"AITA for giving a kid an allergic reaction?"
So I work at an ice cream shop at my college and have worked there for about two years. The other night a family comes in (2 women, 1 man, and a little boy who I would say was about 8-10 years old).
I go up to them and ask them what I could help them with. The adults were busy talking to one another and didn't acknowledge me or the little boy while he was ordering. The boy spoke up and asked what dairy-free options we have.
At our store whenever we are asked this question the EXACT script we are to follow is, "We have sorbets in mango, lemon, and raspberry which are dairy-free. We also have a cookies and cream and a mint chip that is not dairy-free, but is lactose free."
(We say this because most people that come into our store aren't actually allergic to dairy just have intolerance). The kid says word for word, "I would like the cookie and cream lactose-free one." I go to the back where we keep it and use a clean scooper to scoop it.
About 45 minutes later a women comes in and demands that she speaks to the manager. She then said that she came into the store with her nephew not too long ago and I gave her nephew an allergic reaction to dairy and is now in the hospital.
I apologized and said that I hope that her nephew is okay, however I was not informed of an allergy by the kid or the adults in charge. My manager sided with me and said that I gave all the information requested and that I followed proper safety measure (using the clean scooper).
However, some of my co workers are saying that I should have checked with the adults before serving the kid anything. But also we have kids as young as six come into the store all the time by themselves (usually their parents are waiting outside or close by) and order by themselves.
Never once have we had the rule that we have to check with the adults before serving kids ice cream. So AITA for giving a kid an allergic reaction?
Here's what people had to say to OP:
NTA the ones in charge of him who know of his allergies should have paid attention to his ordering instead of not paying attention while he ordered on his own. They know it but it's easier to blame you than accept that they royally F'ed up.
MrPetomane said:
Where were the parents when the kid was ordering his iced cream? The kind of parent who leaves a kid to his own devices in an iced cream shop to suffer an allergic dairy reaction only has himself to blame. What an admission of parental ineptitude. OP, you did nothing wrong. NTA.
Repulsive-Job-9520 said:
NTA. Why would you 1. Bring a child with a dairy allergy to an ice cream parlor, and 2. Let him order without supervision?
here4cmmts said:
NTA. Responsible adults keep track of kids who have allergies when taking them into an establishment with known allergies. As your manager said, you have the proper information and they let the child decide without overseeing the order. This is on the adults who didn’t properly supervise the child.
ContentByrkRahul said:
NTA. The fact that they walked him out with cookies and cream ice cream and nobody noticed until 45 minutes later is mind-blowing. They had so many chances to catch this and didn't because they weren't paying attention.
Heartbreak_Star said:
NTA. His adults should have been paying attention.