If you handle food, you should be well aware that allergies and dietary limitations are something you need to take seriously. Sure, a lot of people might order food a certain way based on a trend (hence why gluten-free everything is such a widely available option, for example), but there are plenty of other people who’ll get violently, and sometimes fatally, ill if the chef doesn’t take their request seriously. With this in mind, a small Alabama business recently made the news after one woman’s receipt showed that a staff member thought she was a “crazy b*tch” for not ordering her burger with cheese.
The reason why? She wanted to help a lactose intolerant coworker.
I feel your pain.
— 𝕾𝖞𝖑𝖛𝖎𝖚𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖆𝖉 (@Sylvius_the_Mad) January 18, 2018
Or bloating.
Or violent diarrhea.
People don't get how unpleasant lactose intolerance is.
Today I spent a very violent and painful hour learning the true depths of lactose intolerance
— 🐇🏳️🌈💀howl 🐱🐝🐦 (@koipepper) August 16, 2016
Lactose intolerance can happen to anyone — it can even affect someone who previously had a healthy relationship with dairy.
Eating products with lactose can often lead to stomach cramps soon after, meaning that it’s best to avoid it when possible. It’s also important to realize that hamburgers, by themselves, do exist. Yes, cheese is great, but having a plain beef patty isn’t all that unusual.
And you’d expect that order to happen fairly often at a place called Henry’s Burgers & Cream, which specializes in burgers.
Henry’s Burgers & Cream is run by the Hatter family, whose members seemed shaken by the incident. After the burger was ordered without cheese by a customer named Jessica, who was picking up lunch for everyone in her office, she returned to her office. Lo and behold, the staff didn’t follow the order correctly.
Jessica was simply trying her hardest to make sure her lactose-intolerant coworker could enjoy lunch.
when i say no cheese on my burger, that’s what i mean jeeeeeez 🤬
— kileyNOjenner (@kileybell_) December 18, 2018
MFW I ask for no cheese on a burger, and they put it on anyway 😒
— RandomWisdom (@RandomWisdom3) December 16, 2018
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas this year is for just ( 1 ) time that one of the millions of fast-food burger making geniuses .. to accidentally make my burger PROPERLY!!!!! No cheese, means NO CHEESE!! .. going on 35 years now. #NoMeansNo
— David Gingery (@DaGingMan67) December 14, 2018
Jessica went back to fix the issue. On the receipt for the replacement burger, someone wrote “No cheese on this dam [sic] burger crazy b*tch ordered it.”
Henry’s Burgers & Cream responded to the incident on their Facebook page, stating that they have made “all necessary changes to our staff.”
But still, the apology didn’t read well. Especially since, after the story initially went public, the Hatters reportedly stated that Jessica left out parts of the story. According to Fox News, the owners also accused Jessica of trying to start a “smear campaign” after she refused to take down her initial post.
Fans of the eatery are torn, with many thinking the mistake shouldn’t have gone viral.
Even though they apologized and shouldn’t have been harassed, it makes you wonder whether or not Henry’s Burgers & Cream recognizes how important it is to address allergies. Most of the time, people don’t change their orders to be difficult — they just don’t want to get sick.