Donation Request

Earlier this week, a lady came into the Biscuit and requested that we donate some desserts for a group of kids that were doing a fund-raising project this weekend. They wanted a dessert tray for 30 people. I agreed to donate and ended up fixing enough trays to feed 60 people. Tonight, the lady came to pick them up and I asked if it they looked sufficient (secretly knowing that they were more than she expected). She answered with "They look beautiful, but do you have anything without peanuts? One of our members is allergic to peanuts. She can't even be in the same room with a peanut. She's almost died twice- just from being in the same room with a peanut". I suggested that they ask that person to leave the room while they are eating their desserts. Of course I was insulted-- I had worked all day on preparing these trays- if I had known that peanuts were an issue, I would've put more ginger snaps and chocolate chip cookies in the trays.

I don't believe that anyone ever died from sharing a room with a peanut. I think it's a made-up allergy. Although this wasn't the first time I've heard of this-- I used to get it a lot when I was a travel agent. I had clients that wouldn't fly on any airline that served peanuts as snacks. I guess they would just shrivel up and die if they even saw a peanut.

Maybe I'm cold and callous, but I believe in survival of the fittest. Maybe it'd be a good thing if you ate or saw a peanut and it caused you to die. Maybe you were too weak to survive in the first place.

Back when I was a travel agent, I'd have people call to complain that the hotel had put them in a smoking room. I always wanted to say "you don't have to smoke if you don't want to". But instead I'd apologize and spend several hours with the hotel's front desk explaining that they were "allergic" to smoke. It didn't matter that the room had been vacant for several days and that it had been sprayed down with Lysol at least twice a day. The fact that this room was located on a smoking floor of the hotel was enough to set the guest into a rampage.

I guess some people go through life looking for a fight. Personally, I don't care if someone near me eats a plate full of botulism, while taking LSD. Their actions don't effect me.

I think that people have gotten overly sensitive and too much in need of a diagnosis to exist. If your child misbehaves, he must have ADHD and must take drugs to calm him down, if you are an adult and have problems coping with life you must be bi-polar and there's a drug for that. If you don't like being around smoke, tell everyone that you're allergic to it. What doctor ever did a test and determined that someone was allergic to cigarette smoke? I know it can be offensive, but I seriously doubt that it can cause an allergic reaction.

And why is it that 20 years ago, no one was "allergic" to smoke and peanuts? Has science advanced so much that we can now invent new things to be allergic to?

Again I say- survival of the fittest. If your body is too weak to endure sitting next to me as I eat a peanut, you weren't meant to live on this planet that long anyway.