HOUSTON — A Houston man is suing Whataburger for nearly $1 million after he says his burger had onions on it.
Turns out he had asked for a no-onions order.
On July 24, 2024, Demery Ardell Wilson had an allergic reaction after eating a burger that had onions on it at Whataburger, court documents say. He alleges that he requested the fast-food chain to take them off before serving him the burger.
On the one hand, I agree with you.
On the other hand, if you’re deathly allergic to something as common as onions, you probably shouldn’t rely on fast food workers to keep you alive.
I’ve got a friend with actual Celiac’s disease. To the point where a drop of wheat could be the end of him. He does not take this kind of chance, ever. He trusts me to cook for him, but I care about his existence beyond just being a customer.
I worked fast food for a while. Sometimes we were so busy and understaffed that things became very hectic very quick. More than once, I forgot the meat on a hamburger order.
I can understand, from the employee perspective, how this could happen. It’s very doubtful it was purposeful.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a McDonalds franchise fully staffed. They don’t get enough business to have that many employees, but you can be sure they get enough business that it’s too much for the employees they do have on staff when a rush comes.
“Probably” is a big deal, though. It’s included in food stamps for a reason - many people, for various reasons, can’t prepare their own meals.
I’m not aware of wheat being (directly) lethal to those with Celiac’s.
Maybe not directly, but it does have an impact. According to this, it’s got to do with accidental gluten ingestion and a lack of intestinal healing.
https://celiac.org/study-shows-slightly-increased-mortality-in-celiac-disease/
From the end of the article, emphasis mine:
Maybe there’s a co-morbidity thing going on, but either way my point is he knows there’s a real problem because he’s been hospitalized as a result of eating wheat, so he takes no more chances.
No reason to take chances when the uh, post-ingestion symptoms are so severe. Not exactly gambling on long term consequences. :p
Yeah I unfortunately have celiac along with many people in my family and have never heard of it causing an immediately life threatening reaction. Pain, embarrassment, mental issues, long term mortality, a whole slew of problems but not “I’m going to immediately die”.
I have it as well, thus mentioning my skepticism.
The worst glutening I experienced had some minor hypothermia, but it wasn’t enough for a hospitalization, much less lethal.
If you’re serving food to the public you should probably be careful not to kill them.
It’s a nice ideal, but historically the companies don’t think like that and in most cases the workers don’t get paid enough to be that passionate. 4/5-star restaurants? Sure. Not fast food, though.
Also consider the sheer amount of food orders a fast food place gets in a day, especially with things like DoorDash on top of in-person and drive-thru.
I get where you’re coming from. But I still disagree.
What you describe makes sense from a realistic standpoint BUT I don’t see why we shouldn’t hold corporations to a higher standard since they are selling this exact higher standard to us.
Yes Fastfood workers likely aren’t paid enough to care about customized orders but that isn’t a ME problem. It’s the company’s problem since they can’t keep up with their promises. So time to hold them responsible.
Also my two cents to add to the general issue: if I can’t cater to custom needs or don’t want to, I can still lie to the customer and tell them it’s not possible instead of risking to kill them through my apathy.
Reading the article and only applying the information available in it, this is the individual’s responsibility.
The article states he asked for a no-onion order, not that he notified the restaurant that he had an allergy and needed the onions removed. Asking for an item to be left off and notifying of an allergy are very different because allergy prep is done very specifically.
Also, they had a similar issue at a different restaurant in 2024 that they sued for. If they can demonstrate negligence, which will be hard, then maybe they have a case but if the customer didn’t specify an allergy and didn’t check before eating the burger, then the failure is as much theirs.
When I was a child and learning about traffic safety we were taught that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way over cars but it was stressed that right of way won’t stop a car from killing you if you step into traffic.
That’s fine. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a you problem, it’s definitely on the company. Think, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” kinda vibe.
I just distrust both the corporations that are for-profit, and the government we would have to rely on to regulate and help us make them accountable. I just don’t see companies changing for the good of the proles under the current administration, no matter how much we make a stink about it.
I guess my subconscious point is more along the lines of “vote with your wallet” and stop supporting companies that don’t make this kind of thing a priority. There are certainly some fast food companies that actually do care, but I couldn’t name one at the moment.
That’s something I can wholeheartedly agree on!
And that’s why it’s fair to sue them. What you’re describing is callous indifference to the well-being of others that has caused demonstrative harm.
I think everyone agrees on what the fast food place is thinking. The issue is that that line of reasoning is dangerous and has legal penalties.
Think of it with “hand washing” and “fecal coliform bacteria” instead. “It’s too expensive to train our workers to wash their hands after pooping, and most wouldn’t anyway because we don’t pay them enough to care” just isn’t a defense when someone gets sick as a result.
What I’m saying is stop supporting companies that don’t care; stop giving them money and don’t eat there again if they can’t follow your request. I’ll say it a 3rd time, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
That’s not callous indifference, that’s 1) voting with your wallet and 2) trying to promote a little self-reliance.
Just for the record, other people haven’t necessarily seen other comments you’ve made. Acting indignant about that is frustrating.
What’s callous indifference is the company having an attitude that allergy safety is too much work, not thinking you should vote with you wallet.
A lawsuit is part of voting with your wallet. More specifically, giving them a financial incentive to take food safety more seriously.
I seriously doubt the guy is going to go back to either restaurant, so voting with his wallet and not giving them money for a burger is done, and likely doesn’t cover the costs he incurred as a result of their error.
When is a lawsuit appropriate if not after a business decides to cut corners and hurts you?
It can simultaneously be dumb for him to trust the company and for it to be the company’s fault that he was fed something he specifically asked not to be served.
Indeed. I said it in another comment just now, but what I’m getting at is more: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”
I’m of the same thinking; if there are things that you can’t eat for health reasons, then you should check any food that you didn’t prepare, yourself.
Trust, but verify.
If you verify it every time, you aren’t really trusting the workers
Especially for something this simple.
Lift top bun “oh, this could kill me”
Exactly. Not blaming the victim, pls go ahead and sue the giant corp.
Still, I don’t like cucumbers, so I always take a look in my burger to make sure they got the order right. I’m not blindly trusting a tired 19 year old student worker who’s fighting a hangover. No judgment or anger there, I don’t go to fast food restaurants to get Michelin star food or service.
Exclusive photo of the plaintiff
It doesn’t say that he’s anaphylactic though, just that he sought out medical treatment. I mean he could have been, but as far as I know anaphylaxis from onions is rather rare. Medical treatment could mean that he had diarrhea and got medication for that.
That being said, I wouldn’t step into a burger place with an onion allergy. Especially since the onion allergene can be airborne. I have a soy allergy and you won’t see me in an Asian restaurant.
At least you still understood the point. I was just using “deathly allergic” as fuel for the argument.
I felt the same way about the “charged” caffeine lemonade that killed that girl a while back. Regardless of whether it was correctly signed or not, why are people ingesting food and drink they can’t verify won’t fuck them up?
Indeed. Self-reliance is the key here. Don’t expect a money-making business to have your best interests in mind, especially the big players with billions of customers worldwide.
To reference Emerson a 2nd time: The first wealth is health. You alone are responsible for that.