This morning, we had errands to run and I took Kacey by McDonalds for breakfast. She got her regular...egg & cheese biscuit, hashbrown and diet coke. The idiot behind the counter was wearing a manager uniform and had about as much personality as the tile on the floor! He took my order and he began to put everything on the tray. I picked the tray up and Kacey looked at me with this scared look on her face and said "Mommy! Thats COKE in that cup!" What?!? She said "I saw him put regular coke in the cup." So I turned to him and said "Is this REGULAR Coke?" And he said "Yeah." OMG!!! I felt the steam roll then! I looked at him in front of a line of about 5 other people and said "I specifically asked you for DIET Coke. Do you realize that my daughter standing here is diabetic and if she was to drink that LARGE Coke you just gave her then her blood sugar would go over 1000 mg/dl and she'd pass out in your floor and possibly go into a diabetic coma?" He just stood there and looked at me with this dumbass look on his face and the other lady standing there said "OMG! Let me get her a new one!" and she grabbed a cup and got her a DIET Coke while the manager went and hid behind the counter where they make the food. I'm so mad right now! What if Kacey hadn't of seen him do that? I usually always sip her drink when we go out to eat to make sure some idiot didn't give her the wrong drink. But what if I hadn't of sipped it? What would of happened if she drank that LARGE regular Coke? I know that we tried treating a low with regular Pepsi once....ONCE and only ONCE....because she was in the high 60's and 1/2 cup of REGULAR Pepsi sent her to almost 500 in 15 min!!! Never again! She got sick, threw up and then had a headache the rest of the day because her blood sugar went up so fast. So what would McDonalds have done? Give me a free meal? GRRRRRRR!!! It's so dang scary to think about how cautious you have to be when eating out. Then to top it off....when we got to the table to eat our biscuits this is what we saw....
BURNT EGGS!!!!That just makes my day...ugh!
For those of you that don't know the little trick to test sodas....If you have a hard time telling the difference in regular soda and diet soda....Dip a new ketone strip into the drink. If it stays negative then its DIET and if it turns color then its REGULAR. We learned that at diabetes class when Kacey was first diagnosed and I used to carry a bottle of ketone strips just for that. Now I guess we need to keep them with us again! Better safe than sorry!
16 comments:
That really sucks but honestly, I'm not surprised. We live in a small town, we have 1 McDonalds and 1 Burger King. Honestly, they are both horrible. They are forever messing up our order. Thankfully, they boys don't drink soda so it's not something that we have to worry about.
I didn't know about the ketone strip trick... that's pretty neat! :)
I ended up in the hospital once when I was first diagnosed because I was not yet used to drinking diet and when I was given the wrong drink I didn't even notice.
Now I can tell just by looking at the drink if it's diet or regular. I always watch if I can and double check and really emphasis DIET because most people don't care when they are being paid minimum and get treated bad.
Wow I'm sorry. Glad Kacy saw him give a regular coke. Syd doesn't drink much soda but on occasion when we are out to eat i let her order a diet. The servers always look at me like, "are you seriously letting your kid drink diet?" I just usually nod and say it's fine.
Anyway glad Kacy caught him. Well done chica!
Rachel~ That little trick is something we were taught in the hospital...LOL! We used to do it all the time til I finally got the hang of tasting diet soda. Now all I drink is diet and if I try to drink regular soda it tastes like syrup! Yuk!
George~ Its a very scary thing and I'm usually so cautious about her drinks when we're out. I'm just glad she didn't drink it and she saw him put it in the cup. I agree with people being paid minimum wage but this was a stupid manager and he should have known better!
Shamae~ Kacey doesn't drink alot of soda either but when you go to McD's it's soda, water, tea that tastes like its been in the pitcher for days, OJ which she can't have and milk. So it's either soda or milk for her! She's never been a big milk fan so that leaves the soda choice.
I just can't get over the fact if you look at someone, you order DIET Coke and you emphasize the word DIET then how can they screw it up? Was he off in La-La-Land? Geesh! I did write a formal complaint to McD's so we'll see what happens. Sadly, I had to shorten the version of what I wanted to say because they only give you 1500 characters to complain...hahaha! I just gave them my blog addy and told them to view my blog for the full story and a picture of the burnt eggs! We'll see what they do :)
Bugger!!!!
That happen with Addy and another D-kiddo when we met for a movie 2 years ago. The other mom picked up on the problem and it was corrected quickly. SCARY!!!!!
Ever since then I state that I need a DIET soda and emphasize that it MUST be diet because my daughter has diabetes and cannot have a regular soda.
I'm often afraid that the wrong soda is coming out of the diet stream -- like it got loaded wrong or something...I know that's crazy, but it goes through my mind EVERY time!!! Even if I'M the one filling her cup.
Good tip about the ketostrip!
Well, you just have to give them grace...over half the time they don't know (or care) what diabetes is.
It's times like these that I struggle to see people as humans who just make mistakes -- I constantly have to take a breath and try to see them the way God sees them.
Imperfect humans who screw up.
(But it still bugs!!!!)
