A piece of meat

Poor girl, an octopus allergy seems like something you would chuckle at in the Doctor's office, once they told you what your allergy was, as back in England (where she was from), I'm sure it isn't quite a common ingredient to be included in a meal; but Japan was a different story. Japan is a food orientated culture is an understatement. They are a food obsessed culture, especially when it comes to seafood. I remember my brother describing Japan's take on seafood was like if someone walked into the ocean, pulled out a sea-cucumber, or any other creature for that matter, it would be chopped upped, plated and served and probably regarded as delicious (which I hold back from judgement, if it actually is or not). Octopus is a dish I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else, but allergies become on high alert in Japan, as the variety of types of foods put before you, increases.

Braised octopus with honey and saffron.
Can't lie, this does not look
appetizing at all to me.

Robin C didn't have her EpiPen (adrenaline shot) with her and was starting to panic. Her throat was swelling up and she was feeling nauseated and faint. We took a break and the trainer and a few of us, myself included, walked Robin C into an empty room, to try to figure out what to do. I was fanning Robin C, with Karla, and encouraging her to drink water. The words that kept floating around from the three company employers present were, "..hospital, health insurance, company won't pay." Robin C didn't have any health insurance and a cost to the hospital would have set her back hundreds of dollars. Someone luckily had an antihistamine and she took a handful of those. The company employers sounded like scripted robots, "We recommend you appoint a doctor, but be advised the company will not pay or reimburse you for any hospital or medical costs." The poor girl was just trying to focus on breathing, let alone trying not to have a panic attack, because she didn't have that type of money with her. They consistently were bombarding her with questions about wire transfers, getting to an ATM before they took her to the hospital and other such nonsense! Way to make her like a piece of meat! What was being discussed, with Robin barely able to squeak out a word, shouldn't be talked about until that person's health and well-being is taken care of!

Ironic, how we were discussing the topics of healthy and safety and now we were faced head-on with an emergency situation and what was being ignored was health and safety of this girl, and what was more important was how the company didn't want to fork out the bill. "What kind of company had I signed up for", I drearily thought.