Stupid Lady At Work

[RideAllWays]

I work at a place that makes wraps and stirfries, and we have a gluten free menu. So a lady came in yesterday and said she needed to look at our list of gluten free sauces, so I was all excited ready to help somebody just like me. She looked at all the sauces then told me what to make...on a whole wheat tortilla. This is how the conversation went:

Me: We don't have wraps that are gluten free but I can make you a stir fry in our dedicated pan

Her: Oh, I can have a bit of gluten

Me: The wraps have a high gluten content just to let you know, they are all made from wheat. I wouldn't want you to get sick...

Her: I have had Celiac for 5 years, I think I know what I'm talking about.

REALLY? Either she knows she is poisoning herself or she's one of those fad dieters. It made me mad.

[kareng]

I know someone that has been a Celiac since childhood. She seems to think its OK to eat little bits. We had a kids sports banquet & I knew we were having pasta. I made some gluten-free cookies & some pasta at home with gluten-free chicken Ital sausage and melted Moz, Asiago, parm & romano on top and brought it in a container that keeps it hot. I told her I had brought plenty for both of us as I knew she couldn't eat the regular pasta. She said," Oh, I can eat a small amount". She then ate a plate of the pasta & salad with croutons! Her husband said she does this all the time then feels bad and blames something he has done (cigars, wood staining, etc). What's worse is she keeps having all kinds of health problems. I would think the GI problems would be one less thing to deal with. What's worse is a GI doctor did a stomach bypass for weight loss on her with this history.

[ravenwoodglass]

As my Mom used to say 'Some folks don't have the sense God gave a turnip'

These folks are killing themselves slowly and make it harder for those of us who are as strict as we need to be.

[jerseyangel]

Unfortunately, there are Celiacs out there that don't believe they need to stick to the diet 100%.

When I was first diagnosed, my husband's aunt told me that her husband's cousin has Celiac and that after a while I could have a litle gluten now and then and it wouldn't bother me.

All we can do is offer to help, as you ladies did--and beyond that, it's their choice....however wrong it may be.

[conniebky]

Really? She's going to eat a ton of wheat and worry about trace amounts in a sauce?

She's fulla beans if ya ask me.

[mommyto3]

Some Celiacs definitely don't follow a strict diet. I found that out after eating dinner at my friend's house (who is also Celiac but has only slight reactions). After dinner I started feeling really terrible but I had only eaten a chicken and rice dish. When she went to the bathroom I took a look at the soy sauce she used and there it was. Regular soy sauce....not gluten free! Can you believe it? I didn't say anything because I didn't want her to feel STOOPID. So now I know. Shame on me I guess for not checking 100% but I assumed her meals would be totally gluten free like mine

[GlutenFreeManna]

Sadly I know someone like this too. She had Celiac diagnosed only because she has DH. She is not careful when eating out or in other people's homes. I don't know if this is ignorance and some form of denial or what. But the lady you ran into is just nuts. I wonder if she was really looking for something else in the sauce other than gluten? It doesn't make any sense to be concerned about a sauce and then go and eat a whole wheat wrap.

Maybe she was a mystery shopper? Do you get mystery shops at your restaurant? I worked at a coffee place years ago where the mystery shop people had to ask about ingredients in something and then they had to special order it somehow other than what was on the standard menu. We could almost always spot the mystery shopper because they would ask odd questions...Just an idea. If it's not that then I'd write her off as a crazy person and hope she doesn't return.

[sandiz]

Seems some people are in denial and very ignorant of there bodies. As a female I listen to my body and try to figure out what I did to it and try not to do that again. It is frustrating but we can only do so much.

[Abbysomething]

I think you did the right thing by not getting preachy on a stranger but clearly she is mistaken. Technically she could eat a tiny bit of rat poison and survive, but I wouldn't recommend it. That is how I see gluten. What you don't necessarily feel can, and will hurt you. There are so many tastey options for gluten free foods. If she values her health she would plan ahead and make those choices. I often say having Celiacs makes me feel like a robot in a movie who can't process human food lest they malfunction.