I ALWAYS ALWAYS taste Courtney's soda before we ever leave the drive through, or before I let her touch it. I only drink diet soda so I know when it's a REAL soda in that cup. I've said this from day one.....there is such a lack of education out there that it drives me crazy. Also......I thought about emailing McDonald's & several other restaurants telling them that they really need to carry sugar free syrup. I don't know how many times my daughter has been very disappointed because a restaurant doesn't have it. It's not exactly convenient to carry a bottle of syrup everywhere!! LOL
awhile ago me and my freind (who has diabetes) had the best waiter when we went out for dinner with some freinds. everyone ordered their drinks, she was the only one who ordered diet for obvious reasons and when the drinks came he had clearly marked which one was diet (can not remember how)so there was no mix ups! it was pretty amazing.
now i have a habit of only ordering diet drinks for many reasons, one being after drinking so many sugary drinks as a kid i can now taste the sugar and i just can not drink it anymore. needless to say i have gotten very good at tasting what is diet and what is not.
OMG thank God she caught it. Way to go Kacey, you are a bright little lady that is watching out for herself.
Thanks for the tip about the ketone strips. I will definately use it since I don't drink pop and wouldn't know the difference if I tasted it for my daughter.
Give them hell when you contact them.
This is disgusting but not uncommon, many a time i have taken my drink back and changed it, i think the basic lack of understanding is to blame, many will see the swap between diet and non diet as unimportant, without even thinking of the consequences to diabetics. I think you should take it further, as it is a training need, and macdonalds should train their own staff better!
If your daughter had drank the coke and suffered problems afterwards, macdonalds would be liable for sueing. and you would probably win.
Thanks everyone!
I did contact McDonalds via their website and I actually got a call back from the owner of the one we visited and she left a voicemail. I called her back and she was gone for the day but the lady I spoke with said the owner REALLY wanted to speak with me about our experience at the restaurant. She should be calling me back today so I will keep you all posted.
Since I could only use 1500 characters to complain...this is what I wrote:
I'm writing this out of concern. My 9 yr old daughter & I visited the (insert location) McD's this morning and we ordered breakfast. I specifically asked for DIET coke. My daughter is Type 1 diabetic. The manager working took our order and when he filled her drink he gave her REGULAR Coke. She saw him fill it and I asked him if it was regular. He replied Yes. I told him I ordered DIET because she was diabetic. He turned his back and another worker made her a new drink. He never looked back at me. My problem is...if she had not seen him put regular coke in the cup then she would have drank it. Her blood sugar would have gone so high it would have put her back into the Emergency room in a possible coma! Then when we got to the table and opened our biscuits the eggs were BURNT! I took a picture but there is no place to show you here but you can read about our experience and see the picture on my blog at www.diabetes-sweeties.blogspot.com . I'm extremely upset over this and I won't be visiting that McD's anytime soon! The employees need to be taught the importance of NOT screwing up drinks. I'm certainly glad it wasn't any worse. Diabetes is a serious disease and messing up a drink order like that could actually kill a Type 1 diabetic. She's completely insulin dependant and your menu only offers diet drinks or water as possible things for her to drink. Just 1/2 cup of regular soda would put her blood sugar in dangerous range and I had ordered a LARGE for her! Thank you!
I agree with the lack of training and how important it is about not thinking that DIET and REGULAR are interchangeable. If someone orders diet, reguardless of their age, theres a reason for it....be it, health related or their personal choice.
Jen~ I know what you mean about the syrup! I was pleasently surprised when we went to Cracker Barrel a few weeks ago and they offered SF syrup on the menu but you had to ask for it. They brought her out 2 small personal bottles of it (about the size of liquor minitures) and she was so excited....and it was GOOD too!
I'll keep everyone posted and we'll see wat they say. I hate to raise such a stink about it and if it was only burnt biscuits then I wouldn't care but this is my child's life we're talking about and it could have meant the difference in her having a great day and her ending up very sick! So I feel the need to educate and at least voice my opinion to McD's about EDUCATING their employees!
Watch out for Momma Bear! Good job Jill, I'm glad you're bringing it to their attention, and I'm glad to hear that they're taking you seriously.
Well... mistakes are made. The counter person probably makes minumum wage and doesn't know you or your daughter from the man in the moon. If you have a medical condition and your good health depends on your diet then it's ultimately YOUR responsibility !! If you don't like that then stay out of restaurants and cook your own dinners and pour your own drinks. Like some of the other posters have stated- don't rely on strangers to be "Right" all the time when it comes to your daughter's life !
By the way- why are you feeding your child McDonald's in the first place?
Ryan- Are YOU diabetic or are you raising a diabetic child?
I stated in my post that the person that took my order was the MANAGER, not just a minimum wage employee. Yes, it was MY responsibility which is exactly WHY I took it to another level. I stated to that manager that I wanted DIET COKE, not Coke, not Pepsi, not water....DIET and he still put Coke in the cup because he was barely paying attention to anything I said. Furthermore, I carry ketostix to make SURE that the right drink is put in my child's cup. Who the hell are you to call me an irresponsible parent? You obviously are NOT a parent of a diabetic child and you have NO clue what it takes to raise a child with such illness ....and if by chance you do....then I feel sorry for your child to have such an insensative father!
We live in a small town next to San Antonio. In the last month, Sonic in 2 separate locations have given my husband one of those Route 44 drinks with real Coke, not Diet. Both times he was without his insulin. In the past he has always been able to taste the difference but lately age has dulled that ability. I went hunting today for a solution and wow, found it here. Thanks for the test strip idea. It is a cheap $5.00 fix for a major potentially disastrous error.
Karin
if youre so fucking worried about your daughters diabetes, maybe you shouldnt be eating at mcdonalds... probably the reason they developed the disease in the first place.
Hello, I do not agree with the previous commentator - not so simple
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