Man sues Whataburger for almost $1M over no-onion special request

Fox 25 Boston ^ | 5/19/25 | Cox Media Group National Content Desk

[BradyLS]

ISWYDT! 😄

[Ge0ffrey]

Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce
Special orders don’t upset us
All we ask is that you let us serve it your way

[Dr. Sivana]

Once the restaurant took his money and agreed to hold the onions, they were obligated to follow through.

I think we all agree on that. Those times when I got the wrong order and went back to the rergister, I got a replacement. That was commensdurate.

If I buy a shirt, and it is the wrong size, I am entitled to a new shirt. I cannot sue for $1 million because my arteries were constricted or because I looked like a doofus at my job interview.

If I buy a dozen eggs, and some are cracked, I get a replacement dozen eggs. If I eat the cracked egg and get sick. I do not get $1 million dollars.

If I get my car repaired, and the wrong part was used, I get it redone for no extra money, I do not get a million dollars.

100% accuracy is rare in any manufacturing assembly operation. Rarer still in an operation that relies on a young labor force with lots of moving parts. Rarer still when requests are given verbally through a microphone rather than processed by a typed order.

If every failure can result in a million dollar payout, and you cannot restrict who your customers are (e.g. NO service to trannies or those with severe food allergies), then the places themselves disappear, or maybe they require you to click on a legal form that you don't have time to read, like real estate or bank loan vendors do.

[PeterPrinciple]

I’m just supporting someone suing a deceptive restaurant chain.
\——————————
It is also possible you are supporting someone who is scamming the system. He tried this at another restaurant.

If it was really about his allergy, you would take no chances. Again, was it really an allergy or a digestive reaction.

You have taken a position that the fake media wants you to take.

The reality is we don’t live in a perfect world. You support litigation and govt regulation.

or............

you just want to bitch.

[fso301]

Now that I’m driving her, we only go to places where she can specify her heart out.

It that the case at most restaurants?

I ask because my sister-in-law has a reputation for attempting to customize her order at every restaurant she eats. She acts like a 5-star food critic but she can't cook anything fit to eat.

[T.B. Yoits]

Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce
Special orders don’t upset us
All we ask is that you let us serve it your way

That was the version in the ad on television. The parody version was:

Crush the pickles, burn the lettuce
Shut up lady, you upset us
At Burger King you can have it our way, or throw it away
Have it our way, or throw it away

[verum ago]

If you have an allergy to onions then I think it incumbent upon the customer to check his food for onions. Not to do so is contributory negligence.

Gotta love the thundering irony here, where the lawsuit mentions:

to act in accordance with the appropriate standard of care

and yet, the guy couldn't be bothered to tilt the bun up and take a simple look to make sure something that could kill him wasn't present in a situation where there is very, very much an above-average chance of it being so.

Maybe next he'll ask someone to verbally verify their pistol is unloaded before he points it at his chest and pulls the trigger without checking himself, because, you know, the appropriate standard of care for himself in a potentially lethal situation is "eh, it'll be ok".

[PeterPrinciple]

we only go to places where she can specify her heart out.

---

Three old ladies go out for tea. The waiter askes for their order. One asks for tea with milk. One asks for tea with sugar. The lasts says just regular tea but make sure it is in a clean cup.

The waiter comes back with the order. Which of you ordered tea in a clean cup?

[Night Hides Not]

I’ve gone to Whataburger for 40+ years. Not once has my order been filled improperly. Simple request: cheese, tomato, ketchup, mustard. Gee, one bite should have told this guy, “hey, there’s onions!!!”

[SuperLuminal]

I always specify zero snot in my orders at McDonald’s...

A good reason to go to Five Guys... At least you can watch the Mexicans as they prepare your food...

[Gen.Blather]

The only place I take her is called Newks. Each item can be had this way, another or another way. So she gets to choose. Apparently, that’s what she wants to do.

[tumblindice]

Ate at Burger King today. Everything was perfect. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t go back.
I wouldn’t hire Saul Goodman to sue them for one meelyun dollars, like some greedy retard.

[Kenny Bania]

[crusty old prospector]

Soup is a meal.

[Prospero]

There’s no such thing as a Whataburger without onion...

[rxh4n1]

“And he should have double checked.”

I ask for no pickles and I always check. We have to look at the bright side here. He took it to court instead of the usual by the 13% crowd. He didn’t try to climb thru the drive-up window and start shooting.

[Svartalfiar]

Once the restaurant took his money and agreed to hold the onions, they were obligated to follow through.

Yup, but mistakes happen. Putting onions on a no-onion order is not a million-dollar mistake, no matter what.

I doubt he specified it was an allergy, cashier staff are usually more careful passing orders with allergies than a simple "I don't like onions" order. Which is the assumption, considering almost no one is allergic to onions.

Do we even know if they did put onions on it? If his allergy is real and that serious (he should be watching out for himself), it could easily have been cross-contamination, not incorrectly placed onions.

Were they even Whataburger onions? Not gonna put it past many of these shucksters to bring their own onions to drop on the no-onion order.

[T.B. Yoits]

Putting onions on a no-onion order is not a million-dollar mistake, no matter what.

The court can decide that. It comes out to roughly $1,100 per restaurant in the chain to make sure they're paying attention to what they promise to customers and then fail to deliver.

[ShadowAce]

From the Article:

which claimed he asked for no onions on his burger, but got some anyway,

Seems he DID specified no onions.

Still excessive.