Scene: A popular pizza chain. Standing behind the counter is a uniformed adolescent food service worker. A managerial type in shirt and tie can be seen milling around in the back of the kitchen.
[Enter TC.
Worker: Can I help you?
TC: Yeah, I'd like to get a large BBQ chicken pizza, but I need to know first whether it has any MSG in it - that's short for monosodium glutamate.
Worker: I don't know.
TC: Could you please check? My wife is very allergic to it.
Worker: Just a sec...
[Worker walks to rear of kitchen and confers with Manager.
Manager: [hollering from back of kitchen] No, no...there's no MSG in anything. Chinese food is the only thing that has MSG in it.
TC: Not really - MSG is actually in a lot of stuff, like some sauces and processed meats.
Manager: [still hollering from back of kitchen] Oh, yeah, well there's MSG in everything. You can't avoid it.
TC: [getting slightly frustrated] That's not true - your pizza sauce is MSG free, but I'm not sure about the BBQ sauce. Could you please check the ingredients?
Worker: [reading something - presumably an ingredients list] I don't think there's any.
TC: Fine. I'll take one to go.
End scene.
***********************************
Any guesses as to whether or not I ate any of this pizza? It happened a little while ago, but I couldn't help remembering this incident yesterday as I read an article about kids being bullied with their food allergies at school. Remember that Simpsons episode where Bart discovers that Principal Seymour is allergic to peanuts and threatens him with a peanut on a stick to make him do what Bart says? Not so funny when it happens in real life.
Part of the reason behind the bullying, according to the article, was that many people who don't have food allergies just don't understand the severity of it all. To them, it seems that those with allergies are just being picky or trying to get attention. I've run into this attitude more than once, and it never ceases to make me angry.
And it's not just food allergies. I've been blessed (I think?) to have a family that has allergies, so they understand when I tell them that I'm reacting to their perfumes, etc. when I'm there and they try to make reasonable accommodations. But I know someone who developed allergies to dust and pet dander in adulthood, and whenever they visit their family, they immediately start having an allergic reaction to the carpets filled with the offending allergens. And their family's response? You're not really allergic to it - you're making it up - it's all in your head.
Making it up?
I wish that there were some way to make it possible for every allergy-free person to be given a food allergy and/or an environmental allergy for a week. Nothing life threatening - just something that would make them miserable and help them understand what it's like to live with allergies. Then we might see a little less of this ridiculous attitude of blaming the allergic for their allergies.
3 comments:
This is interesting. I've been blessed with not having allergies (so far) but there are peanut allergies in my family. I'm pretty conscious of it and try not to eat peanut snacks in public (not wanting to cause an attack on a bus or something!) But, what if I have my peanut snack and accidentally breathe on someone who's allergic? Or, my new shampoo is quite smelly, should I tie my hair in a braid until I get a new brand? I guess like everything we have to do our best and be aware...
But what was the schmuck behind the counter thinking?!
I'm not objecting to people eating peanuts or using smelly shampoo :) The key, I think, is in 'reasonable accommodation', which changes based on the circumstance. For example, if someone next to you on the bus mentioned that your shampoo was making them sneeze, it might be reasonable to ask if it would help for you to move or open a window(although in reality, I think the sneezer should simply re-locate, but we don't live in an ideal world). However, if a close friend or family member started sneezing every time you walked in a room, and identified the problem as your shampoo, I think it would be reasonable to switch shampoos.
On the whole, though, my objection isn't so much that the allergens are out there. What bothers me is the attitude that allergies aren't really all that serious so there's no need to try to be accommodating at all, or that the allergic are a bunch of neurotic whiners so it's best to just ignore them until they get over it.
That makes good sense, Sarah. I've been blessed with no allergies - I couldn't imagine the discomfort of them!
Post a Comment