The Inner Gremlin

I'm writing today's post in support of an entity I never thought I'd eat in, never mind laud on this blog. I'm not necessarily a fan of big business, especially when it closes down local mom and pop shops. However, as an allergic person, I find that a chain has more consistency and knowledge when dealing with allergies than the local mom and pop shop often does. Saturday morning (day 2 of our annual girls' weekend) allergic mom and I arrived at the King of Prussia mall BEFORE it opened. The only place we could have breakfast at the mall was the Starbucks. I shouldn't say THE Starbucks, as I know there's more than one in the mall(s).

On vacation, I must drink tea. I'm not entirely certain as to why, as I don't often drink it at home, and I have no particular feelings about it either way. However, the moment I go on vacation its as if a small tea gremlin enters my brain and begins bugging me. "You're on vacation, have a nice cup of tea," he says. "It will relax you, and it's good for your health." Unfortunately, if ignored, this gremlin begins to bellow "MUST HAVE TEA! FEED ME TEA!" like some sort of toddler. I have discovered that upon having the tea, all is well. Most people have chocolate gremlins or french fry gremlins, but true to form, even my gremlin is abnormal. Ah, well.

I entered the long line at Starbucks, and set upon deciding what to eat with my tea. They do have quite a selection of baked goods. The tea gremlin spied a scone (perhaps its a British gremlin?) and decided that I should eat that, as well. I do love a good scone. At the register, I cringed and asked the very young cashier if there were any nuts in the scone. I was utterly shocked when he replied "no, but I feel it is my duty to inform you it was baked in a facility that does bake other items that contain nuts." Well, the tea gremlin and I could have been knocked over with a feather. I ordered my tea and raspberry scone, and had a delicious, allergy-free breakfast, which not only quieted my gremlin, but gave me plenty of fuel for a morning of shopping. Thank you Starbucks!

~Allergic Diner