Sorry... but if I had such severe allergies, I'd definitely check my food before eating it. At least, for such obvious things like onions, pickles and tomatoes.

Allergies is serious business.

On a serious note, if he truly had a severe reaction to it, he at least has a right to lost work/medical costs. I myself have Celiac so it's nigh impossible to eat out. (Not fully, as I'm aware of options, just very limited)

That man must really hate veggies...

As stupid as this sounds, food allergies aren't fun. Anyone who has had anaphylaxis will tell you that, it isn't a laughing matter.

That said, if he knew that they regularly make burgers with the ingredients he's deadly allergic to, it's a bit daft to not check before eating and simply plow on in.

I always steer clear of anything even remotely coming close to what I'm allergic to, simply because the food allergy is my responsibility, not theirs. Anything else is just being irresponsible. I suspect there's more to this story than what's right here.

If you have an allergy condition CHECK your food first! This man should be fined for wasting court's time. It's your responsibility to make sure you're not consuming something that could make you sick.

If the food was contaminated in any way I could understand this but how hard is it to lift the bun and see what's on your sandwich?

An American should be able to just unwrap and bite on down. I for one love putting my life in the hands of some unknown teenager.

As a sporadic fast food consumer, it would be "tantamount to negligence" for me to assume that my "specific request" had been carried out.

I always check the bag at the drive-through to make sure all the food is there and the order is correct. It only took one time of driving all the home to open up a meatless "plain double-cheeseburger" from McDonalds to drive that point home.

I am sure he's well aware that his food might come into contact with onions, pickles and tomatoes, being as though he's in a burger king, and the items he ordered typically include those ingredients. If his allergies are that severe, he has a duty to thoroughly inspect his food.

I wonder if he has evidence (i.e. a receipt) that the request was ever acknowledged by the staff. Maybe he did not make it clear what his request was. Maybe it was loud and the cashier misheard him? Maybe he never divulged his allergies in the first place. This is why restaurants always print on the menu "if you have allergies, please let us know" - in order to take the utmost care that your food is not 'contaminated'.

Failing that, special requests at fast food joints are rarely complied with. He obviously has ordered fast food before, he should be used to this process by now. I think it could be proven that he has a reasonable amount of liability in this situation.

If your food allergies are that severe, you don't need to be eating at fast food places. Even if you order no onions, you still find them on there or stuck to the wrapper or something. About 4 times out of 10 I'll still find a piece of an onion somewhere within the wrapper, stuck to the bottom of the bun, etc. It's a request, not a medical food sterilization requirement.

@nerdtalker: Agreed. This man is making a mockery of the problems that people go through with food allergies. This isn't a case of someone "sneaking" him food he's deathly allergic to. There was all sorts of opportunity for him to discover the error and have it fixed.

This story stinks of a guy seeing an opportunity for a quick buck. He may have legitimate allergies, but I strongly doubt that he suffered as much as his claim states, and I strongly doubt that he genuinely had no idea that his burger was "tainted."

I'd be inclined to say that this case is pretty frivilous if not for the huge number of times I've asked people at fast food joints to give me something plain and dry and have them give me anything but.

PLAIN AND DRY

I'm making it easier for you! I'm asking you to do LESS work!

I've worked at plenty of restaurants where someone will order something (for example) with "no cheese" and not specify that they're allergic...i've gotten into the habit of asking my tables "is that because you're lactose intolerant?" though, a good number of people (who happen to not be allergic) have gotten annoyed with me and say rudely "uh, NO, I just don't want fricken cheese on my burger!!!" which if always funny to me

in short, if you're allergic, say so...even if something you order doesn't necessarily contain what you're allergic to, because cross contamination happens everywhere ESPECIALLY at chain restaurants where the employees aren't exactly culinary experts.

oh, and inspect your food.

There are ingredients I simply don't LIKE and I always check my food orders to make sure they are correct. I would only be 100 times more diligent if I were actually ALLERGIC to said ingredients, which are extremely easy to spot. I'd say they each hold partial responsibility here.

Wait, how could he not smell the pickles and onions that close to his face?

