sir Snipes said:

If I had a potentially fatal allergy I wouldn't be eating out. Seriously why would you take that chance?

EXACTLY

A young girl in Blackburn died after eating nuts in a takeaway dish , why on earth you'd take that chance if your life was at stake I have no idea, somebody is in prison now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-48300528

[Zelandeth]

When this drove in I thought "Nice, R8 V10, not something you see every day."

This abruptly changed to "Typical sodding Audi driver!" when she very deliberately parked it taking up four spaces.

Really wish I'd been in the Invacar as I'd had totally gone and parked in the space by her driver's door and buggered off to the cafe for an hour...

Congrats lady, you went from looking quite cool to looking a total idiot in precisely ten seconds.

Yes I get that it's a wide, expensive car with big doors...there are no end of totally empty rows at both ends of the car park, but no...you felt this was appropriate.

Hope she gets four penalty charge notices...one for each space she's parked not fully within...

[timolloyd]

6 hours ago, barefoot said:

Has anyone noticed how UK road users appear to be adopting the French principle of Priorité à droite - although obviously from the left.

At lower, town speeds, folk approaching a junction on your left will simply pull out expecting you to slow just enough to let them out. I used to swear about it, but realise that I've gradually  accepted it as the new norm.

Yes. Thought this was just me, but seems increasingly common for drivers to charge towards a give way, presumably hoping that oncoming traffic will shit themselves and wave them out.

[Spiny Norman]

30 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

When this drove in I thought "Nice, R8 V10, not something you see every day."

This abruptly changed to "Typical sodding Audi driver!" when she very deliberately parked it taking up four spaces.

 

 

If that B&Q is anything like ours some considerate* fellow customer will ram a large trolley into the door soon enough.