jay: (Default)
[personal profile] jay
After six hours of meetings, [personal profile] hopeforyou and I still lacked lunch around 3pm. I had planned on lunch elsewhere with a friend that was cancelled, which I would have missed anyway. Okay. So Jen ran errands, stopping at a bank in Sunnyvale. Across was a P.F.Chang's restaurant. Time for lunch.

Jen orders chicken with broccoli in ginger sauce. I order beef low mein from the lunch specials, because it was cheap and had no mushrooms. (both of us are allergic to otherwise-edible fungi... mine is mild, Jen goes into shock and stops breathing) Both dishes arrive. Mine has obvious mushrooms -- sent back. Waitress apologizes. Jen shares some of her dish with me, while I'm waiting.

Waitress returns in a couple of minutes. "I'm really sorry, but the cook thinks that the ginger chicken is made with a mushroom stock mixed with soy sauce." We ask her to confirm. At this point, Jen has eaten several bites and I've eaten two forkfuls... it did have traces of a funny flavor, but I never expected a brown mushroom gravy base to be used in nominally Chinese cuisine. Waitress also brings my redone low mein.

Jen springs up and runs out of the restaurant, jaywalking across El Camino traffic to get to the car. The waitress wants me to pay for the food, at least for mine plus beverages. I give her cash (including a tip, because it wasn't *her* fault) and run likewise. Jen has driven away, headed to a pharmacy about 1.5 miles away. I try to calm her on her cell phone... she gets there, throws up, and takes Benadryl as her throat is closing. Meanwhile... I'm on the corner of Mathilda and ECR with a take-out bag and no wheels. No taxis show, so I start walking.

Eventually, I get to the drugstore and find her slumped in a chair. I feel a bit queasy myself, so I take a Benadryl. I call H and ask him to send out an email postponing our 5pm meeting. We drive to [community profile] insomnia and [personal profile] iceblink's house, where I leave Jen in their care... the Benadryl has effect, and I'm woozy and drowsy. I doze intermittently as Kirsten drives me back to the office...

Sigh. Half a day lost. At least Jen seemed stable and not too threatened. And PFChang's is now on my "do not trust" list of restaurants...

Date: 2004-08-26 01:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mactavish.livejournal.com
Back when I thought ahead and worked around grass with bees in it (I'm allergic) I carried chewable Benadryl with me. Sounds like the thing to do for anyone with problematic allergies.

(Mind you, I keep thinking, "I should get some Benadryl for my purse," and forgetting. We have non-chewable at home, which will do, but the chewable stuff found in beesting kits acts fast. I don't even know if it's available outside of beesting kits.)

Date: 2004-08-26 01:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] brian1789.livejournal.com
Jen normally carries a kit, but left it home today. Sigh...

Date: 2004-08-26 04:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daltong.livejournal.com
An epi-pen, I hope?

Anyone with life-threatening allergies should always have one of those with them. I carry mine everywhere, all the time.

Date: 2004-08-26 01:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com
Sounds like the waitress handled that very well.

Date: 2004-08-26 01:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] brian1789.livejournal.com
She did us a favor by telling us, and by checking... hence still deserved her tip. The kitchen, OTOH...

Date: 2004-08-26 03:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com
Yes, that's better than most waitstaff ever treated me when I was vegetarian. I'd tell them, but it would usually not do much good.

The kitchen knew about the allergy? Ungood.

Date: 2004-08-26 02:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] enchantedwahine.livejournal.com
Bummer guys. Im so sorry you went through that. Like anybody ever needs a crisis in the middle of a work day. Hope you are both feeling better.

Date: 2004-08-26 02:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deedeebythebay.livejournal.com
I'm just glad everyone is ok!

Mushrooms, huh?

Date: 2004-08-26 03:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vokzal.livejournal.com
I try to have a pretty strict rule about no new restraunts for me if I'm too hungry to ask proper questions. (Chinese tends to just be out period.) I didn't know there was chewable Benedryl. My mother is supposed to have some, probably.

So all mushrooms or just certain types?

Date: 2004-08-26 04:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com
wow! I'm glad you two are ok. I wouldn't have thought to ask about stock either.

Date: 2004-08-26 06:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dawnd.livejournal.com
*sigh*

Well, I'm glad you're both basically OK. And yeah, no more PF Chang's.

Date: 2004-08-26 08:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] purpletigron.livejournal.com
A stiffly worded letter seems appropriate? If the kitchen knew about the allergy, get your lawyer to write it?

Very glad you're both doing OK.

(grin)

Date: 2004-08-26 05:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tenacious-snail.livejournal.com
Given that [livejournal.com profile] patgreene not only has the good, lawyerly, nasty-gram writing skills but also a good measure of protecting Jay from harm in a wolverine-like way, I *really* would not want to be the PF Chang's manager.

May 2009

S M T W T F S
     12
3 456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 2nd, 2025 08:35 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios