I broke out in hives, once...

...But it was right after a weekend in which I consumed approximately two gallons of Mountain Dew, so I was probably getting what I deserved.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-black-allergiestre7842ho-20110905,0,3102037.story

This story basically says that allergies are genetically linked, and are more prominent in people of African descent.  It was pretty interesting, I thought;  my main experience with allergies is of two kinds, and both involve fakers. 

The first one is an acquaintance of mine—whom I’m not going to name for her privacy, although she absolutely knows who she is—who dislikes certain vegetables and has therefore declared herself to be allergic to anything even related to the “deadly nightshade” family.   She cheerfully eats many items containing relatives of that selfsame family.  This is somewhat exasperating (although I still love her dear stupid little heart.)

The second one is professional; I serve in a restaurant, and about once or twice a month or so I get in someone who claims to have an allergy.  About half the time they are lying.  No, I don’t secretly feed them (butter/cheese/gluten/pork) or anything like that, but I work with people all day:  I look at their faces, and I know they are lying.  I also know our menu pretty well, so I’m able to answer a bunch of questions, and I cheerfully hook them up with our allergen menu:  after all, whether or not they’re lying, they almost certainly don’t want to eat the (butter/cheese/gluten/pork). 

And I’m here to serve the best interests of my guests, so I make sure they don’t get it.

But the interesting point of the above anecdote isn’t that half the people who tell me they have an allergy are lying; the interesting thing is that I only have this conversation about once or twice a month.  (And a quick conversation with some coworkers reveals that I may get it more often than most!)

The first thing I’ll notice is that the children in the article are between the ages of two and three; that’s pretty much entirely too young to be faking an allergy for attention, so that source of inaccuracy is out.  According to the article, 22% of white children and 38% of black children show evidence of “sensitization” to foods—that’s roughly one in five and two in five, respectively. 

On a reasonably busy night I’ll take care of roughly forty people  (very roughly; that might be a bit low…)  Granted, sensitization is not the same as allergy, but according to Wikipedia allergies are present in 5-7% of children, and roughly 3% of the overall population.  I should be seeing at least one a night, right?

So why aren’t people saying anything to me?  Well, if their allergy isn’t severe, they may be willing to take the risk.  They may think they can figure it out from reading the menu—and if they’re allergic to large quantities only, they may well be able to.  If they have trace sensitivity, though, then they’ll need to ask about it. 

That’s the point at which I’m confused.  Why wouldn’t you ask the person who has specifically been assigned to answer your questions the questions you need to ask in order to, you know, breathe?