Is this grim or am I being pathetic?

[Idontwantbeans]

As the title says. Name changed as I really don’t know if it’s just me.

Went to a local garden centre for coffee with my mum today. While we were there we purchased two jacket potatoes.

I ordered bacon with cheese for my potato. I have a suspected allergy and am following a diet that removes foods. At this moment I cannot have legumes in any form among other things.

When my food came they brought beans and cheese. I cannot have this. The girl that came out asked to look at the receipt and I pointed out what I’d ordered. She seemed to have a huge issue with taking it away and giving me what I’d paid for.

5 minutes later my food returned. I could see straight away that she had scraped the beans off and replaced it with cheese and bacon.

It’s a Sunday and I wasn’t going to cause a fuss so just took it. The cafe was full by this point.

On eating the food was cold apart from the bacon that they’d just cooked. I also had to pick beans out that she’d missed.

Am I being precious or is this as disgusting as I think. If you work in food standards what would be your opinion. What if id been highly allergic to the beans or the sauce that was stuck all over the potato?

First world problem for me I know but could have been a serious issue for someone else.

My mum was with me. She told me not to make a fuss so I just left it.

Ive emailed the garden centre to ask them what their policy is regarding this kind of thing. No reply yet and I wondered if it was just me so thought I’d ask MN.

I don’t want vouchers. I’d rather eat a week old sandwich in the park than in there again but I always think of the poor girl that died from eating that Pret sandwich. If causing a fuss stops this kind of behaviour and makes them take food safety seriously then that’s what I’ll do.

Thank you. In that case, dont go back for a bite to eat and leave a concise and factual review. This will ensure you have nothing to worry about if the shop/place starts to scare you and want you to take down the review.

It could be there was just one staff that was a bit lazy, therefore, the owners need to be made aware - alternatively, email them and see what they say

It's gross and a potentially dangerous practice. Makes me wonder where the scraped beans went too - back into the vat to be used on someone else's food?

Make a complaint!

Completely unacceptable.

Especially these days following deaths from alllergies.

You should have complained and these staff need training.

'It’s a Sunday and I wasn’t going to cause a fuss so just took it.'

I just can't fathom why you would do that?

You refuse it until they we've you with what you ordered and paid for! It's quite simple and is t about you making a fuss, it's standing up for yourself.

That is awful and you should have made a fuss scraping of the beans is terrible

I would contact the place or leave a review.
Grim.

Not that it excuses anything , you should have been given a fresh jacket potato, but did you make it clear you had an allergy? Most cafes will have a notice up about their allergy policy.

That's terrible service, you should definitely have sent it back again.

I work in hospitality and we have to do regular online training about allergies and cross contamination.
Your food should have been thrown in the bin and a fresh one made on a different plate.
They could kill someone!

I didn’t order beans so I didn’t inform them at the point of sale but when it was placed in front of me the first time I told her that I could not eat beans due to allergy.

Most food places are very hot on allergies now and should have procedures in place for staff to follow. I'd have taken the food up to the counter and asked to speak to the manager. It's not making a fuss, you can be perfectly polite and pleasant but this is potentially dangerous and should have been addressed there and then.

Unacceptable imo.

My husband once ordered a cheese and onion toastie, came sans onions which he discovered after taking a bite. They returned same sandwich with a few chunks of onion in it, complete with his bite Mark. I ordered soup, after making sure it was gf. It came with croutons, sent back, I could see her picking them out. We walked out.

OMG…Natalie’s law applies to EVERY venue selling food to the public. The menu sheet should notify you to declare allergens when ordering. This is so the kitchen staff can minimise the risks of cross contaminating your food with a known allergen. Yes that takes time, yes a chef may cry if it’s during a busy shift BUT they will clean down and prep your meal as safely as is possible and let you know if they cannot do so.

You were failed by not being asked if you had any allergens, being given the wrong meal. If you then told them you could not eat said food due to an allergy to beans than they should NOT have scraped said food and reserved it to you.
Hot hold food should also be served hot and kept well above 63c even if it’s just a potato.
Complain like crazy. Complain in the first instance to the head of catering, if that does not work take it to the company who own said garden centre and offer to contact the local council and even the food standards agency if they do not look into this and take measures to ensure it does not happen again.

Someone else with a severe allergy could die if thats their idea of food hygiene and allergen awareness. (Worked in hospitality till recently, still keep up with training though)

She shouldn’t have had to make anything clear. They gave her something she didn’t order.

Glad I'm not the only one thinking this is not as grim as everyone else seems to be saying. Personally I can understand if there is an allergy issue but couldn't get worked up about a stray baked bean or two. Maybe I just have low standards. I don't like waste !

No that’s really bad and you absolutely should have sent it back again. You could have been allergic to the tomatoes in the sauce. It’s unacceptable that they made a mistake and just scraped off the wrong topping instead of preparing a fresh meal.

Quite right. My Ds has an anaphylactic allergy but 'thankfully' its peanuts which everyone is pretty hot on. I have often wondered about the less well known allergies and hope that people take them seriously. Last week I was in a cafe and someone ordered coffee. The barista was on autopilot and put in a spoon of hot chocolate (the mix that has milk powder) then realised and just tipped it out into the bin the nput coffee in the cup. I actually told them to stop and use a different cup in case the customer has a milk allergy. Much rolling of eyes (and the customer said 'thanks, I don't.) but the point is- it's a fucking cafe and the barista should have more awareness about cross contamination FFS.

It’s grim and I’d have sent it back, and wouldn’t have given a rats ass about what the manager thought about it.

You paid for something you didn’t get and you got poor service, don’t belittle yourself - you’re allowed to be annoyed.

I'm lactose intolerant, but even before I developed that, I've never taken milk in drinks. I was once presented with a coffee with milk in a restaurant (I asked for no milk). I sent it back and they came back with a black coffee but as soon as I tasted it I could tell that all they'd done was poured out the milky coffee.

Thankfully I'm not allergic. It was a long time ago but if that were to happen now I'd definitely make a fuss.

Legumes include peas, beans, lentils and peanuts. Someone with a legume allergy may be sensitive to all of them, while others will be able to eat many of them and may only have symptoms from one or two types. An exclusion diet asks you to cut certain categories of foods out and they are then reintroduced individually to see which, if any cause a reaction. Peanuts are well known for causing mild to severe allergy, including anaphylaxis, but other legumes can cause a variety of reactions including quite severe skin rashes, and those with asthma/eczema combinations, psoriasis and dermatitis may be more sensitive to them. So, just scraping them off and re-serving the spud would likely have caused a reaction in someone with any sensitivity. Not good and I would leave a calm, factual account of what happened on whatever review site they are listed on, as well as an email to their customer services.

I think disgusting is an overused word that’s very rarely used in the correct sense.

The allergy part is almost irrelevant. You don't have to be allergic in order to not meekly accept getting something different to what you've ordered and paid for! I absolutely hate baked beans. They make me sick to even look at. If I'd got a potato with beans scraped off I wouldn't be unreasonable to request a brand new one, despite the fact I'm not allergic.

I would say though from a customer service POV I HATE people who don't raise issues at the time when there's a chance to actually solve it, but then write emails or put bad reviews online once they get home. It's so cowardly, so YWBU to listen to your mum and 'not make a fuss,' at the time. You should have asked to speak to the manager then and there.

I absolutely hated baked beans and the horrible slimy sauce. I'd have sent the scraped baked potato back and demanded a refund or a new potato.

Gross. And apart from anything else, the bean sauce must have got cold really quickly.