Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Help Celiac.com:
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Just One Of The Many Reasons I Do Not Do Fast Food...


love2travel

Recommended Posts

converge Apprentice

My husband wanted to try an experiment for me at our local McDonalds. For several reasons I just do not like fast food. Never did, never will. Anyway, he is a curious guy and drove to M's. We have heard we should not trust M's in our town and he wanted to find out why. The following is a paraphrase of his conversation:

"Can you tell me whether your French fries contain gluten?"

"Yes, Sir, they do."

"Oh, really? What do they have on them?"

"They are a starch."

"Yes, I know they are a starch. Do they have any other ingredients in addition to the potatoes?"

"What is gluten, Sir? Is it like salt?"

(This is where my husband proceeded to explain in very plain English what it was...).

"Do you mean you want salt on your French fries?"

"No, I am just wondering whether they contain gluten. My wife is allergic to it." (He did not want to have to go into the whole celiac thing for obvious reasons.)

"We only have one kind of French fries, Sir. Do you want salt on them?"

"Yes, I know you have only one kind of French fries. Do they have any flour or breading? Any wheat?" (Knowing they didn't but at this point he was not taking any chances and was curious to see what she would say.)

"Let me get the Manager."

Manager arrives...

"Sir, what is gluten?"

He explained.

"Potatoes are vegetables. They have starch and we fry them." OK, my husband is NOT 6 years old. He did not attend university seven years for nothing!

"Yes, I know that. Do they have flour or breading?"

She looks at a fry and frowns.

"It doesn't look like they have wheat on them. They are a starch. I think it changes into sugar or something. Do you want salt on them?"

"And the fryer is JUST for fries?"

"I think so. Yes. No other starches in it."

"How long have you been the Manager?"

"Six years."

Just how on earth do you trust places like this? :huh:

You're asking minimum wage employees of a fast food chain about esoteric food knowledge?

Sorry, but this just makes me angry. We need people to be more proactive about this kind of thing, not insult the intelligence of restaurant workers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



psawyer Proficient

You're asking minimum wage employees of a fast food chain about esoteric food knowledge?

Maybe not the minimum wage counter clerk, but the manager ought to be somewhat more knowledgeable. Especially after six years as manager. Ya think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
love2travel Mentor

Maybe not the minimum wage counter clerk, but the manager ought to be somewhat more knowledgeable. Especially after six years as manager. Ya think?

I agree. That the manager of six YEARS had no clue is telling. I think it is deplorable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
love2travel Mentor

You're asking minimum wage employees of a fast food chain about esoteric food knowledge?

Sorry, but this just makes me angry. We need people to be more proactive about this kind of thing, not insult the intelligence of restaurant workers.

We have an active celiac group. We are inviting a professional chef from three hours away to come and talk to any interested restaurants about celiac, working with ingredients, cross contamination and so on. For FREE. Guess what? McDonald's is not interested. We are trying. The public is always invited to our monthly meetings - they are advertised on the radio and newspapers.

Believe me, I am not insulting restaurant workers. I was in the food service industry many years ago, I teach culinary classes and am a professional recipe tester. As such even prior to having celiac I made it my business to learn about allergies and so on (though I confess a far greater awareness since my diagnosis). I felt compelled to. I would hope others would make the effort but unfortunately very few do (around here). Yet! Hopefully that will change. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mushroom Proficient

Believe me, I am not insulting restaurant workers. I was in the food service industry many years ago, I teach culinary classes and am a professional recipe tester. As such even prior to having celiac I made it my business to learn about allergies and so on. I felt compelled to. I would hope others would make the effort but unfortunately very few do (around here). Yet!