By the end of the day she will say she has a headache from work or traffic or looking at the computer screen. She will feel tired and say it's because she over did it. She doesn't put the dots together because she doesn't want to. Well you can lead a horse to the gluten-free foods.....

[K8ling]

Some people, I swear! I hate that some celiacs are asymptomatic because they truly believe they can continue to eat wheat with "no problems".

Ugh.

[scarlett77]

And that is why so many of us aren't taken seriously...UGH! My mom was getting her gluten-free info from my Aunt because my cousin put her kids on a gluten-free diet. I come to find out that the gluten-free diet is because they are on the Autism spectrum and she does occasionally allow them a treat and doesn't worry about cross contamination. So of course my mother thinks I'm going off the deep end by not accepting her old breadmaker. Sheesh.

[glowball]

Some people, I swear! I hate that some celiacs are asymptomatic because they truly believe they can continue to eat wheat with "no problems".

Ugh.

Humph. They're deluding themselves. I'm technically asymptomatic in that I don't have gut response to it, but if I get a bit of gluten, I go all autoimmune towards my thyroid. My Dr. and I have seen it in my bloodtests. Takes between one and three months for it to subside. Pretty sure its doing a bunch of damage in the meantime. You better believe I do my damndest to stay away from gluten. I'm already on thyroid meds because this wasn't diagnosed until I was 40, so it has been chipping away at my health for years. Thyroid problems were what sent my doc looking for Celiac and yep! Found it. These people who think they can cheat have no idea what damage is going on inside them.

I've spent two years gluten free and am much healthier than I've been in a loooong time.

[K8ling]

And that is why so many of us aren't taken seriously...UGH! My mom was getting her gluten-free info from my Aunt because my cousin put her kids on a gluten-free diet. I come to find out that the gluten-free diet is because they are on the Autism spectrum and she does occasionally allow them a treat and doesn't worry about cross contamination. So of course my mother thinks I'm going off the deep end by not accepting her old breadmaker. Sheesh.

YES! People keep trying to give me their old bread machines!! I was like "No...I'm good..." I don't even explain anymore because I never get anywhere!

[Skylark]

I feel sorry for people who are biopsy positive celiac and cling to their old diets for whatever reason. It's the same way I feel sorry for smokers who have deluded themselves that smoking will not give them cancer or emphysema.

I wish there were a way to educate these people, so they know the risk of what they do. It would be awful to have a celiac diagnosis, not take it seriously because your doctor gives bad information, or you lack willpower, or you're just plain stubborn, and later discover you are severely and irrecoverably osteoporotic at age 60 or you have developed intestinal cancer.

If I run across another celiac who says I can eat wheat, I say "Are you crazy? I don't want cancer!" It usually gets people's attention, because everyone is familiar with carcinogens that don't cause any symptoms, and everyone is afraid of cancer. (Celiac-caused cancers are rare, but hey - whatever works.)

[anabananakins]

I wish there were a way to educate these people, so they know the risk of what they do.

They need to read these forums! This place helped me so much. I so many posts here while I was doing my gluten challenge and it meant so much more to read people's personal stories - and ways of handling things - than it did to read boring information sheets full of facts. By time my tests had come back negative for celiac I didn't have to worry about what to do next, I knew - go gluten free and to trust how I felt. And so I did and I feel so much better.

Of course, it took a heck of a lot of time. When I was sitting exams last June I really wished they were on how to handle gluten and celiac disease since I knew way more about that topic than what I was going to be assessed on ;-)

[Marz]

Geez, if these people knew what gluten was doing to them...

I mean if you're sero-negative and biopsy was ok, I can understand slipping up from time to time. But a full-dose celiac diagnosis means you are producing auto-immune antibodies, your body is attacking yourself! How do you keep eating that poison knowing the damage it's doing to you?

For me, the fear of developing more food intolerances is more than enough to keep me away from the stuff, even if the glutening symptoms weren't as uncomfortable as they were already. When I'm tempted by a delicous piece of cake, I think "Hey, I'm already sick as a dog if I eat chicken/egg, I really don't want to add to the list..." Even if the research isn't there yet, I blame gluten 110% on my food intolerances.

