Featuring in this community! Because... Onions!
this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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The guy ate the onion..
Oh no! NOT THE ONIONS!
Given that he is allergic, it's a reasonable thing to do, isn't it? Or is the health and safety of people with allergies not relevant?
On the one hand, I agree with you.
On the other hand, if you're deathly allergic to something as common as onions, you probably shouldn't rely on fast food workers to keep you alive.
I've got a friend with actual Celiac's disease. To the point where a drop of wheat could be the end of him. He does not take this kind of chance, ever. He trusts me to cook for him, but I care about his existence beyond just being a customer.
On the other hand, if you're deathly allergic to something as common as onions, you probably shouldn't rely on fast food workers to keep you alive.
If you're serving food to the public you should probably be careful not to kill them.
It's a nice ideal, but historically the companies don't think like that and in most cases the workers don't get paid enough to be that passionate. 4/5-star restaurants? Sure. Not fast food, though.
Also consider the sheer amount of food orders a fast food place gets in a day, especially with things like DoorDash on top of in-person and drive-thru.
I get where you're coming from. But I still disagree.
What you describe makes sense from a realistic standpoint BUT I don't see why we shouldn't hold corporations to a higher standard since they are selling this exact higher standard to us.
Yes Fastfood workers likely aren't paid enough to care about customized orders but that isn't a ME problem. It's the company's problem since they can't keep up with their promises. So time to hold them responsible.
Also my two cents to add to the general issue: if I can't cater to custom needs or don't want to, I can still lie to the customer and tell them it's not possible instead of risking to kill them through my apathy.
That's fine. I'm not necessarily saying it's a you problem, it's definitely on the company. Think, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" kinda vibe.
I just distrust both the corporations that are for-profit, and the government we would have to rely on to regulate and help us make them accountable. I just don't see companies changing for the good of the proles under the current administration, no matter how much we make a stink about it.
I guess my subconscious point is more along the lines of "vote with your wallet" and stop supporting companies that don't make this kind of thing a priority. There are certainly some fast food companies that actually do care, but I couldn't name one at the moment.
That's something I can wholeheartedly agree on!
Back in June 2024, Wilson also sued Sonic for including onions on a burger. That fast food company has requested a jury trial for this week.
Reading the article and only applying the information available in it, this is the individual's responsibility.
The article states he asked for a no-onion order, not that he notified the restaurant that he had an allergy and needed the onions removed. Asking for an item to be left off and notifying of an allergy are very different because allergy prep is done very specifically.
Also, they had a similar issue at a different restaurant in 2024 that they sued for. If they can demonstrate negligence, which will be hard, then maybe they have a case but if the customer didn't specify an allergy and didn't check before eating the burger, then the failure is as much theirs.
When I was a child and learning about traffic safety we were taught that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way over cars but it was stressed that right of way won't stop a car from killing you if you step into traffic.
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And that's why it's fair to sue them. What you're describing is callous indifference to the well-being of others that has caused demonstrative harm.
I think everyone agrees on what the fast food place is thinking. The issue is that that line of reasoning is dangerous and has legal penalties.
Think of it with "hand washing" and "fecal coliform bacteria" instead. "It's too expensive to train our workers to wash their hands after pooping, and most wouldn't anyway because we don't pay them enough to care" just isn't a defense when someone gets sick as a result.
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It can simultaneously be dumb for him to trust the company and for it to be the company’s fault that he was fed something he specifically asked not to be served.
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I worked fast food for a while. Sometimes we were so busy and understaffed that things became very hectic very quick. More than once, I forgot the meat on a hamburger order.
I can understand, from the employee perspective, how this could happen. It's very doubtful it was purposeful.
I don't think I've ever seen a McDonalds franchise fully staffed. They don't get enough business to have that many employees, but you can be sure they get enough business that it's too much for the employees they do have on staff when a rush comes.
It doesn't say that he's anaphylactic though, just that he sought out medical treatment. I mean he could have been, but as far as I know anaphylaxis from onions is rather rare. Medical treatment could mean that he had diarrhea and got medication for that.
That being said, I wouldn't step into a burger place with an onion allergy. Especially since the onion allergene can be airborne. I have a soy allergy and you won't see me in an Asian restaurant.
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I'm betting this is another example of subrogation..
I'd bet that this guy's health insurance refuses to pay out unless they can file suit in his name. The overwhelming majority of these bullshit lawsuits only exist because of scumbag insurers.
Remember that lady who sued her nephew? Her medical insurance refused to pay her medical bills unless they were allowed to sue the nephew's homeowner's insurance in her name.
Never attribute to the named plaintiff what is adequately explained by subrogation.
Yeah but isn't it a criminal act to poison someone with something they are allergic against, if the victim specifically informed the restaurant about the allergy?
I mean, if I was allergic, I wouldn't trust the restaurant either, but that doesn't mean that the restaurant can just ignore people's allergies. This all sounds like structural discrimination of people with certain health issues to me.
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When I was working in fast food we got a lot of people telling us that they were deathly allergic to onions. If all of their claims were true then every man woman and child in my city of 300,000 would have to be eating their at least once a week. It's a major disruption because if someone claims an allergy you have to do a special mini prep just for that order to avoid cross contamination. After a while we collectively just started treating them like regular no onion orders. I'd be shocked if most places didn't do the same.
Remember, the mcdonalds lady got mocked in the media for suing, dont just assume based off of the headlines.