I think it is a generational thing (speaking as one whose generation is "past it" :P from the point of view of today's workers.) When I was growing up (Yes, this is one of those mom-type "in my day" thingies) most people at least tried or pretended to take an interest in their jobs. A retail clerk in a department store would be totally familiar with the merchandise being sold and able to conduct an intelligent conversation about ithe products. It was almost a matter of pride. And if they couldn't answer the question they would find someone who could (and yes, the manager would know!) And it made the job more interestomg. Today it seems to be just a job, for the most part, beneath them, and yet the knowledge of the product is above them, too much work to put in the effort to gain the knowledge, just do enough to get by, be bored to death by the whole thing, uninvolved -- there, how's that for a bunch of sweeping generalisations?? :rolleyes: Yet it is the attitude I meet every day - the kind of "I'm not paid to know that and if nobody's going to pay me I'm not interested." How many times do we hear "That's above my pay grade"??? So, of course, the less they know the less valued they are, the less valued they are the less they get paid and, business being business, the less chance they have of making it up to something more rewarding. You get out of something what you put into it, I believve. But of course, that's very old-fashioned. And don't tell me they don't have the intelligence for it - they just don't have the interest. The folks who know the most about their jobs are the intellectually challenged, because they have to work hard at it :o

Hubs is always telling me, "Don't even bother asking". He is more resigned than I am. I think so many workers today have too low an expectation of themselves.and their roles :ph34r: If trat is insulting to workers, so be it.

End of rant from a dinosaur, tired of the ignorance (and disinterest) of the young. And no, they're not all like that, just the ones you constantly bump up against :lol:

I don't DO fast food, obviously, with my kind of attitude. But given all that, at least it was known that potato is a starch. The question should have been, "What else is fried in the fryer?" Now if they couldn't answer that one, run very fast as far away as you can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
love2travel Mentor

As always, you make very good points. It IS certainly true that interest, motivation and ambition simply does not exist as much as it did when I was a young kid. Though not a dinosaur quite yet ( :lol: ) I am at middle age. Sigh... Sadly when I do experience or witness great customer service I am nearly shocked and so pleased. It used to be (and should be) the norm. It IS a generational thing. Things just are different. Society is different. Technology is different. Sometimes I have a difficult time remembering that. Not having kids makes a difference I imagine. Then I may be constantly reminded! :P

I like to put my all into everything I do and should not be surprised when others do not. I find myself second-guessing people as many no longer go the extra mile. Then I just do it myself. Stubborn me. :angry:

I likely will never "do" fast food for many reasons (never have so why should I start?). You are so right - my husband should have asked that question. As far as I know he did not.

Thanks for your wisdom in bringing things to my mind! I appreciate that you got me to delve more deeply into this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      120,459
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    linda Jed
    Newest Member
    linda Jed
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.2k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • trents
      And the fact is, no two celiacs will necessarily respond the same to gluten exposure. Some are "silent" celiacs and don't experience obvious symptoms. But that doesn't mean no harm is being done to their gut. It just means it is subclinical. 
    • AlyO
      Thank you, Trents.  I appreciate your helpful and friendly reply. It seems more likely to be a bug.  It has been a pretty severe bought. I feel that I don’t have enough experience to know what signs my little one shows after exposure to gluten. 
    • trents
      Hannah24, be aware that if you are on a gluten free diet, you will invalidate any further testing for celiac disease (except genetics) and would need to go back to eating significant amounts of gluten for weeks or months to qualify for valid testing.
    • knitty kitty
      Hello, @Hannah24 Have you had a DNA test done?  Celiac Disease is genetic.  You must have at least one gene to develop celiac disease.  You don't have to be consuming gluten for a genetic test.   Anemia, diabetes and thiamine deficiency can cause false negatives.  Some lucky people are seronegative, but still have celiac disease.  Peripheral neuropathy, tingling in hands and feet are symptoms of vitamin deficiencies.  Vitamin C, Thiamine B1, Niacin B3, Pyridoxine B6, and Cobalamine B12 can each cause peripheral neuropathy.  These same vitamins are needed to produce blood cells.  Most undiagnosed Celiacs suffer from nutritional deficiencies. The DNA test would be helpful.
    • trents
      We do hear of cases of remission but they generally eventually revert back. I wouldn't push your luck.
×
×
  • Create New...