Sainsburys. poor cafe

I think I would have been more annoyed by the mislabeled drink, the amount of sugar in a regular coke for example over a diet version would send me absolutely sky high and not knowing would be dangerous. I have had suspicions about being given the wrong drink before and it drives me mad, my old meter you could test the drinks, but alas not with my new meter! It also makes me laugh because when our Safeway became a sainsbury's they kept the drinks fountain which is the only one I had ever seen that had a label on the regular coke saying 'warning: not suitable for diabetics'!

Dusty2000 said:

Could have been avoided. Lol. Thick and arrogant

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Of course it could have been avoided by asking 1st! I would decide on a meal 1st, make sure what I wanted was available then inject. I wouldn't assume things could be changed/swapped because I'm diabetic!

Dusty has done us all a favour by challenging the status quo. Many of the supermarket chains do little for diabetics whereas their "free from" and similar ranges help those with other dietary needs. Perhaps the manager of the store will think twice about those with diabetes and their needs in the future. Perhaps more of us will not just put up with what we are given but ask for what we need.

Regards

Doug

My circumstances are different. I would certainly never dream of asking to swap items on a price fixe menu, you would be pointed to the a la carte. I quite often pay for a course I don't eat or extra for a salade verte but that's France and not the UK.

Sarah and Glazed Dougnuts point out that it's sensible to bolus when you know what food your getting ie when you see it in front of you. For those of us using rapid insulins then I think that this is an important point. I personally wouldn't want to deal with the resultant hypo. Did that a long time ago and when the food took ages to arrive, it wasn't pleasant. Indeed, I often bolus course by course rather than estimate for the whole meal. However, my dose is calculated on mainly the carb element.

Dusty may be using a different type of insulin ( maybe a mixed, given that she takes it 15 min before the meal or I suppose a regular insulin) . Whatever type she is taking, the dose would presumably be calculated to deal with the minimal carbs she was expecting. . For bacon/mushrooms and presumably a sausage and tomato then for me it would be a fairly tiny bolus. (funnily eggs would need more, we're all different!)
As she wan't expecting to 'cover' many carbs then presumably she wouldn't need many fast carbs to deal with any resultant hypo which is may explain why she is less worried about that aspect of the event.

Your complaint was well founded,Dusty,and nobody on this board should criticise you for trying to improve the situation for those with diabetes. Vegetarianism, a lifestyle choice, is usually catered for in most places and yet the needs of those with diabetes are not as widely catered for. That is so wrong.

Doug

Dusty2000 has highlighted a serious customer communication problem that Sainsburys must take full responsibility for bad service.

The store manager did over rule the stores cafe policy, nevertheless the damage was done.

I am sure Sainsburys would be glad to add guidelines regarding cafes in their diabetes service statement.

It only takes one bad employee to cause a unpleasant and unnecessary experience.

I do hope Dusty2000 has touched base with Sainsburys Headquarters.

Roy.

No excuse for bad manners after the event so hopefully the store manager will put this right with his staff. As for injecting 15 mins before eating without knowing what is on the plate, all I can say is your a braver than me Dusty

Hopefully now the store may allow some flexibility in their menu's and allow customers to swap items or order food to their own dietary requirements, I've yet to have a request turned down whilst eating out although I do eat most things on a typical menu, the only exception being the desserts which I'll usually ask for a coffee instead or cheese 'n' crackers/fruit salad if I feel like a third course.

Lets be realistic, a handful of chips and a employee with one large chip on their shoulder.

This has nothing to do with diabetes, just very bad service.

Dusty2000 was not careless just a normal customer that asked for a simple exchange to what was on a plate.

Roy,

All supermarket cafes are of poor quality in my views. The healthy options are limited so I avoid them at all costs!!

I'm sorry but I think you are making something out of nothing here and by the sound of it were actually very rude to a poorly paid catering assistant who was just doing their job and following company procedure. The right you have is to eat whatever and wherever you like, no one though has the right to vent their frustrations on an employee who is just doing their job and anyway would have no input into the drawing up of menus.

