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Frustrated

Meleficent

By Meleficent
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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Meleficent Rookie
Meleficent
Posted

Tonight was my companies picnic/baseball game. Before I gave my RSVP I spoke with one of the organizers to find out what we were having. I was told "Hot Dogs, Burgers and Chicken." I figured that grilled chicken was safe, so I RSVP'd to do (I was not going to go if I had to bring my own food).

Fast Forward to tonight -- Softball game ends and I go to where the picnic was being catered. There are hamburgers, hot dogs and FRIED chicken!! There are no wrappers so I cannot tell the ingredients and I cannot leave because my ride was still there. I asked and they said that the burgers and dogs were "all beef" so I decide to try it, even though I know a lot of time there are fillers.

It is now about 2 hours after I ate and I feel like hell. I admit to having some Dorito type chips and some trail mix. I was starving as I did not have lunch cuz I knew I was having an early dinner.....but now I am paying for it.

Does anyone have any advice on a) how to deal with the co-worker who was not honest about this and who knows I have food sensitivities and B) what to do the next time there is a company event (Christmas is 4 months away and they have a party for that). I am mad and I am hurting (I react pretty fast when something is wrong apparently) and I am frustrated!! Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks in advance and thanks for listening.

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home-based-mom Contributor
home-based-mom
Posted
Tonight was my companies picnic/baseball game. Before I gave my RSVP I spoke with one of the organizers to find out what we were having. I was told "Hot Dogs, Burgers and Chicken." I figured that grilled chicken was safe, so I RSVP'd to do (I was not going to go if I had to bring my own food).

Fast Forward to tonight -- Softball game ends and I go to where the picnic was being catered. There are hamburgers, hot dogs and FRIED chicken!! There are no wrappers so I cannot tell the ingredients and I cannot leave because my ride was still there. I asked and they said that the burgers and dogs were "all beef" so I decide to try it, even though I know a lot of time there are fillers.

It is now about 2 hours after I ate and I feel like hell. I admit to having some Dorito type chips and some trail mix. I was starving as I did not have lunch cuz I knew I was having an early dinner.....but now I am paying for it.

Does anyone have any advice on a) how to deal with the co-worker who was not honest about this and who knows I have food sensitivities and B) what to do the next time there is a company event (Christmas is 4 months away and they have a party for that). I am mad and I am hurting (I react pretty fast when something is wrong apparently) and I am frustrated!! Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks in advance and thanks for listening.

I think you can assume there will never be anything safe to eat at these events. Your choices are to not go or bring your own food. There is no way that people who don't "get it" and are making food for such a crowd can be trusted to take the necessary precautions. It just ain't gonna happen. :(

I hope you feel better soon!

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

Oh, I'm so sorry you are feeling so lousy! Hope you feel better soon.

Even if your colleague knows you have food issues, it's really not up to them to know how to read the fine print on all the labels to figure out if everything is gluten-free. If they haven't lived it, it's just not fair to them to ask them to take on the responsibility of knowing every ingredient. Besides, your colleague might have just had a senior moment (or a mommy moment, or a brain fog moment) where he said, "grilled chicken" but meant "fried chicken."

I would have called the catering company beforehand and asked to speak to the chef, and gotten exact ingredients for everything I wanted to eat. Chefs are already used to this; at least, the ones I've dealt with are. Several times, I have talked to chefs who made me a completely separate gluten-free plate.

It took most of us quite some time to figure out the ins and outs of this diet! :lol: So we can't expect someone who is NOT on this diet (i.e. your colleague) to do our research for us.

I would suggest for the Xmas party that you ask to be on the planning committee or the purchasing committee or whatever committee is in charge of the food, so that YOU can read the labels before anything is even purchased.

And I would have no qualms whatsoever about calling in sick tomorrow if you're still feeling awful, and let them know why--but make sure that you are not blaming THEM.

In the meantime, I hope your tummy calms down soon and you feel better!

