Hickey employee needs to serve food, not rude comments

I have a gluten allergy. If I were to consume gluten, my throat would itch, I’d get a migraine, I would become extremely tired and I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat— and there’s that problem of expelling the consumed gluten from my body.

Gluten is found in grains including wheat, barley and rye. So as you can imagine, it can be difficult to find delicious food when you have to avoid most cereals, sauces that are thickened with flour, cookies, bread, breading, pasta and the like. After listing all the things I can’t eat, the normal response from the person I’m speaking with is, “What do you even eat?” For a while, I was living off of salads, French fries, grilled chicken and whatever snacks I had in my room.

After eating the same things got old, I sat down with upper management at the Hickey and explained my problem. They were more than happy to help me in whatever way they could. In fact, they introduced me to the chefs, staff and some of the supervisors that were working at the time. I couldn’t have asked for friendlier, more helpful people.

Monday, however, was a totally different experience. When class ended, it was after 1 p.m., and I still hadn’t eaten. As usual, with stomachs grumbling, my friends and I headed over to the Hickey. Most of the tables were empty, so we found a nice spot, dropped our bags and went to grab some grub.

Perusing the stations, my friend pointed out sandwiches labeled “gluten-free” by the grill (noted by the small, but helpful nutritional signs above the food). The bread looked remarkably similar to gluten-free sub rolls I had back home, which surprised me. I know the management I spoke with said they’d get more gluten-free options, but that stuff is expensive! I couldn’t believe they had so many sandwiches out to be eaten by people who didn’t need to stick to a gluten-free diet. But the sign told me otherwise, and the bread looked like the brand I’d eaten before. To be safe, I figured I’d ask; what’s the harm in that?

The employee I asked said she’d check with her supervisor. As I saw her walk over to the woman in a beige managerial uniform, I thought I’d just walk over and listen so the employee didn’t have to convey the message to me and waste more of her time. To my surprise, the supervisor replied with, “Well, the sign isn’t supposed to be there, but it’s for the chicken and stuff. Don’t these kids know what they can eat? If you’ve been gluten-free for a while, you should know what you can and cannot eat!”

I wonder what she would have said if she had known that I was standing just two feet behind her — and yes, after living with my allergy for two years, I know what I can and cannot eat.

However, when you label something gluten-free, don’t act like I’m stupid for asking for assurance that I’m not going to get disgustingly sick and miss classes for the rest of the day. That’s not to mention the migraines, stomach aches and possible expulsion of undigested food.

Maybe there really isn’t such a thing as stupid questions, but I definitely got a stupid answer.