@discordance, the goddamn boss: It is frivolous, not because of whether or not the event occurred, but because the guy bears the brunt of the responsibility for consuming the burger without checking that his request was complied with. A person with severe allergies has a reasonable responsibility to be aware of what he's putting in his mouth, and there's no reason that he couldn't have lifted up a bun before taking a bite.

I am freaked out by mayo. I don't want to see it, touch it, taste it or have anything to do with its vile existence. Before anything goes into my mouth I check to make sure there is no mayo on the food or the wrapper. If I had an allergy I would be just as diligent in checking my food for what ever I was allergic to.

The restaurant is guilty of putting veggies on his burger but he is guilty of putting the veggies in his mouth.

My wife has quite a few food allergies, that can be life threatening. She is smart enough to check the food beforehand, to make sure none of the deadly items are present.

@discordance, the goddamn boss: ... maybe it's not easier - you do realise you drill repetitive tasks to the point where they become muscle memory at which point deviation becomes more difficult, right?

@Jonbo298: I disagree. It's your responsibility to know what you're eating. It's funny how we're so easy to call people working in fast food dumbasses, losers etc but yet we trust them with our lives.

Umm... you could easily check before biting down. I'd say this is the customer's responsibility.

Also false advertising, YOUR WAY RIGHT AWAY MY A$$!

@Jim Cahill: A meatless plain double cheeseburger? So just a slice of cheese and a bun?

@ADismalScience: It can be pretty rough to take the few seconds needed to insure your burger isn't harboring your potential death. This is America dammit, and I refuse to to be inconvenienced for any reason.

/Sarcasm

@chris_d:

The customer's responsibility was to give directions when the order was taken, which he did, it is the server's responsibility to make sure that order is made right in case of any allergic reaction that might effect the customer.

@Jim Cahill:

Best sandwich I (never) got:

Went through the drive-in at Jack and got a chicken-less chicken sandwich. I took a bite as I was driving and realized that there was no chicken! I went back and had to argue for the chicken... they didn't believe me!

@AgitatedDot: It's not that simple.

Food allergies are really dangerous. If they just touch a pickle and touch the bun you can have an allergic reaction. If they put the pickle on and then pick it off (the employees) it can lead to an allergic reaction.

It's very very scary, especially when you are sitting across someone who is having trouble breathing because clean utensils were not used to prepare the food.

Now, if he just asked them to pick it off then yes he should check. But if he identified that he had a food allergy then I believe it is Burger King's RESPONSIBILITY to prepare SAFE meals for their customers.

I think everyone should take after Disney, when you call and set the restaurant reservation they ask you, you say yes and let them know what your allergies are and they even make sure there is stuff you can eat.

Then when you go to eat at the restaurant they send a manager out to double check with your food allergies and let you know if anything could possibly be a problem and they are very accommodating. No smirks, no deep sighs, just smiles and reassurance that they will take care of you.

Imagine being allergic to chicken and not being able to eat anything made of chicken broth, soups... mashed potatoes anyone?

Back to the point though, fast food restaurants don't always use gloves, which means, even if you 'CHECK' your food and nothing is there, the hands of the person preparing it aren't typically clean and there will be cross contamination.

I'm curious to see if this goes to court. Legally, is it reasonable to put responsibility on the restaurant for failing to prepare the food as requested, when the patron is an adult and (presumably) capable of inspecting his food for allergy-safety before consuming it? If he had looked under the bun, he could have gone back up to the counter and demanded a correctly made replacement...instead, he allegedly ended up with a reaction and medical bills.

This isn't like a case where an ingredient gets mixed into something, such as a sauce, and can't be spotted by the customer. If it were, I'd hope there would be no question of responsibility. But when it's right there for you to look at? I dunno.

@AgitatedDot:

I disagree, it's these dumbasses mistakes that are fatal errors, when you are paying for a service that is paying their minimum f*cking wage, they should at least pay attention.

@dragonpup:

Or for that matter, see them when inspecting the burger for spit/hair/fecal matter...

