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An example of living with SED and some insensitive customer service
As many of you that follow my blog will have hopefully read, I have a daily struggle with food and this is known as Selective Eating Disorder, which means I can only eat a small selection of foods and even at that, its quite picky!
Which brings me on to this story.
Myself and Clare went for a meal with my parents a week ago to a local restaurant as we thought we would treat ourselves and enjoy a family evening. Having been there before they had got my order wrong and did nothing with it, and I felt so embarrassed and frustrated that I wouldn’t go back, but I thought I would give it another go, and explain my order a little better!
So anyway, we all sat down, everyone ordered their starters (except me as I don’t eat anything from that) and we all had some drinks, the kids ordered their kiddie meals.
It was here that I ushered the waiter over and had a quiet word to say that I would like a kids cheese burger meal. (I didn’t explain why, but explained it had to be a small hamburger similar in size to what you get from McDonalds and not a gourmet burger) I didn’t want to embarrass myself further by having to let strangers hear me order my food let alone let them see me eat it!
So he went away and gave the orders into the kitchen.
The starters arrived and as you can imagine I sat there engaging the conversation without eating, something I have become accustomed to, anxiously waiting on what would arrive for me in the next portion of the meal.
Then it arrived.
What I had feared.
Something that I didn’t ask for in the slightest.
I had been given a huge gourmet burger with a side order of tobacco onions..neither of which I can eat! I brought the waiter to the table and explained I couldn’t eat this and it wasn’t what I had ordered. He explained that it was a kids burger and I challenged him by saying that would they erve that to my kids to which he said yes!
So I sat at the meal with my family in a complete state of anxiety, having to explain to my parents why I could not eat the food, and at the thought of others seeing me just sitting there! I was so annoyed.
So the meal progressed and everyone had finished and I went up to the bar to settle the bill, and as the other chap was drawing the bill up, I subtly said that I hope I was being charged for a kids meal as that is what was ordered, this threw up another surprise! He turned around and said that I was being charged for the full adult meal that it was, I explained it wasn’t what I had ordered and due to my SED I couldn’t eat it. He then proceeded to inform me that management had informed them adults were not allowed kids meals and charged me for it!
So not only had they ignored my request for my order, they completely changed it and charged me the full price without consulting me at any stage!
I would be quite passive, and I explained I wasn’t happy and I paid the bill anyway and left. That same evening I messaged the restaurant and explained the whole affair and to this day I am still waiting on some sort of reply which I probably wont get!
This is just to show that customer service is sometimes a long way short of where it should be and that some companies or businesses can decide what they like.
I won’t name the business as I don’t like that, I never left a bad review or comment as I wanted to go straight to the company.
So that is just a small insight as to why I absolutely hate eating out in restaurants!
SED is real and does affect children but can affect adults too and I finally have the courage after all these years to stand up for it!