She had third-degree burns on her vagina and needed plastic surgery to fix it. It must have been horribly painful.
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I once had a friend who claimed to be allergic to onions and his flatmates managed to prove it was a lie..... By trying to kill him.
This is a surprisingly common thing that people with food allergies deal with. My partner is allergic to bananas, (they’re closely related to latex, which is an extremely common allergy) and has had anaphylaxis triggered multiple times from people trying to test it. People just randomly hide bananas in gifted food, to see if they’re really allergic. It has happened so many times that my partner actively refuses to eat baked goods unless they saw it get made.
The worst part is that the allergy runs in my partner’s family. So it’s not like they’re the only one who is allergic.
I’m convinced it’s due to projection. The people prone to lying are likely the ones who feel the need to test it, because they assume that everyone else lies a lot too.
You misunderstand. They were genuinely attempting to murder him. He was a kleptomaniac, compulsive liar, antisocial personality disorder. Just a very unpleasant influence in their lives. I think the final straw was when he stole one of their bank cards and emptied their account.
There's a great Carolyn Hax advice column from years ago where the writer's partner was vegetarian because he was actually allergic to meat.
Writer's family thinks it's a lie and sneaks meat into a meal. That results in a ride in the "screaming white bus," as Carolyn put it, to the hospital.
The writer defended her family and insisted it was just a joke, and partner was taking it too seriously. I've left out a lot of detail, but Carolyn basically tells the partner he should run from this relationship.
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If you have a allergy to onions wouldn't you check a burger before eating it? I mean, who blindly trusts fast food workers that much?
People with an EpiPen and a need for $1m
Back in June 2024, Wilson also sued Sonic for including onions on a burger.
Honestly.... It's not even the sketchiest business model out there.
basically just vigilante food inspection
I always side with the underdogs, food allergens need to be respected.
He also tried to sue Sonic in 2024. Seems like his thing is to order a burger with no onions on it, then whenever the restaurants fucks up he sues them. He’s just trying to get paid
If the restaurants change their safety and handling practices as a result then I hope he does get paid. Just like how I support that guy who searches for raptor bones around telephone and power poles to sue the companies for not using plastic caps over the metal components preventing the touching of hot to ground which kills the birds. We need more of these people.
EDIT: This kind of Raptor (image below)
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When i read the title i knew it was gonna be an allergy thing and yup i was right. Maybe not 1mil but allergies are serious.
Yeah, this story hit me kinda like the McDonald's hot coffee incident; it seemed silly and frivolous on the surface until you realize just how much danger the person could've actually been in.
Though I'm loving the comments in this thread. The arguments over corporate responsibility vs personal responsibility are pretty interesting!
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Damn, he really ate the onion on that one...
Really should put him being allergic in the title there.
Very fitting title for this sub indeed.
It was the onion though.
I think this is a rare instance where eating the onion actually fits the /c/ :)
On the one hand, I hate onions. So I totally get it. I wish I could sue every time someone sticks one in my food as a disgusting surprise too.
On the other hand, if you have a food allergy, that is different than just requesting "no onion" on your burger. They have to take steps to prevent cross contamination. It is a whole thing, and he should know that if he is really that allergic. He would be having this issue all the time becuase (as I well know and lament as an onion hater) onions are in a ton of foods everywhere you go.
They would only be negligent and liable if he told them that he was allergic and they claimed to have taken precautions to prevent exposure of his food. If he just asked for no onions and had an allergic reaction because they messed up his order like every fast food restaurant in the world does sometimes, that is not gross negligence, that is a standard accident.
That would be the store's best defense unless he claimed that the onions needed to be removed because of an allergy.
To the restaurant, it's just an oops mistake. I've very often seen cross-contamination at places which assemble your burger or sub. Those little trays that hold the onions, pickles, lettuce, etc. very often have contamination from one of the neighboring trays.
Also, if he has an allergy to onions, why not check the burger before eating it? It's not like onions are a hidden ingredient.
This case seems like a nothing burger, tbh. 🤭
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Back in June 2024, Wilson also sued Sonic for including onions on a burger. That fast food company has requested a jury trial for this week.
Dude is literally wasting his own time. They keep lawyers on retainer for these exact type of cases. He'd fail even with a small company once he hit their insurance lawyer.
What argument do you think the lawyers would make? A food establishment is supposed to be able to safely handle food. He requested food without an ingredient for health reasons and they agreed. Then they failed at food handling and he got sick.
It's a civil case, so the result can be a divided share of the blame. Something also tells me that they won't want to make the argument "no reasonable person would have any expectations that we got their order right".
Having a lawyer on retainer doesn't mean you're going to win, it just means you expect enough lawsuits to justify it. Recall the "absurd" McDonald's hot coffee case that 1) they lost despite having a lot of lawyers, and 2) wasn't absurd except through the lens of our society tending to label anyone suing a company as some combination of foolish and greedy.
I doubt that he's the one actually suing. I suspect that the actual plaintiff is his health insurer.
So many of these frivolous lawsuits ultimately originate from the insurance industry.
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The US is so crazy when it comes to this. In Europe you'd almost always just sue for actual damages, which because of healthcare are pretty low. You could get a small amount in cash but nothing crazy. Suing just to get money is stupid.
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I ordered a burger the other day and it had no cheese on it for some reason. I did not realise I should have been contacting my lawyer .
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