Hell, some supermarkets sell bulk peanuts in an open bin where you you help yourself with a scoop.
No, that’s exactly what you’re arguing, because we all know that peanut dust on the outside of a jar or bag is in no way equivalent to coming into direct contact with smeared peanut butter on a cart handle. Instead of just admitting that it’s “But there are peanut particles in the air! Hack off the hands of any child who’s ever touched a peanut!”
Almost certainly this didn’t actually happen this way. It is almost certain that she - being a teenager - ate something she shouldn’t have because “my parents are so uptight about this, it can’t be that bad” went into shock, and then made up the story to cover her ass. Because that is what its turned out to be every time this has happened and been researched - none of these cases have turned out to be actually kissing. Teenagers are at the highest risk of a hospital trip or death over food allergies, because they don’t take too much seriously and are at the age where pushing boundaries is done - and in their control in a way its never been before.
As to contact allergies - while people do go into shock over loose peanuts - because particularly in the shell peanuts put out a lot of peanut dust that can be inhaled. But peanut butter doesn’t get airborne like shelled peanuts. Some people with severe peanut allergies may get a rash through contact, but there has been no documented case of anything bigger than a rash - it theory in could happen - in practice - last I checked (which was a few years ago) it never had.
And if they did, they’d have a rough life. No playgrounds, no amusement parks. No movie theatres, the ballet barre at dance class is probably smeared with the stuff, as are the keys at the piano teachers house. Peanut butter remains an American staple - not just for kids - and its likely there are trace amounts of peanuts on lots of every day surfaces. If I go into the bathroom at work to wash my hands after eating a peanut butter sandwich, the sink knobs will have traces of peanut butter on them. Wipe down your cart if you are worried.
As to “can they survive Target without a sandwich” - I remember those sixteen to eighteen hour nonstop days of work, kids, laundry, shopping, soccer. Sometimes the sandwich on the go is a timing thing - no different than the McDonalds drive through. Small kids in particular sometimes don’t eat when you want them to - and then are blood sugar nightmares when they get hungry. Its the rare mother who isn’t stocked with snacks around that age - and while fruit or a juice box would likely be a better option, a peanut butter sandwich is better than a bag of fritos, cookies or “fruit snacks”
A couple of things. First of all those posters who are making remarks about people having anaphylactic reactions and calling them snowflakes obviously have never watched someone die of anaphylactic shock.
It rapidly escalates from the onset of simple symptoms like tingling and itching around the mouth and nose and fingertips to feeling full in the throat and hot in the face to having your throat started to close up.
As you start to lose the ability to breathe you instinctively claw at your throat and neck because you’re unable to pass air. As your fingers dig into your throat more and more typically people cut into their own necks in a desperate attempt to breathe. Then they fall unconscious and die.
I would say that’s pretty far from being a precious snowflake.
I have met people who were so violently allergic to milk and milk products that when a tiny flick of cheese landed on their arm when they were less than a week old their arm swelled up angry red and they had to be taken to the hospital. I witnessed a person having a violent anaphylactic reaction to a handful of almonds. He was older than 50 years old and have been eating them his entire life with no problem. Right up until the day you had a violent reaction. Neither of those people were snowflakes or pwecious widdle spoiled babies.
Do lots of people overreacting claim to have peanut allergies who do not? Absolutely. Are people hyper-vigilant and protective when they find out their child has a bit of a reaction? Yes and in many cases it does not warrant clearing an entire room of all products related to peanuts.
I’m a pretty big fan of watching to wipe off the handles on shopping carts when I use them and it’s been decades since I had small children sitting in the shopping cart seat. But then again, I’m flying tonight to Las Vegas and when I fly I always bring Clorox bleach wipes so I can wipe down the tray the armrests and the seats. People do things like change their babies on those flip down trays. ===:o
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Jesus, that’s a death trap. They might as well have open pits of hot lava in the store!
My ex wife has a deadly food allergy. It’s not to peanuts. No one seems to care about any other food than peanuts. In a restaurant if you tell anyone you are allergic to peanuts they go into crisis mode. Tell them you are allergic to strawberries and there is a 50/50 chance that your dessert will come with a giant piece of red death as a garnish.
That’s how I buy my peanuts.
All the stores around here have these santi-wipes by the cart corral. I always wipe the handle and the seat.