@mgy: On top of that, really, most people don't wash their hands or re-glove in between each and every individual burger or order even. Not that it's unsanitary if all your doing is making food, but ingredients can leave residual traces of juice and other stuff on the hands or gloves. So even if they had gotten his order correct, he may still run a risk. Like, when you buy a package of cookies, they say "processed in a plant where peanuts are processed" or something to that effect. Individual responsibility need be more prevalent.

I must be the only one that religiously checks my fast food items not just for accuracy, but for any "cross contamination" that any employee felt was necessary to enhance the flavor

@trujunglist: Not the same, but I had fun at Steak n' Shake as a vegetarian. They have a hamburger that comes with a portobello mushroom on top, so I asked if I could get that sandwich, but without the burger part (I had a backup of kid's grilled cheese picked out if this was an unreasonable request. The waitress looked at me for a few moments, blinked a couple of times, and said "Wait, you want a hamburger WITHOUT NO MEAT ON IT? Ohmigod, I cannot WAIT to put that in the computer and see the look on the cooks' faces when they see that!" And then she scurried off without taking the rest of the table's order.

@Lisa Cebrian: That's because that's rude to ask that.

What you should do is, once finishing taking everyone orders ask, "OKay so I have this all set, and I'd just like to check if anyone has any food allergies that we may need to be aware of?"

Make it neutral rather then making it seem like you, the waiter, feel like they, the customers, are just trying to make your job difficult.

dude has no control what goes into his mouth? That's the real negligence!

@idip: And also for the record, there is a difference between being allergic to milk or cheese, and being lactose intolerant.

@sir_pantsalot: Can you believe some women put it in their hair! o.O

That smell..... o.O

@PinkBox:

I'm thinking that if I had those allergies, I'd just steer clear of BK and other fast food joints altogether.

@Lucky225: Anyone eating at a fast food place should know that some of the people preparing his/her order may be dumbasses. It's not uncommon. If the guy is that allergic he should have checked his food before chomping into it. Unlike celiac, you can see if there's onion/pickle/tomato on your food if you look. With something like celiac you need to start doing your research before even stepping into the fast food place (e.g., does the company have a detailed list of all ingredients in their food and does each individual restaurant have to use those ingredients and no others). If you've done the research and end up being served something invisibly dangerous, then I'd say go ahead and sue them hard.

In college I ordered a Whopper with no onions. I got onions. I complained. The part time manager said I should sit down and he would send a new one out. As I left the cash register I thought I overheard him tell the guy to just take the onions off. Sure enough, my Whopper still tasted like it had onions on it. Man, I could have gotten a free college education out of it.

@Lisa Cebrian: I worked in Louisiana last summer, and had to drive 5 hours there and back every week. I would stop at the same Starbucks every week in Shreveport (it's the only one that I knew where it was). I would order (every week) a soy latte with sugar-free vanilla syrup. Cue the lecture from the manager that soymilk has a lot of sugar in it, and was I diabetic? I said no, I just like soymilk. And then she'd get all defensive about how a lot of people don't know how much sugar soymilk has in it, and it could be really dangerous if I were diabetic. Two points:
1) If I were diabetic, I would know (hopefully) that soymilk has tons o' sugar.
2) Soymilk has half the sugar of skim milk. I just did a side-by-side of what I have in my fridge, and the soymilk has 6 carbs, whereas skim milk has 13. So now I don't even know WTF she was talking about.

I have never gotten a diabetes lesson from Starbucks before, but got a weekly lecture from the manager in Shreveport. Thanks, random manager.

@sir_pantsalot: "The restaurant is guilty of putting veggies on his burger but he is guilty of putting the veggies in his mouth"

Damn, thats about the best way to put it, really. Kudos.

The legal system is supposed to help protect people but this is another case of the abuse of the legal system and as to why real people with real problems are often ignored. I suffer from many medical problems with eating but it is my responsiblity to midigate my own actions and would have made sure to check the sandwich prior to eating it. I would have more sympothy for this person if he would only have requested lost work and medical expenses but then again it does come down to being responsible for yourself and to stop blaming others. It's a shame that our society has become a society of blame everyone else for our own mistakes. I do hope that his case is dismissed and the lawyers hands are smacked for taking such a shameful case.