[notme]

lol I just chickened out of eating at sonny's bbq. I am *this minute* taking a nap in the car while husband and son are inside eating. I am so afraid to eat anything I didn't fix myself!! I haven't felt this good in years and years and I'm not about to risk getting cc'd. even though their menu says its ok. :/

[K8ling]

lol I just chickened out of eating at sonny's bbq. I am *this minute* taking a nap in the car while husband and son are inside eating. I am so afraid to eat anything I didn't fix myself!! I haven't felt this good in years and years and I'm not about to risk getting cc'd. even though their menu says its ok. :/

I TOTALLY AGREE!!! My son starts nursery school on Monday, and Wednesday my husband wants to take me to lunch at a restaurant that has a gluten-free menu (kid free!!) and I am afraid of chickening out!!!

[Aphreal]

To me, and it may only be because I am new, but it's like a slap in the face.

I am still weeding out gluten. I work so hard to not eat it but wow it's hard. It hides in everything. I would never do it on PURPOSE! I mean.. why? Out in public no less!! I lothe having to ... well you know... in public restrooms but when I get glutened, I have no choice and it is humiliating and here someone is going to eat a friggen whole tortilla, chaulked FULL of gluten!? Then worry about a dinky little sauce packet? (well I would have to worry about the sauce packet but you know what i mean)

Is there something wrong with me for getting mad? I mean, this makes me mad. We had fun day after football today, they had all kinds of food. I sat and ate my tuna with Marygone crackers. I would have rather had something else trust me but I did not want to ruin my day.

[Skylark]

What does anger change except making you feel worse about sitting there with your tuna and crackers?

All I can manage to feel for these people is pity. Either they're following the next fad diet in search of something they'll never find, or systematically poisoning themselves. My anger is reserved for people who try to feed ME gluten. That's when the kid gloves come off.

[RideAllWays]

I'm not angry in the way that I know they are just doing themselves harm and I pity them and think they are stupid. But what does make me very angry is that it makes people who take their celiac seriously seem like a joke.

[Skylark]

I'm not angry in the way that I know they are just doing themselves harm and I pity them and think they are stupid. But what does make me very angry is that it makes people who take their celiac seriously seem like a joke.

You cannot concern yourself with other people's thoughts. It's hard enough to corral ones own!

[precious831]

In a way I'm glad I'm very symptomatic because that helps me to stick to my diet. If I wasn't having much symptoms, I might have been cheating too. Now I am just terrified to cheat.

Anyway, I have a friend who is gluten-intolerant and keeps eating food w/ gluten and gets sick all the time! I wish she would stop poisoning herself.

[srall]

Listen, I am such a PITA in restaurants these days I am always fearful someone's going to spit in my food. The most wonderful eating out experiences have been the two times the server was also gluten/dairy free, for whatever reason. Both took time to go over the menu with me and make suggestions and steer me away from things I would have assumed were safe. Plus they both gave wonderful suggestions for coping with eating out gluten/dairy free. You absolutely did the right thing by that woman even if she didn't want to hear it. Hopefully the next person will listen to you. I'm not even diagnosed Celiac's and if I'd eaten that wheat tortilla I'd be sick as a dog! It makes me wonder if she's just doing some fad diet thing...

[sandsurfgirl]

lol I just chickened out of eating at sonny's bbq. I am *this minute* taking a nap in the car while husband and son are inside eating. I am so afraid to eat anything I didn't fix myself!! I haven't felt this good in years and years and I'm not about to risk getting cc'd. even though their menu says its ok. :/

I understand your fear, but don't let this disease isolate you socially. You should be in there with your family enjoying the time with them. I eat out a lot and I've only gotten glutened a couple of times. I always ask to speak with the manager at restaurants. I tell them I'm sensitive so can they please take some extra precautions. I have several restaurants that the people know me when I come in and they automatically say "You're the one who can't have gluten right?"

At Daphne's the girl even knows my husband when he goes to pick our order up.

If you let fear put you sitting in the car alone while everyone else is having fun, that's not living and it might have an unexpected impact on your child if he sees you so afraid to go out to eat.