Harsh? Perhaps, but I wouldnt go to see a film that I didnt want to see and then complain that they showed nothing that I wanted to watch and neither would I choose to eat in a restaurant that offered nothing I wanted to eat.

Having worked in service industries in one form or another most of my working life I hate seeing people vent their frustrations on an employee who is just doing their job. There is absolutely no need for it IMHO.

Nowhere have I seen anything to suggest Dusty2000 was "very rude" or "venting their frustrations".... Dusty asked questions and made requests but wasn't rude at all.

It's perfectly reasonable to make a request of a food establishment and if met with a brick wall, to then request to speak to a senior member of staff. Given how many diabetics there are and how difficult it is for some to find something suitable to eat, yes I do think more consideration should be given to their dietry requirements, especially when such considerations are, for example, given to vegetarians so widely. Dusty didn't vent any frustrations, simply followed a logical and reasonable course of action when met with such rigidity. As for 'following orders from above'... what happened to common sense? Perhaps the poorly paid member of staff could have offered to ask someone senior about whether or not Dusty could exchange some items. It really isn't a major issue, or rather it shouldn't have been! I've worked in the catering industry and any customer who required something slightly different was catered to (forgive me!!) as best we could.... it's called providing a good service!

Quite. Most of us are caring and appreciative of what people do on behalf of, and for the benefit of, our community. If nobody had ever pushed the boundaries then where would we be? I, for one, am not prepared to just accept what is thrown at me. Vegetarians pushed the boundary and nearly every menu in the country has at least one vegetarian option on it. If we do not let people know that we have needs then they will never cater for them. I worked on the first rights of access to goods, services and facilities in the Disability Discrimination Act as Policy Manager. That gave disabled people, and most people with diabetes were covered, the right to challenge being given a poorer service. We still have that right and should not shirk from exercising it.

Regards

Doug

I have often written to restaurants and food outlets asking that lower carb and gluten free options are introduced to their menus, explaining some of the issues many people with diabetes are faced with when eating out.
Restaurants usually have a set menu, unless you go for a la carte of course, and its at their discretion whether they will swap a food item or not.
I dare say the staff member felt out if his/her depth, probably has no idea of a diabetics food requirements, didnt quite know what to do and then to top it all gets overruled by his/her manager who hasnt got the foggiest what really happens on the shop floor.
Fair enough to ask that chips are removed and replaced with mushrooms, but to ask for a mushroom and then a tomato as well and oh, wait a minute, I dont eat eggs either.......probably in a crowded restaurant with other customers waiting to be served, must have been a stressful situation all round but imagine if every customer were to ask to swap food items?!

I wasn't going to get involved in this but..

Sorry you have no cause to complain...

You can't use diabetes nor the fact you unwisely decided to inject insulin before ordering your food, to demand el la carte menu at set meal price... As this is what you were doing..

No good griping that what you were being asked to swap with was cheaper, as it wasn't because a reduction on other foods on your plate would have been made, as the meal is being costed as a whole rather than individual items..

And sorry, suggesting that diabetics require special consideration concerning their dietary needs, they don't not at all, we can eat normal foods like everybody else can...

I don't mean to be rude or not sympathise, just that I fed up with seeing people trying to use their diabetes to get specialist treatment etc... Sorry I may be a diabetic, but I ain't ill, I don't need specialist foods or diets...

Sorry about that.

Jopar

Vegetarians have no medical need, as a rule, to not eat meat and yet public pressure got their needs catered for almost universally. You may feel that you could tackle anything on a menu but many if us prefer to control our diet and restrict or forgo certain foods in an effort to manage our diabetes.

I am sorry that the medical world would disagree with your feeling that you are not ill. How you get to that conclusion when you have an identifiable medical condition that needs either surgery, medication, diet or exercise to control I cannot fathom. Your body is not functionning correctly ( you are ill) and if not dealt with you could end up with further illness (complications) or death.

And by the way, saying you to not mean to be rude or unsympathetic to the situations of others does not cancel out rudeness or a lack of sympathy. Quite the contrary. It flags it up as about to happen.

As has been said many times, this forum has a good reputation for support. Let us try to remember that.

Sadly

Doug