Dietary "restrictions"

In conjunction with people not reading the menu, there are the people who have special dietary needs.  Now don't get me wrong, I sympathise with these people.  My sister is diabetic, so I'm not completely unassociated with people's needs.  But sometimes, it can get a little interesting.

Yesterday a woman came in and said, "Y'all got any sugar free ice cream?"  To which I responded, "We have a no-sugar-added flavor."  "Well where is it?"  "We keep it in the back."  "Well then I don't want it."  I'm not sure why the storage location of the ice cream would affect it's flavor.  I suggested she sample it, which she did and decided to get it.  She then asked me how much sugar was in our waffle cones.  I said I wasn't sure, I could try to estimate it based on the mix we use, but we could always put it in a cardboard cup.  She really wanted that waffle cone, so I did what I could, but couldn't find any info.  She got the cone anyway.

I love it when people order the NSA flavor, but then get 4 scoops of it, and mix it with Snickers and fudge and caramel.  Or some people try it, don't like it and get a large cheesecake flavored ice cream.  Ok?  Or when people order our low-fat vanilla and mix brownies, cookie dough, and Butterfinger into it.  Kinda defeats the purpose of the low fat, right?

I had one customer literally yell at me at the register because we didn't have sugar free ice cream.  I said we did have the NSA flavor to which he responded, "I said ICE CREAM!  That's not ice cream!"

I've also had a woman tell me our ice cream flavors were too sweet.  I'm sorry, this is an ice cream store;  most of the stuff we serve here will (and should) be sweet.

And then there's the allergy people.  Again, I know lots of people with nut allergies and it is a serious thing, but the way people communicate it is funny.

I had a woman say to me, "My daughter has a nut allergy, so you're going to need to get all the ingredients from the back."  Oh, thank you!  I'm so glad that you, the customer, knows our nut allergy preparation policy, because I, the employee, probably wouldn't know what to do without your guidance!  As if she is the only person with the allergy.  We deal with this all the time.

I had one woman wait until I was done making her entire order before she told me her daughter had a nut allergy.  So we had to throw her's away and start again.  And then there's the frantic parent who tells me 5 times that their kid has nut allergies.  And don't get me started on the people who are allergic to blue food dye number 2!