Health Dept...

[Pezzle]

So before we do this, I pose a question. Is it considered sucky for my boyfriend and I to take pictures of a worker at taco bell handling our food without gloves or headgear and then contacting the health department about it?

Around here it's twp code. I dont wanna feel like a douche but honestly that's gross. Made it hard to eat that taco.

[BOOYAH]

So before we do this, I pose a question. Is it considered sucky for my boyfriend and I to take pictures of a worker at taco bell handling our food without gloves or headgear and then contacting the health department about it?

Around here it's twp code. I dont wanna feel like a douche but honestly that's gross. Made it hard to eat that taco.

Seriously don:t wanna start out here on a bad not but personally if I am wanting to take the picture I ain't eating the taco, but that's just me. Personally I'd opt for telling the manager there about it and move on to a Del Taco or something.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I agree. If it wasn't so gross it put you off the food, then why complain about it?

[Pezzle]

It's not that it's so gross that it put me off, but I get pissed off when people violate the township's health codes. I worked in food service in this town, we had to wear plastic gloves and visors or pony tails for a reason. Hairnets are not required, just headgear and gloves.

I guess I might be militant about these things, but I prefer people follow the damn township/county rules. I don't know where he's scratched and when he's washed in which order, and I see it happen so often to the point that it's annoying the crap out of me.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, that's fair. Kinda makes you wonder what other rules they are not following.

[BOOYAH]

It's not that it's so gross that it put me off, but I get pissed off when people violate the township's health codes. I worked in food service in this town, we had to wear plastic gloves and visors or pony tails for a reason. Hairnets are not required, just headgear and gloves.

I guess I might be militant about these things, but I prefer people follow the damn township/county rules. I don't know where he's scratched and when he's washed in which order, and I see it happen so often to the point that it's annoying the crap out of me.

I seriously don't know where you're trying to get with this but I see the part about it not being so gross as to put you off. Then I see where you mentioned you don't know where he scratched or when he's washed. I am seriously not trying to be an ass but are you now justifying eating the taco? Back to the question if you want to report it then it's on you. I just find I really don't have the time to fight everything I see as a perceived injustice.

Dear Lord it's fun to be back.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If it frosts your Pop-Tart that much, go ahead and report it. The report will almost certainly be kept anonymous and nobody will know that you eat the tacos any way, let alone question it.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Let me ask this:

Why not ask for the manager on duty at the time of the incident and discuss the matter with him/her before making the complaint to the health department?

Management can't do squat about something if they don't know about it.

[Pezzle]

Let me ask this:

Why not ask for the manager on duty at the time of the incident and discuss the matter with him/her before making the complaint to the health department?

Management can't do squat about something if they don't know about it.

Blah, mostly because he was the MOD. I'd like to report it to the GM though, she wasn't there that day they got a lot of new staff. I'll pop in another time to discuss it with her. I just dislike it when people don't follow the rules. Gr. But I'm not going to stomp around and huff and puff or anything, I just noticed a few restaurants in this area in noncompliance. I dont' go back to the ones where I find hairs and such.

Also: It made my boyfriend not eat his tacos. And that made me mad too.

[tacohuman]

do health regs in your state/area specifically require gloves? i know that here they only require 2 layers of protection:

1st layer: hand washing
2nd layer: hand sanitizer or gloves

if your area has similar regs he very well could have used sanitizer and been perfectly safe and within regulations.

the lack of hair restraint is another matter. he should have had something for that.

[earl colby pottinger]

Did they

Wash their hands before making your food? One local fast food store I watched the girl wash her hands each and every time she made a new order. I had no problems eating food that she made.

[napoleana]

So before we do this, I pose a question. Is it considered sucky for my boyfriend and I to take pictures of a worker at taco bell handling our food without gloves or headgear and then contacting the health department about it?

Around here it's twp code. I dont wanna feel like a douche but honestly that's gross. Made it hard to eat that taco.

At the old job, we were told to use only one glove - on our primary hand - because we go through gloves too fast and to just minimize our use of the other hand as much as possible (which wasn't much). I found this odd, but we were also required to wash our hands like we were about to do brain surgery, so I figured it was fine. I only heard one person complain about it, but that person was a BITCH. Screaming at me over and over "I don't want you touching it with your nasty hands!" and things like that. The manager just rolled her eyes and never said a word to the lady, never correcting her or pointing out that everyone was operating the same way. What happened when I handed the lady her order? She took the box, checked out, never saying a word to my manager about my "nasty hands" or even asking why I was allowed to work like that. She just glared at me the whole time as the stupid policy was obviously my fault.

Anyway, the point of the story is that the worker may have been told to work like that, and that's a good reason for you to talk to the manager about it. While they may have very clean hands, the lack of headwear is a concern (though personally, I think finding hair is gross but have a hard time believing it's that unsanitary), so if that was the manager's decision it's still worth complaining about.

But ideally, you need to learn who the real culprit is before complaining. If it is the employee's fault, than the manager may be more likely to address the issue than the health board.


Edit: Just noticed that you said he was the MOD. I'm just keeping the rest of the post as it is as a point to the hypothetical situation that he wasn't... if that makes any sense...

[PepperElf]

if the regs call for gloves then i'd ask him why he's not wearing any.
i dont know about other states, but in NY you're suppose to wear gloves when handling food that's not going to be cooked, like salads, cooked pizza etc.

at least that's what we did at my pizza pizza job.

oh, and ponytails pulled through the back of the store ball-cap - or a hairnet - were required for people with long hair. at first it was just for the females until someone finally realized the guy with long hair needed to do it to.


one of the guys at another message board i go to had the "dirty hands" complaint. customer was adamant that she didn't want him handling her doughnut with his hands (race based). so he did what she requested, using tongs etc... and when she had taken a bite he said that he'd made it that morning with ... his hands. (she practically choked on the food)

[myswtghst]

I'd second/third/whatever the comments about checking in with a manager first - they can't fix the problem if they don't know what's happening. I think talking to the GM might be a good first step.

And I get where you're coming from - I'd be hard-pressed to just pitch my tacos that I paid for and was hungry for, even knowing that they might have hand germs on them. But then again, I'm the type who believes in the 5 second rule (on floors I'm familiar with, at least!) and prefers to just think of it as "boosting my immune system."

[Pezzle]

Perhaps 'tis just a pet peeve. Everyone else was wearing gloves and a pony tail/visor but him, but I'll point it out to the GM first. Boyfriend says he sees that a lot there and thats why he wants to contact the HD but I personally think management should be notified first.

@mys: I was already sick anyway and I hesitated for a moment and went "oh what the hell i'm pressed for time anyway" NOM NOM NOM