Rant Alert

This is a rant pure and simple. If you don’t want to read some rage then move on because ranting begins below:

If I have to go kitchen by kitchen, manager by manager, then so be it. But when are people going to learn that I know what’s best for me, not you? That my allergies aren’t a preference: as in I don’t LIKE nuts versus nuts will make me ILL? That plain means plain, not a little sauce, not a touch of dressing, not with a chopped walnut flourish that looks pretty.

Plain. Nothing. Nada.

How can I make it plainer?

Case in point, for lunch today I ordered a tomato and mozzerella salad at the spot I’ve been coming to for a few days a week for the last few months. I order this salad all the time. I order it plain-no dressing, no nothing. And I always give them the Allergic Girl spiel unless it’s one of my favorite waiters, like Rob or Miguel who understand the sitch.

Today it was someone I hadn’t seen before. I told him the story and all seemed cool and clear.

Until my salad comes decidedly not plain.

Why? Where did my order, very simple order for a plain salad, where did it go awry?

First, I went to find my waiter. He was MIA. A manager approached me once he saw the distressed look on my face. Actually it probably read more angry/determined than distressed. I told him I had ordered a plain salad that came very un-plain. A cluster of waiters suddenly formed around us as the manager looked for the right waiter to blame.

Once my waiter arrived I repeated the issue firmly and with a soupcon of I’m about to explode on you.

“When I asked for this salad plain, I asked because I have food allergies. This is not merely a preference, I need this to be plain, nothing on it. If your kitchen is not able to handle my request or feels it ruins the integrity of their dish, I understand, just tell me I will take my business elsewhere. But I have been coming here for a long time, and it seems this kitchen doesn’t believe I really need my food to be plain.”

At this point I see the waiter has gone back and is showing the lunch ticket to chef. The manager is apologizing and backtracking and saying he doesn’t know what went wrong but the kitchen should be able to handle it my request. The waiter returns to show me the ticket that has **allergies** written all over it.

I thank him for his diligence and ask them both what the hell is wrong with the kitchen? Seriously? This isn’t rhetorical. What is wrong with a kitchen that disregards a lunch ticket? Keeping in mind that the ticket was correct and there were three tables filled in the whole dining room i.e. it was empty. There was no lunch rush; it was a lunch crawl-meaning the chef had plenty of time to read the ticket and understand it.

No one had an answer as to why it wasn’t read or misread or ignored.

Are you getting bored of these tales? I know I am. Today, I’ve just had it with people that think they know what I need better than I do.

Mark my words, this will not be the last time I have this conversation with this kitchen. They really don’t get it.

And on this absolutley gorgeous day I seriously spazzed out. [I only mention the day because something about a pretty day makes me wonder how could anyone be angry or sad, anything but feel as glorious inside as it is outside. But sometimes you just need to rant, even when it's nice out].

PS Two waiters just came by to giggle with me about the "plain salad debacle". The whole thing was a bit ridiculous. I was told the kitchen staff got a serious dress-down. So maybe this time they will get it. We shall see.