Excuse Me, Waiter.....There Appears to be ONIONS in my meal!

The whole social nicety of going out to eat turns into a battleground if you are an unlucky person with allergies or sensitivities.

Let me pain the picture of a recent restaurant interaction.....

I am sitting at a table across from my mother. Our conversation is going well and we are going to go to one of our favorite movie events after eating (Rifftrax Live for the win!). I order a Cobb Salad without tomatoes or onions.

Now since I have IBS, my sensitivities differ from others. Some reading this may be thinking - I WISH that was all I had to ask for off of a salad. But I digress....either one of those items would mean that I don't get to last through the movie due to a flare-up.

After ordering, we go back to our conversation. A few minutes pass by when the manager (not the server) comes up to our table and asks me, "The no tomatoes or onions thing? Is that an allergy or just a general you don't like it?"

Now this gentleman didn't mean to irk me with his innocent question. But he is basically saying...so we f*cked up your order. And I am here to tell you that. But I don't want to make a new meal, so I need to know if we are going to be held liable if this turns into a hospital trip.

I get. Accidents happen. I wasn't upset by that nor did I lower the tip to the server for his mistake. I was a server in college, the special orders can make your head spin when you are covering multiple tables at the same time.

I straight up told the manager, "I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I will need a new one. I can get extremely ill otherwise even if it isn't life threatening."

The look he gave me, you would have thought I explained in detail what a bowel movement looks for me. He just flinched, said thank you for all of that information, and went to the kitchen to have them make a fresh one.

Now before we go on, I did order a side of a dressing that had onions and tomato in it (try to find one that doesn't; it is sometimes an hour search in that aisle at the store). However, I can have small amounts without issue and as long as I take some meds with it. I am the dip your fork in the dressing type of person, so we aren't talking huge amounts. And I know how hypocritical it can look to someone on the outside.

So, I get the "new" salad. I eat over half of it, secure in the knowledge that this was a fresh salad and my sensitivity had been taken seriously. Lo and Behold, after half of that was gone; I find tomato and onion still clinging to life on the grilled chicken and avocado.

I can get mad. I can rant and rave. I can call the manager out. I don't. Don't get me wrong, I have done my fair share of calling out servers/managers at restaurants. But at this point, I am now tired and the damage is done. I push the salad (which was delicious) away. I take another dose of my meds. And I make my body a silent deal that if it lets me last through the movie and the ride home, it can kill me all night if it wants.

That worked. And I am happy to say it did not kill me all night. Kicked my ass halfway through the next day and I apologize to any co-workers that were in the public restroom with me.

But this is what happens. And I am not alone. There are so many fad type diets out there that it becomes difficult to trust who has something deathly and who is watching their waistline.

Here's my gripe: IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ONE IT IS!

I won't blame people for mistakes that happen. But if someone actually has a sensitivity or allergy that they flat out tell you about. Then please, do YOUR BEST to make it happen. If it cannot happen for xyz reason then let that person know so that they can plan to eat something else or nothing. I have had my fair share of restaurants that I have gone to, order the one thing on the menu that is safe enough, and it has been removed. I will sit there and sip my drink/water or just eat a side order of something that I can stomach.

I do NOT care how that looks. I do NOT care that means you don't get as awesome of a tip since 25% of a side of fries will barely cover an item on your employee menu. I will do what I can to be social AND non-sick.

And that is the takeaway. We should be able to have the social life of going out, eating, seeing friends, and trusting our servers.

That manager, when I told him exactly what would happen, should have DUMPED that salad and made a 100% fresh one. Not made a fresh mixture of veggies and place the chicken/avocado from the old salad on top. Because guess what happens? The offending food finds it's way. As Dr. Ian Malcolm would say "Life...uh....finds a way"

Well in the world of IBS....

"Onion....uh...finds a way....onto everything."