To think I should have been able to buy half a drink??

[Edenviolet]

Went out today and for a treat went to a cafe as dd1 and dd2 wanted a drink

Dd1 chose hers and dd2 decided she would like a creamy fruit type drink. Dd2 has type 1 diabetes so we went on the website to work out the carbs in a small drink, it was quite a lot so thought I'd get her half a small drink instead but this proved to be quite a problem
The first person said no when I requested exactly half of a small drink ( they could do it as all measurements are on the jugs etc). I asked why and was told 'no we can't do custom drinks" so I asked to see the manager and was told "no we can't do half" and "I don't know what to charge for half a small drink"

I suggested that perhaps half the cost of a small drink might be a good figure but was told again "no, we can't do it"
I explained again why we needed just half and said could I not just pay for a small drink but they just measure half instead. "No"again?

By this point dd2 was getting upset so I said "ok I will have a small drink and please can I have an extra cup?" To which they replied "no, just one cup" and I had had to then virtually beg for the drink to be split equally between two cups. Ridiculous

Yet again, dd has been upset and something simple like getting a drink has been complicated by diabetes and she is getting more and more negative about things due to incidents like this

Surely I should have been able to buy half a drink? Or at the very least a small one split into two cups without having to beg?!

Why didn't you ask them to make a full drink and ask them to tip half of it away and just pay full price? If I'm out and DS wants an ice cream I ask the ice cream man for a small cone, but tell him to only put half the ice cream in. The tills in Costa aren't designed for adjustments like that, and those smoothies are made to prearranged measurements. If you go to an independent cafe they are more likely to be able to be flexible. I wouldn't expect to be able to just pay half for something randomly on a menu.

I asked them to mix it thoroughly first to avoid a discrepancy between fruit purée and cream etc

OP - I understand your worries, but I think I should point out a few things. I used to be a food technologist that produced products for a huge UK company not just any food... and the guidance on nutritional labelling is not as accurate as you may believe it is.

In fact, not all food is nutritionally analysed (ours was) - nutritional data can be worked out using data from McCance and Widdowson. The derived data is displayed as per a number of EC directives and is periodically checked for accuracy. There will be no packaging amendments if the check falls within the following tolerances for carbs and sugars:

40 g per 100 g: ±8 g

This means that a product with 40 g of carbohydrate/sugar per 100 g can actually average 32-48 g carbohydrate/sugar without the need for a nutritional packaging amendment. If the average serving of this product is 250 g, then the carbohydrate/sugar value could conceivably be 80-120 g and it would be within tolerance for nutritional data.

I think many people read the nutritional data on packaging and assume it is highly accurate; the reality is different.

I'm sorry that you have had to face such ignorance about your daughter's condition and treatment on this thread op. Of course you should follow the instructions given to you by your daughter's clinicians and it doesn't matter what somebody else who also has diabetes has to do no matter how they are related to people on the thread. If people are too stupid to understand that the condition and treatment varies with each person and that a tiny five year old's needs will vary from a grown adult woman's then that is rather disappointing. Thos advocating the child should just go without because of her condition even though there is a way to facilitate having the drink are either cruel, stupid or have just forgotten how to do empathy today

As for whether asking for half a drink I do think that's a bit unreasonable. However Costa should have made reasonable adjustment for your daughter's disability (because it is no fault of her own; it's easy to do; it's the sodding law!). That reasonable adjustment would have been measuring half into another cup without fuss and in fact, actually offering to do it.

A big Plc like Costa should have clear guidlines and policies about dealing with disability and so I would complain. They we unhelpful and rude and if the issue was stock control of the cups then they need to amend the system to allow for that.

Pump user here. For me it's a case of accepting that it's fine to have occasional treats but accept that I can't be as accurate when out as I might be at home. Reducing the pressure to get it right all the time is, for me, part of the treat. Without that a meal out is far from a treat and just a whole level of extra issues. It did take a long time (and counselling) to come to terms with that after being diagnosed.

I do try to check after a couple of hours and correct if need be. I can imagine that it's much harder when it's your child though, and that the error a couple of grams can cause will be more than they do for me.

FWIW it's not uncommon for me to take a seal-able to pour half my kids drinks in for later as they don't tend to drink much in one go. No one has ever commented.

I am surprised. Every time I go to Costa or Cafe Nero with DC I order one small drink split into two cups for DC3 and 4. I've done it in branches all over the country and never had a problem. It is a shame that you did.

What does annoy me is why none of them do child sized drinks in the first place. I wouldn't care if they weren't half price, it just annoys me if I have to buy a giant drink knowing most of it will be wasted.

I'm Type 1 diabetic and for me the issue is how this situation will have impacted on your childs sense of being different. All children want to be the same as everyone else and when i was diagnosed at 9 years i had real issues with anything marking me out as different and my parents tried as best they could to stop this happening. The things that still stand out in my mind are not being allowed to swim in the deep end once i gad been diagnosed dispite being a strong swimmer, school dinner ladies complaining when i asked for specific quantities of food (not asking to weigh, just portion size) and then being made to queue up before everyone else. I avoided wearing a medical alert medal and did everything i could to be normal. I would suggest that rather than pressing the point with the coffee shop it would have been better to walk away and think of a way around it at some other time so that your daughter did not feel different or responsible for causing a difficult situation.

