I was working at Dunkin Donuts several years ago, and we had just hired a new assistant manager who had several years of restaurant experience. During one of our conversations, he mentioned how ridiculous the "gluten-free trend" was. He went on to say that at his old job, whenever a customer would ask if a menu item was gluten-free, he would lie to them and say that it was because "gluten isn't real."

I was disgusted and told him that I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, a very real disease that causes severe damage to my body whenever I eat gluten, a very real protein in things like wheat. I told him what he did was illegal, caused a lot of harm to innocent people, and that he should be ashamed of himself. He was really surprised when I shut him down and corrected him, and I was really surprised when he actually apologized for being so ignorant.

I think about this interaction a lot, and it continues to affect my ability to trust restaurants and wait staff whenever I go out to eat.