What do you want?

I recently went out with my boyfriend to a local Chinese food restaurant. We had to drive 20 minutes to get there, but we really enjoy their food. I have been trying to cut back on eating junk food and scanned the menu up and down to find something healthy to have for dinner. I noticed the menu said “steamed dishes also available” I thought to myself this would be a good alternative. When the server arrived, I started to tell her what I wanted. Her response was to look at me like I was talking Russian and then wrote it down violently on her ticket. After ordering I said I was sorry for being so difficult and her response was “The Pu Pu Platter would cancel everything out either way”. What’s the deal? All I wanted was my veggies steamed. This is something the chefs will have to deal with, the only thing she has to do is write a little more on her ticket. Why did it bother her so much?
This got me thinking about people that have special dietary needs. Do they always have a hard time dining out? What about vegetarians, vegans and people with deathly allergies? This situation got me to thinking about a table I had this past summer. The diners were an older couple and the lady was allergic to gluten. Which basically means she is allergic to everything. I was super busy and did not have time to see what ingredients were in every meal. The lady pulled out this card that let the kitchen know everything that she could eat and things she could not. It was awesome, the kitchen knew exactly what the lady could eat and what she would die from consuming.  No gray area! I think this is a wonderful idea for anyone that has a bad allergy to a specific food.
If you’re a vegan or vegetarian you can always ask the server to recommend somehing from the menu. The server knows whats good and what should fit into your dietary needs. If your a vegan you may have to explain what you can eat and what you can not. In the end the server wants to keep you happy and alive! May I take your order?