That is 6.5 teaspoons of sugar.

this much

I wouldn't let my non diabetic 5 year old have that much.

Let alone if I had to medicate them after.

Forgot to say, i am now 47 so those things do stay with you. Also im on a pump and have not weighed anything since i was first diagnosed, all done via checking labels and looking at whats on my plate.

Morloth how is your comment helpful To lay guilt on someone trying to do their best for their child is an awful thing to do and the situation us far more complex than the amount of sugar in a smoothie.

How is it more complex?

The sugar in the smoothie is the issue.

It is a crazy amount, absolutey crazy.

I know hedgehog's situation as well as anyone can on MN.

I have observed that she tends to over complicate and sweats the small stuff.

Just don't consider a drink with 12! Teaspoons of sugar, then you don't need to halve it or measure it out or attempt to order half a cup or have an upset kid who is the focus yet again.

My nephew has epilepsy, he is on a ketogenic diet. He has had to learn that sugar is a really really bad idea. How is this any different?

Simplify Hedgehog!

Your response seems extreme re the sugar in a smoothie which does have some nutritional value as opposed to a kid drinking coke etc. Its not just about the sugar content in that a diabetic child will want and should be able to enjoy the same things as other kids. No one died from a smoothie, and although i accept it is better to eat the fruit rather than drink it, the fact that if she can enjoy being 'normal' by having one then she should be free to do so without being made to feel like a social pryah for consuming fructose!

You won't always have to physically weigh and measure everything, even on a pump. Once you've 'you've got your eye in' it's perfectly possible to calculate the carb content of most things by sight. Unfortunately diabetes isn't an exact science, and everyone's carbs and insulin sensitivities will change continually. I don't think I've ever (I'm diabetic and work in the field) come across anyone who had a BG target rather than a target range, if your pump ratios are correct a lost or gained gram here and there will make little difference unless your sensitivity is ridiculously high. I'd highly recommend the book/app Carbs and Cals to help with estimating when out.

But yes, a second cup shouldn't have been that much of an issue for them.

And there may a point where that sugar will be the thing that saves her life if her sugar level drops too low.

They aren't obliged to sell half a small drink, but they ought to have given you a second cup without a fuss

But they are legally obliged to make 'reasonable adjustments' and an extra cup/glass would have been that.

I'd write to head office and ask them formally for a reasonable adjustment and if they are not going to do it the reasons why.

Yes suchafuss. I am not a complete stranger to how diabetes works. Hence my being wary of unnecessary sugar.

Perhaps normal needs to change. I haven't noticed to that my kids are socially excluded because of their lowerror than average sugar consumption.

Would you really allow your kids to sit and munch 6 sugar cubes straight in a row, just because? And then give them insulin? Really? Who would? But hide it in a drink and the net effect is the same.

Easier for Hedgehog to just not go there and with all the other stuff she has to deal with easier has got to be her best option.

Why set up a potentially difficult/complicated situation?

I think that if you had first asked for a small drink,with 2 cups so you could split it for diabetic daughter,they would have given it to you.
I think the fact you asked first for half a drink and made the suggestion of only paying half is what caused the staff to become stubborn and unhelpful - they thought you were someone trying to get away with a cheaper deal than they offer. Once they had said no to that,they felt negatively towards you and were unhelpful regarding any request you made.

I think we know that in these kind of cafes, showing initiative and serving something a but different doesn't fit with the mindset of staff. Mother are taught NOT to think for themselves. In this context, asking for half a drink at half price was never going to go down well. It would have been better to simply ask for one drink and explain you could only give half to your diabetic child, so please could you have a second cup. This probably would have gone down even better if you were buying a drink for yourself too.

You shouldn't have had to beg for it, but I don't think the way you approached it did you any favours either.

I can understand them not giving you half a drink and trying to charge you half the price, in that situation I'd have ordered the whole drink and just asked for another cup and halved it myself. However in Starbucks my dds have a frappucino I order a large one and ask for it to be put into 2 small cups they are happy to do this do very strange costa wouldn't do that at least for you. Write to their head office or something.

And the thread title is ridiculous and designed to be provocative.
No-one is entitled to buy half a drink.
You are entitled to ask for cups so that the standard quantity can be made into an acceptable quantity for special needs.
Even the OP doesn't seriously believe she should be able to have half a drink for half price,despite the thread title suggesting this.
I came see the diabetic thing is difficult, but the OP does sound to me like someone who goes into places wanting to have a fight and then sees the response of anyone else as an attack on special needs.

Not at all, it had not been a problem a few months ago in the same place so I thought it would still be the same.

They did split the drink in half in the end and it was fine but getting to that conclusion was difficult

I think the fact you asked first for half a drink and made the suggestion of only paying half is what caused the staff to become stubborn and unhelpful

This. Loads of people would rather pay half price for half the size but that's not how shops work. It reminds me of a row I witnessed in M&S when a woman wanted one bra from a two pack.

It was a misjudgement based on what happened the last time I went there and they were happy to do half a small drink then so naturally I assumed that was fine and that it would be this time as well ?