A New Jersey woman went out with family and friends for her 29th birthday and received a dessert with a little something extra written on the plate.
“Happy Wheel Chair Birthday!”
Antonia Sinibaldi, a singer-songwriter who uses a motorized wheelchair, said the message left her baffled. The restaurant says it was never supposed to be a message at all.
Instead, “wheelchair” was an internal note indicating where to deliver the birthday dessert. Somehow, it made it all the way to the plate.
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Sinibaldi shared the experience on Instagram after celebrating her birthday at Blu on the Hudson in Weehawken on June 20.
A photo of the dessert shows “Happy Birthday” written in script around the edge of the plate. Below it are the words “Wheel Chair,” followed by an exclamation point.
Sinibaldi told CBS News New York that she and her cousin had ordered the same dessert.
Only hers came with the additional message.
“It took me by surprise,” Sinibaldi said. “I shouldn’t be reminded of something that I already know.”
Sinibaldi has used a motorized wheelchair and ventilator for most of her life after suffering a cervical spinal injury in a car crash when she was 2 years old.
She said her family called restaurant management over after the plate arrived.
The proposed remedy did not clear things up.
“He offered to send me more drinks, more drinks, more drinks,” Sinibaldi told CBS. “What good will that do?”
Lost In Translation
Blu on the Hudson later offered an explanation that accounts for where the word came from, if not quite how it survived the trip to the table.
The restaurant said its standard procedure is to use table and seat numbers on tickets so employees know where each dish should be delivered.
For Sinibaldi’s birthday dessert, someone used “wheelchair” as a reference identifying the intended recipient.
“Unfortunately, that notation was misunderstood and was written on the plate itself,” the restaurant said in a statement provided to CBS.
Blu on the Hudson said there was “absolutely no malicious or disrespectful intent” behind the notation and apologized to Sinibaldi and others hurt or offended by what happened.
The restaurant also said it has reinforced proper ticketing and communication procedures with its staff and taken steps intended to prevent the same kind of mistake from happening again.
Management said it had tried to contact Sinibaldi directly to personally apologize but had not been able to reach her as of CBS’s report.
Birthday Lesson
Sinibaldi said her family and friends were angry about what happened.
She remained more puzzled.
“My family’s angry, my friends are angrier, but me, I’m just baffled,” she told CBS.
Sinibaldi said she hopes the incident can at least become a teaching moment about how people interact with those who have disabilities.
“Don’t bring my disability in every sentence,” she said.
She also made one future reservation considerably easier to sort out.
Sinibaldi said she will not be returning to Blu on the Hudson.