I think I would have to agree with CheritanChen. I'm lucky enough to not have allergies but if I did, I would take precautions. And as you said, we are not talking about a substance that is easily missed by a quick inspection (like a peanut allergy). This would have taken just a few milliseconds to lift the bun and check. It's an obvious discrepancy. On top of that, many fast food places are not properly staffed and at times, not properly trained. That being said, I don't think I would risk my health or possibly life on a cheeseburger.

I guess this is just my two cents that is certainly up for argument.

As stupid and pointless as this lawsuit sounds, it was the restaurant's negligence at fault. God forbid this guy actually trust an establishment that serves food to serve it properly. If they sold a piece of chicken that was raw on the inside, it would be the exact same thing.

Heck, where is the criticism of the guy who got the snake head in his broccoli? He had eyes, he should have seen the snake head and not made a big deal about it... accidents happen.

I've got an allergy to milk that can cause me to go into anaphylactic shock and I always inspect my food before I eat it. I have to, they get it wrong about a third of the time and render my meal into poison (even after I've specifically stated that I've got an allergy.) And it's usually a monster of a ordeal to order in restaurants in general and fast food is particularly terrible about getting my orders right.

On more than one occasion, I've muttered to myself about suing these guys one day after they finally manage to poison me... but frankly, who would want to be on the receiving end of articles like this?

@idip: Food allergies are really dangerous. If they just touch a pickle and touch the bun you can have an allergic reaction. If they put the pickle on and then pick it off (the employees) it can lead to an allergic reaction.

Although this is true, in rare and very extreme cases, the fact remains that if you KNOW you have an allergy and you KNOW that the place you're ordering food from routinely uses the item to which you are allergic, then you have a responsibility to your own self and your own health and well-being to avoid eating there. If your allergies are seriously that bad that you run the risk of anaphylactic shock and/or death if someone accidentally touches the allergen and then touches your food, is that really a reasonable risk to take?

And although there is some merit to "everyone [taking] after Disney" and exercising such caution (although I have to say I've never seen that), you have to realize that the expenses involved would send prices skyrocketing, companies would lose business, and ultimately there'd be no place anyone could go for a quick burger unless they wanted to pay $35 for it. Can you imagine the costs, in money and time, if employees had to change gloves every time they touched something? Get the bun, new gloves. Put the meat on, new gloves. Lettuce, new gloves. Tomato, new gloves. Onion, new gloves. Etc.

I have sympathy for people who are allergic to foods, I truly do. It must be very difficult, especially not knowing what the ingredients are in any given item. But although businesses should, yes, make an effort to be inclusive of people with allergies, people with allergies - especially if they are life-threatening - MUST exercise due diligence on their own, and if an allergy is severe enough that "touching this, then that" can kill you, it is YOUR responsibility to manage that.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who's absent-mindedly bitten into a burger to find some vile bullshit I did not order in there.

We've all been in a hurry, or had 99 other orders at that place filled specially with no prior problems, and it was the one time he let his guard down he got burnt.

It definitely sucks for this guy, I know that sometimes when I go back into a place after they messed up my drive-thru order I'll say to them "What if I were allergic? Should I have to pick apart my burger to find out of the onions that I asked you not to put in there truly aren't in there?"

BK is a different story, because I think they use whole rings of onion, but at McDonald's they use those little chopped bits, and they get into the cheese and you can't tell what's an onion and what's a pickle seed and what's an indentation and what's cheese. If they put onions in there it's next to impossible to get them out completely, and if you do manage, without making a huge mess, the cheese and the bun will still taste like onion.

Fucking onions.

That said, he's a douche for trying to sue over it. If I were severely allergic I'd be checking and double checking to make sure there was nothing in there I couldn't have.

Hold the MSG, please...

Argh...too late...dying...no time to hire an attorney...

If it's a true case of allergies, you shouldn't trust your life to someone making minimum wage. If the burger wasn't made "your way" at BK, then they'll remake it...but you might want them to hold the spit.

Lawsuits like these give lawyers a bad name, but sure makes them rich and busy.

@Jim Cahill: I've gotten 2 Double Hamburgers out of saying "2 plain double cheeseburgers" at McDonalds before...alas it was lunchtime at work so I didn't have time to go back and argue.