Meleficent Rookie
Meleficent
Posted
  • Author
Oh, I'm so sorry you are feeling so lousy! Hope you feel better soon.

Even if your colleague knows you have food issues, it's really not up to them to know how to read the fine print on all the labels to figure out if everything is gluten-free. If they haven't lived it, it's just not fair to them to ask them to take on the responsibility of knowing every ingredient. Besides, your colleague might have just had a senior moment (or a mommy moment, or a brain fog moment) where he said, "grilled chicken" but meant "fried chicken."

I would have called the catering company beforehand and asked to speak to the chef, and gotten exact ingredients for everything I wanted to eat. Chefs are already used to this; at least, the ones I've dealt with are. Several times, I have talked to chefs who made me a completely separate gluten-free plate.

I was not blaming them, so I hope people do not think that is the case! And I know that I cannot expect them to cater to me, and in fact I try not to ask....but birthday celebrations are still a pain. I think the frustration is just coming from the fact that I was told grilled chicken when it was fried, so I did not bring anything to eat, which I would have. I guess that is my mistake in not just bringing something.

And calling the catering company in advance is something that I will have to remember for Christmas. I did not know we were having a caterer for this one, as someone supposedly went out and bought food items.

I dunno....I think I am just going to go to bed and hope I feel better in the morning.

thanks all!

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

Grilled chicken is unfortunately NOT usually safe, as it is frequently pre-marinated in a soy-sauce-containing marinade. :(

It's really shocking, isn't it, how many items that we think of as "plain" have all kinds of ingredients that we wouldn't expect. The one that gets me is tuna salad--who would think that there would be bread crumbs in tuna salad?? But there are, in many different brands. Grrrr.

Hope you get a good night's sleep!

Phyllis28 Apprentice
Phyllis28
Posted

I see in you post that you had some Dorito type chips and trail mix. Did you check the ingredients for these? Regular Doritos have wheat in them. I have also found wheat in trail mix. Also, it is possible that the hamburgers and hot dogs were all beef but somewhere along the line were cross contaminated.

I generally bring along a cold meal I made to any event where I do not have control. I may not end up eating the meal depending on what I find in the way of food at the event.

dksart Apprentice
dksart
Posted
I see in you post that you had some Dorito type chips and trail mix. Did you check the ingredients for these? Regular Doritos have wheat in them. I have also found wheat in trail mix. Also, it is possible that the hamburgers and hot dogs were all beef but somewhere along the line were cross contaminated.

I generally bring along a cold meal I made to any event where I do not have control. I may not end up eating the meal depending on what I find in the way of food at the event.

I was about to post the same about Doritos and trail mix. Even if they did not have wheat, the bowls of snacks were most probably cc's by all the other people eating buns etc. that do contain gluten.

I always carry little snack bags of peanuts and raisins or homemade granola, just in case.

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Mango04 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted

I think grilled chicken vs. fried was an honest mistake that most (non-celiac) people wouldn't think twice about. Life (for me anyway) is a lot easier if I don't ever, ever expect others to provide me with food. Always just go to the events, assume nothing will be safe to eat, and enjoy the people around you. Eat beforehand and stick a couple energy bars in your purse/bag/pocket etc.

Sorry you got sick though. Hope you feel better soon.

munkee41182 Explorer
munkee41182
Posted

We just had our company outting....I was told that there would be grilled chicken and all this other stuff that I could have...but something told me not to eat. So I RSVP'd YES, but brought my own food. Low and behold, it was fried chicken, some sort of coating on the baked potatoes and some sort of seasoning on corn ont he cob. Plus I was also told that the ceaser salad was gluten free (croutons all over it). So the woman who organized it, I had gone up to her and explain, but did say that I brought food just in case. She gave me extra drink tickets to make up for it (YEAH!) but she said that next outing she will make sure that either there is or isn't something I can eat. She felt bad, but what can you do when you're told one thing and they go and do another. Sigh....

Sorry you feel craptastic :-( I hate feeling like that!

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