Discussions

I can't believe that poor waiter was charged. The customer ordered steak tartar and was served salmon tartar. The customer almost died. Terrible? Yes! But the customer should have checked the meat to make sure it was steak not salmon. There is a difference in smell and texture. He says it was dim in the room and he never noticed. Maybe the waiter didn't either. He left his epi pen in the car. If he doesn't take his allergy serious, why should the waiter be held to a higher standard. Maybe it was the chef who made the mistake and the waiter never noticed because it was covered with sauce and like the customer said, the room was dim. Was it a terrible thing to happen? Yes! But charging the waiter criminally? Come on. I think if my allergy was that serious, I would carry my epipen and check my food before consuming it.human error happens, The customer should be at least half responsible for what happened. Because of the possibility of this happening I don't think I'd eat eat any restaurant that serves seafood.

I would like to say I also don't know all the details to this story.

I mean how dare the waiter be expected to get the order right. So does almost killing the customer deserve a mandatory 30% tip

And the waiter should NOT be charged from the little I know of this...the customer has most responsibility when eating out...my goodness, I'm a waiter and this disturbs me maybe think of getting another job...infact...this makes welfare look nicer nicer...

If this customer has lived with a seafood allergy for any length of time, and it seems like he has as evidenced by the fact he has an epi pen, then he is responsible for whatever he puts in his body! You better believe that if I was deathly allergic to any type of food I would check and double check everything before consuming it! In fact I may just avoid restaurants that serve seafood, altogether!  
 
The waiter is responsible for taking the order correctly! He is not responsible for putting the food in the customer's mouth!

The customer informed the waiter of his allergy, the waiter never passed on that information to the kitchen staff, and in fact was seen chatting, laughing, and drinking alcohol with other guests. So there is some negligence there on his part.

I just looked up both steak tartare and salmon tartare in Google images. I knew what both were before searching but once I compared the images I see how he may have made the mistake! When either dish is formed into a cylindrical shape and plated, there are some definite similarities!  
 
I retract my above statement as an absolute! If the customer was clear about his allergy then I see now where there may be confusion, especially in a dimly lit room!

While I do think the waiter was negligent...after all his job is to ensure patrons get their correct order...I dont think his mistake is criminal. Also was the allergy so severe that just having the food in his mouth could set off such a dangerous reaction, or did he eat a good portion of the salmon. I guess I could see that someone who's never had salmon before might be unfamiliar with the taste, and perhaps the smell was masked by sauce, but shouldnt the guy know what steak tastes like (tartar) and that it did not taste familiar?

as they seem to do on a regular basis. they may be eating crow or maybe salmon tartare  
 
i looked up on google what salmon tartare and steak tartare is. I thought it was just tarter sauce made up from salmon or beef then served over your main dish. in which case if you allergic just order you tarter on the side.  
 
but it appears that tartare is the meat ground up, mixed with spices and served up compressed with a sauce over it. I used to call that a hamburger but I digress.  
 
this is the age old "who done it"  
was it the cook that said I don't have steak tartare, i'll give him salmon.  
 
was it the floor manager that said, oh shoot were' out just give him the salmon he'll never know the difference.  
 
did the restaurant have any kind of food safety training for all staff.  
 
because the restaurant was dark did someone else get the steak tartare and because it looks the same the waiter can't tell the difference and picked up the wrong dish.  
 
and biggest question of all why did the costomer order something that he knew could get mixed up easily.  
 
on a menu it you have salmon tartare with which you highly allergic to and the line below has steak tartare which you can have , why on earth would you put your health on the line by ordering something that can be confused or mixed up.  
 
all kinds of other steak dishes that are clearly beef with nothing else.  
 
I do hope the judge throws this out of court.  
 
when you are highly allergic to certain foods you have to be responsible for protecting yourself from simple errors.  
 
maybe the next step is having costomers sign off on their order so they have proof of what they ordered ....really??

Should always have his epi pen close by, especially when eating out as he has an allergy reaction that is critical.  
For whatever reason we live in a society where there is a real beleif that it's never our fault when something bad happens to ourselves. Our society is quick to look for a scapegoat for our misfortune. In this case, the scapegoat is the waiter while the customer doesn't own his misfortune one bit. I would wager that "ethical standards" unfortunately, are not high on the customer's character traits. Sad that the legal system saw it fit to press charges against the waiter.

The waiter was arrested but the police are deciding whether or not to charge him. He has yet to be charged.

Wow I can not believe how many people believe gross negligence is acceptable. The waiter was told twice never informed any other staff was drinking on the job laughing joking and obviously not taking the basic responsibility of his job seriously. If I do that in my job I get charged and go to jail. It's called being an adult and why in most cases you have to be an adult to hold a job in canada. But on ebrandon.ca we get waiters bitch ing because they do a poor job and don't get a tip. How about you show up every day do a good job and get paid for it.

xanthe100 said "The waiter was arrested but the police are deciding whether or not to charge him. He has yet to be charged. "

Are you the reporter covering this story for a media outlet? I don't see any other source of information.

Classified said "    xanthe100 said "The waiter was arrested but the police are deciding whether or not to charge him. He has yet to be charged. " Are you the reporter covering this story for a media outlet? I don't see any other source of information. "

No, I just watched it on the news. You can read it at cbc.ca

tafeel said "Wow I can not believe how many people believe gross negligence is acceptable. The waiter was told twice never informed any other staff was drinking on the job laughing joking and obviously not taking the basic responsibility of his job seriously. If I do that in my job I get charged and go to jail. It's called being an adult and why in most cases you have to be an adult to hold a job in canada. But on ebrandon.ca we get waiters bitch ing because they do a poor job and don't get a tip. How about you show up every day do a good job and get paid for it. "

We are talking about the waiters responsibility towards someone's allergy. How does the customer know that the waiter did not tell the kitchen? The 'gross negligence' comes from the customer who should have carried his epipen with him and checked his food before consuming it. No I don't work at a restaurant and I am also annoyed by tipping, but that's not what we are talking about here.

from CBC  
 
A Sherbrooke, Que., waiter who served salmon tartare to a man with a seafood allergy won't be charged with criminal negligence.  
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/salmon-sherbrooke-allergy-compensation-1.3760339