My guest and I became violently ill after a mystery shop dinner. Should we contact the location's manager?

My guest and I were assigned to evaluate Texas de Brazil, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse which we loved. We ate there once before and were very full, so we made sure to skip lunch and have an early dinner. Soon after finishing desert, both my guest and I started feeling uneasy. I completed the mandatory post-dinner bar assignment (for some reason the MSC said I could only order one, very specific, very strong drink, after dinner instead of before), and on the way home, not twenty minutes after eating, I vomited. My guest had an even less mentionable reaction to the dinner soon after.

I want to message the location's manager as everything but the explosive reaction we had to the food was very good- great atmosphere, everything was tasty, great waiter... but I also don't want to break my agreement with the MSC. I just sent my scheduler a message about this, but in my situation, what would you do?

If the MSC forbids me from contacting the manager, I can't, in theory, prevent my guest from contacting the location, could I?

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In my opinion as long as you make no mention of being on a shop then it's fair game to report some food poisoning. I became very ill after having dinner on my very first shop. (an indication of Cettie adventures to come?)

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

What would I do?

1) Put it in the report. Even if you send a separate email to the scheduler tomorrow or the next day to document all the details that may not be fully apparent when you write the report. Ask for a delay if you are not well enough to write the report.

2) As for breaking your ICA by the guest communicate with the client, please read your ICA and see what it says. That action certainly violates the spirit of the ICA. Perhaps the MSP would look the other way in such cases. I'm not sure.

3) Have you thought of calling your local health department? Lives could be at risk.

Hope you both are feeling better soon.

PS:

4) If you missed an observation because of the food poisoning, tell them exactly why. If they suggest not paying you, you might threaten to submit a photo of the vomit or worse and point out the partially digested pieces of your meal as proof.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2014 01:56AM by vlade5394.

I also realized I missed a guideline of my shop because I was in a rush to get home and hopefully /not/ vomit all over myself. Here's hoping the MSC is understanding.

It is often very difficult to determine cause and effect. We had dinner at my house with my son on a Friday. The next day my significant other and I did a restaurant shop. About 18 hrs later we were both violently ill. Short of something that tastes off, that for us is the usual time frame for a food poisoning to kick in. I was on line and my son popped on to chat. He had been violently ill and had spoken with his office mate, who was also violently ill on Saturday, so logic would say we were hit by a stomach flu rather than a bad meal. Of course the knee jerk response is that the problem is something you ate.

My reaction is that bringing the situation to the attention of your scheduler makes sense, but on the chance that it was a stomach flu or something I ate out of the biology experiments of my own refrigerator, I would not go back on the restaurant unless there had been some part of the meal that tasted off--and that should have been mentioned at the restaurant at the time.

Yes and I remember a time in the past when two friends who always seem to have sensitive stomachs ate with a group of about 15 of us at a fast food restaurant. They accused the place of food poisoning as they got ill but at least 6 people had eaten the same meal and not gotten sick. So you never know.

Reminds me of the time a large group of us went to dinner after my ordination to one of those well-known buffet restaurants. I figured that with the size of the group there would be food there that anyone could eat regardless of what special diets they were on. As luck would have it 17 of the group ended up with food poisoning, all of whom had 2 particular foods in common. The 40 people who didn't eat those foods were fine.

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

My understanding is that food poisoning will show effects, within 2 hours of ingesting the food...

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
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> My understanding is that food poisoning will show
> effects, within 2 hours of ingesting the food...

Not always. Some types take up to 24 hours or more. According to the Mayo Clinic's website:

"Signs and symptoms may start within hours after eating the contaminated food, or they may begin days or even weeks later. Sickness caused by food poisoning generally lasts from a few hours to several days."

This makes it extremely difficult to determine when one contacted whatever could cause food poisoning. I guess if you went to dinner with someone you hadn't seen in a week and both got sick hours after eating the same thing, then you could reasonably suspect the food you just ate. Otherwise, it's really difficult to tell....

I hadn't seen my guest, my mother, in a few days. I knew that Texas de Brazil has lots of food so we both decided to skip lunch: by the time our dinner at 6 PM came around we had not eaten anything all day. I think it's safe to say that our sickness was caused by the food. Neither of us have particularly weak constitutions: I just recently wrapped up four years of college without throwing up once, but I ate at this restaurant and I had to blow chunks into a paper bag or else it'd be all over the windshield.

The bigger question is how did you get through college without worshipping the porcelain god even once?

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> The bigger question is how did you get through
> college without worshipping the porcelain god even
> once?

I'm a bit of a hooch snob (which always goes great when I'm doing bar integrity evaluations in places that don't always stock top shelf stuff) so I know not to chug, but to savor. Of course, when I tried to teach a bunch of frat boys how to properly prepare absinthe from a tower I brought from home, I was the only one who didn't end up barfing like a Japanese tourist in Paris.

There is another possibility. By not having eaten all day [except for breakfast, IIRC], it's possible you set yourselves up for a reaction, especially if some of the food may have been heavy with oil/grease, especially if nothing tasted "off".

As far as contacting the manager, I think not. Let the MSC know, but give full disclosure that both of you skipped lunch.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2014 07:11PM by James Bond 007.5.

Not to make light of your situation, because I know that kind of thing is *AWFUL*...

But was it anything like this?

[www.amazon.com]

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

Food does not have to taste bad in order for it to poison you. Food poisoning usually causes vomiting and diarrhea, almost at the same time. It also does not take long after eating for it to start. Most foods digest from one (fruit) to four hours (meat).
I'm far from a know-it-all, but I have a nursing license. You can have several people eat, lets say fried clams, only one clam can be contaminated and only that person will get sick. I was told that in some foreign countries, don't drink the water, or use ice, or eat the shrimp. Pepto Bismol is not just for diarrhea, it has a antibacterial effect. Take as soon as you feel ill. Do not use if you are allergic to aspirin.

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My guest and I became violently ill after a mystery shop dinner. Should we contact the location's manager?

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