So is this an ADA violation?

[rm]

I'm only half joking in the subject line.

Short version:

I went to Cold Stone Creamery and asked them to place my icecream directly in a cup because I have allergies (easier than explaining celiac). They then very condescendinly explained to me that choosing to eat ice cream was a risk and that they did not feel comfortable with me taking it on their premises and I was told I would not be served.

There is only one way to keep myself safe, and that's by asking about food ingredients or making sure my food doesn't touch food that isn't safe for me.

It is one thing for a restaurant to say, "nothing we have here is safe for you to eat." It's another for them to say, "while we have safe food, we don't feel comfortable letting you eat it." It's a slippery slope, that, quite frankly sacares me, as I can dine out safely if I ask for information and give some basic information.

I don't just hate our litigious society. I hate our risk averse society.

I take risks every day. Every time I eat. Every time I leave the house. Hell, I pick up swords all the damn time that can and do hurt people regardless of safety precautions.

That it is possible for us to get hurt is a simple fact of being creatures both mortal and living.

I'm alive.

And, despite the fact I didn't jump over the counter and kill the guy, the bastard at Cold Stone Creamery isn't.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I haven't run into that particular annoyance, but I know what you mean far too well. If it wouldn't make more stress for you, my suggestion is to write a letter or email to the manager, at least it might cause them to act a bit less wretchedly.

[annablume.livejournal.com]

Are you saying that they refused to serve you ice cream because you didn't want a cone? I've never had Coldstone in a cone.

[rm.livejournal.com]

No. They refused to serve me icecream because I asked, due to allergies, that the icecream be placed directly into a cup as opposed to on the surface they mix icecream with wheat containing items on.

[annablume.livejournal.com]

I think that's very interesting. I wonder if it's legal.

[amara-1783.livejournal.com]

I would say that I can't believe this happened, but unfortunately, I can. And I am furious on your behalf! How utterly outrageous and appalling! And you are so right about taking risks being part of what it is to be alive.

[miep.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I would have cried with frustration and rage and then been even angrier because I was crying.

I am appalled.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a jackass. That karma will bite him in the ass, but probably not soon enough.

I think I got glutened at dinner. I ate two of my husband's french fries and he thinks they were coated with seasoned flour. ACK! I'm not used to having to ask about every item of food yet and I just thought oh, French fry - made out of potato! WIN! Except apparently not.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've hit the french fry problem a lot and am now _very_ cautious about them.

[labyrinthyne.livejournal.com]

found you through your post on celiac, and wow, that's freakin' ridiculous. especially since your request would have meant LESS work for the server, not MORE (as checking for potentially dangerous ingredients usually is).

i'm not one to file consumer complaints, but this experience definitely warrants a letter to a manager.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Hi,

I found you on the Celiac forum (though we do have 'friends' in common, which is always sorta funny to find!)...I'm adding you to my friends list, I hope that's okay! :)

Moggy

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hi! Welcome. Totally okay.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

p.s.
I second what others have said re: your experience of not being served. That's unacceptable! Contact the manager...and if you get an answer, please post a follow-up note? I'm very curious.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I'll usually say I have a 'non-life-threatening' allergy to shellfish, in part b/c I don't want the server to be too freaked out to serve me. When I used to just say 'allergic', they'd get a look of panic in their eye. Really though, even just a little can pretty much ruin the next few hours, and a lot can ruin the whole next day. If shrimp were in just about everything, my life would suck, and Cold Stone would be getting a letter that would result in a whole lot of shrimp-free ice cream coming my way.

(I get their non-dairy 'blank slate' sorbet and ask them to mix it with coconut and fruit, which is pretty yum).

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Sadly the ADA does not cover anything related to food or allergies (among other things), although local laws are starting to do so in some cases.

And most places 'have the right to refuse service to anyone', which means they can get away with doing so as long as they've got a wheelchair ramp and a Braille menu somewhere.

If I had had the strength to not cry at the time, I would have made a huge-ass hissy fuss which every other customer would overhear, and demand to see the manager, and generally insist on being treated like any other goddamned human being or better.

I'd complain to the Better Business Bureau and the company Web site, at least. Since there's even allergy information and a gluten query in their FAQ, which even says "While we are always happy to accommodate special requests," and it certainly doesn't say "so since we can't promise no allergens, we'll just refuse to serve anyone who says 'allergy'", I think you've got a right to some sort of apology at the very least.

And they've lost any business they would have gotten from me, at least. They only recently penetrated my neighborhoods, and I could care less since I hate 'things' in my ice cream anyway, but my other half is enchanted with the idea of Things in Ice Cream, and will now have to live without - he'll feel similarly outraged when I tell him why anyways.

But really it would have been much better if you could have threatened to run him through with a saber. Or just gotten your damn order.

Let the buggers have it...

[beemerbike.livejournal.com]

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/service/report_problem.html

That's absolute crap. I used to get people asking me to change knives all the time when I worked at a bagel shop. Often they were vegetarian and didn't want a 'meat' knife touching their bagel. It wasn't something we HAD to do, but as it's call CUSTOMER SERVICE and we and it didn't take any time to grab a different knife we did it. WTF has happened to courtesy?

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

They use a separate utensil to remove it from the bucket (or whatever) and put on the slab, than what they use to remove things from said slab and put in a cone? I've never been, but I've had utensil concern with most ice cream shops, since they all go from bucket to cone directly and I'm not very sure how they get cleaned between scoopings.

God, I HATE having to think about this shit.

[beemerbike.livejournal.com]

basically they are submerged in a flowing warm water bath to aid the jerk scooping it. They only get washed once or twice per shift like other serving utensils at regular restaurants.

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

That would help explain why I've gotten so sick at restaurants before when my food should have been fine. Thanks.

[beemerbike.livejournal.com]

believe you me...if you knew what went on in most kitchens you'd spend your evening eating off your own toilet seat with better luck of staying healthy. it's a wonder more people don't die from kitchen prep atrocities.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

I worked in several kitchens when I was younger, and I don't think that's actually an accurate statement. Your average professional kitchen is still a hell of a lot cleaner than your average personal kitchen at any given moment.

[beemerbike.livejournal.com]

But we are speaking of run-of-the-mill fast food places. Ice cream is certainly safer than items that need to be kept hot. But I also have worked in kitchens and have seen bad practices as a matter of habit...not sanitizing cutting boards, merely wiping between cooked and non cooked items and eggs left out for hours on end in breakfast establishments are the scariest culprits.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Um, wow. That's really awful and I've never seen any restaurant or store do such a thing.

Hopefully it was just one stupid person and not Coldstone's policy, but I've never liked them and so am completely willing to believe all sorts of bad things about them.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Please file a complaint. That wasn't just unreasonable, that was shitty behavior.

[ladythmpr.livejournal.com]

[Followed you from the celiac community]

Huh. I'd definitely make a complaint. When I could eat at Cold Stone (I have problems with corn now as well as gluten), I would explain my situation and ask if they had a unopened ice cream tub they could scoop my ice cream from. On many occasions, they did, and scooped my ice cream from there, with a specially-cleaned scoop, and gave me my mix-ins (usually peanut butter cups) in their original wrappers to avoid the cross contamination possible from the open containers.

I have had restaurants tell me they could not absolutely guarantee me that cross contamination would not occur, but that's quite different from refusal to serve.