If your kid has an allergy to peanuts, perhaps it’s best to not take the little nipper to places where they sell peanuts. I mean, that’s proactive and beats checking each kid’s lunch looking for PB&J.
I have a brother in law who is deathly allergic to strawberries and shellfish. Another friend who is allergic to chicken (that’s always struck me as really weird, but its true) to the point that if you invite her to a BBQ, she won’t eat off your grill.
My understanding is the worst one to have is a severe corn allergy - its in everything - even the stuff it isn’t suppose to be in.
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To me, since this was in a store, its not quite public. On the sidewalk or at something like a bus stop I don’t care but in a place like Target or even Wal-mart I would find anyone eating anything kind of unacceptable or at least unexpected and would have some issues with it. I would probably find another location to shop at and would probably tell someone in the chain-of-command why.
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I may or may not cut some slack since it was a child; too much bad behavior, behavior I consider bad, is excused with the phrase “but it was a kid” and my tolerance for that is unusually low.
I don’t eat peanut butter. Worse, I eat ACTUAL PEANUTS! LOL
To my critics I say, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to suddenly run up to you and kiss you or even breath in your face. Yuck!” 
Let me clue you into something - EVERY store that sells groceries has people opening stuff or peeling bananas and eating there. EVERY store. Maybe you’re not aware of this, but I work in such a place. The kids are actually easier to put up with than the adults, who try to sneak stuff, then cram the empties into random places where they won’t be found until days or weeks later when things start to stink. Which tells you that the adults know better. Changing location won’t change that.
I agree that too much is excused, but honestly, if they’re under about 6 they’re just not going to have much if any self-control or patience or ability to wait. From about 6 on up it’s reasonable to expect more.
Yeah. And any waitress who, despite doing a very good job of keeping my allergen off the plate thinks it’s funny to joke about drenching a salad or something else in it, ha-ha, fuck you and by the way fuck your tip. I didn’t come here to listen to you joke about something that can fucking kill me and almost has. Do you joke about PTSD to war veterans? Do you joke about amputation to someone with an artificial limb? * It’s not funny, you assholes.*
Is is that people are eating in the store, or that you are seeing it, that would make you stop shopping there? What would you say to the person in the chain of command, exactly? “I am no longer going to shop here as long as there is anyone eating anything in this store.”?
The store I go to has several places where there is someone offering samples of cheeses or sausages or pizza(sometimes beer). Is it unacceptable or unexpected to take them up on their offer?
Much as I find kids eating to be a disgusting proposition, I would much rather have the option of just not looking at the kid, than trying to not hear them scream because they are hungry.
Who are you shilling for? Big Baggie, or Big Cheerio?
Get this - at the Whole Foods - if you ask any employee to try one of their products on the shelf, they will let you eat it right there! Want to try the fruit? They will cut it open and you can have some. Want to try the packaged goods, they just open it and give it to you. Shit, they sample beer too depending on the schedule. Eating in stores, grocery stores especially, is fairly normal. Kids snacking is ubiquitous.
At Giant, a grocery store near me, they put out fruit for small kids to eat while they are shopping. I thought it was a pretty good idea.
I can assure this was not the case. She’d gone into anaphylactic shock before. It was not pleasant. Her teachers were alerted to her allergy, and she carried an EpiPen on her at all times. If this were some arbitrary prohibition her parents had put on her that she didn’t like or didn’t believe in, rebellion might be the case, but anaphylactic shock is the kind of consequence that curbs rebellion pretty fast. I don’t know where you got your statistics, but in my experience, even boundary-pushing teens are very aware of their allergies and tend to be cautious about them because the consequences are no fun.
Granted, nobody tested the boyfriend for peanut residue, but as I understand it, the ingredients list on the granola bars included peanuts, and that was far likelier than any other possibility.
Yes. And in almost every case, without fail, smokers smoke right in front of the building, disregarding the “50 feet” restrictions and designated areas. Three times this year I’ve had to speak to people smoking in my bus station who are physically leaning against the column with the NO SMOKING sign on it.
I didn’t say smoking is unregulated, I said people (smokers) feel comfortable doing it around other people. I thought the topic was “is it unacceptable” not "is it technically outlawed.’
The only real concern I see is that some peanut butter might be left on the handle of the cart. That could, indeed be fatal to a person with a peanut allergy.
So yeah, clean up after yourself, but we can make the whole world allergen-safe. I’m very, very sorry for those who have to live with this constant worry, but it’s just not possible.