# Fast Food "Nastyness"—featuring Shiva418 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753 "2003-08-17T11:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/61 "2003-08-18T18:07:32Z")
I’ve also worked in the food service industry in various positions and standards of restaurant. Worst of the lot was probably a fast-food place I worked as a teenager (Some Like It Hot in Drumcondra for the Dubdopers). I worked 12 hour shifts, 6pm to 6am for less than 2 dollars an hour, in a workspace that was 10 foot by 2 foot. From about 11pm the customers were 90% drunk (Quinns!) and 20% abusive. So don’t come crying to me about how the job sucks. Never, ever have I seen anyone, even working in the situation mentioned there, tamper with a customers order or give anything less than full and polite service. In the cases where a customer was especially abusive (somone tried to jump over the counter to “get us” on average once a night). We signed up for a job that we knew would be pretty shit conditions and pretty shit pay, simple as that. Fucking with the customers isn’t a perk to make up for it. Good god… ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/62 "2003-08-18T18:41:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*You are certainly a bitchy one, alice. \*\* I guess you bring out the best in me. > [@](#): > > You, on the other hand, are now looking back and rationalizing your lack of action. Well, no. I took action. I took the only action that was available to me. I quit the job, without another one to go to, because I refused to work there anymore. I also told every person I knew, directly or indirectly not to eat there and I told them why. > [@](#): > > What I really find laughable is that you’re saying the person adulterating the food was doing so to save money! It was to save $$. A customer ordered a chicken burger without mayo. It got sent out with mayo. (Not my table, BTW.) The customer sent it back and apparently was cranky about it. The cooks in the kitchen turfed the chicken burger into the 7 hour old garbage can and started to make a new one. Paul - the person who ran the company - pulled the nasty mayoed, garbage soaked chicken breast out of the garbage can, rinsed it off and sent it back out - he didn’t want to waste the cost of the chicken breast. Had it been my table, I wouldn’t have served it. As it was not, I quit instead. It was, so to speak, the last straw. > [@](#): > > And how do you know I’ve no idea of the dynamics involved. How do you know if I’ve worked in a restaraunt or not? While you may know restaraunt dynamics, I’m willing to bet that you don’t know _THIS_ restaraunt’s dynamics…unless…could it be… **PAUL** is that **YOU** after all these years?!?! > [@](#): > > \*\*To sum it up: I find both your negligence then in allowing some adulterated food to be served to an unsuspecting customer and your current rationalization of your inaction to be appalling. \*\* Yes well I find your assumptions about my negligence and rationalization to be appalling. Additionally, I find you to be an insufferable bore. I also think that your tendancy to pull shit out of your ass and smear it all over perfectly good threads to be reminiscent of a bonobo. Are we done here? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/63 "2003-08-18T19:35:25Z")
Aw, c’mon, don’t be dissin the bonobos! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/64 "2003-08-18T20:16:40Z")
No, we’re not done. Did anyone of those you did tell happen to be…dare I say it?..in the appropriate health office? And, no, I’m not Paul. Actually, I count myself lucky that we’ve likely never met. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/65 "2003-08-18T20:18:42Z")
My God! Alice did **not** do what Jesus would have done!:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/66 "2003-08-18T20:22:30Z")
No, we’re not done. Did anyone of those you did tell happen to be…dare I say it?..in the appropriate health office? And, no, I’m not Paul. Actually, I count myself lucky that we’ve likely never met. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/67 "2003-08-18T20:33:14Z")
Left one query out: Did you bother to tell the poor sod who got the burger that was dug out of the trash? Well, that is, if you knew him personally of course. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/68 "2003-08-18T20:33:23Z")
Just wanted to chime in that I’m quite happy I learned something today. Thanks to **alice** , I now know what a [bonobo](http://www.bonobo.org/) is and why they are in danger. You learn something new every day here at the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/69 "2003-08-18T20:54:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > **Did anyone of those you did tell happen to be…dare I say it?..in the appropriate health office?** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alice\_in\_wonderland \* > \*\*the restaraunt was closed on a regular basis because of Board of Health violations having nothing to do with people horking in food or otherwise being disgusting. They would close the place for 2 days, and then it would open again and the grossness would continue. \*\* Sounds like they had plenty of other problems being ignored. I don’t think you should be blaming **alice** , she’s clearly just a symptom of a larger problem. Blame the idiots who kept allowing the place to reopen. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/70 "2003-08-18T21:11:48Z")
I only blame her for passively watching what she described and her pathetic rationalization of that inaction. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/71 "2003-08-18T21:35:55Z")
**Monty** get off your freakin’ moral highhorse already. **Alice** was a 17 year old kid working in a dive restaurant. Cut her some slack. Not everything in this world is black and white. Most 17 year olds wouldn’t think to call the health authorities for something like this. Most of them wouldn’t have even quit, like **Alice** did, they’d keep their mouths shut and keep their jobs. And **spooje** , your post was simply not true. I’ve never seen anyone tamper with someone’s food just for the hell of it. Have you ever worked in food service? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/72 "2003-08-18T21:40:24Z")
It’s no high horse, lezlers. How about I piss on your lunch and serve it to you? Nobody has to get the health authorities involved, but I’m willing to bet you’d appreciate whoever saw me do that tell you about it! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/73 "2003-08-18T21:41:32Z")
**Monty** , you sure you’re not blaming her just because she’s a convenient target? Given that restaurant’s track record with the BoH, I doubt any reporting on her part would have accomplished anything except win your approval. Maybe she was afraid the BoH would view her as a disgruntled employee but if a whole bunch of employees went to the BoH maybe they’d shut the place down permanently. Reminds me of a rumor going around here about a local deli. A former employee claims she had been fired for not following the boss’s demands, which had to do with serving a certain soup to “blacks and hispanics”. The soup in which the same employee claimed she found a dead rat. This rumor sounds too much like a case of revenge by a disgruntled employee and I don’t believe a word of it. If I was on the Board of Health and 17-year-old **alice** reported the chicken breast incident, I’d have trouble believing that, too. ---
**Author:** ![SpasticKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@SpasticKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpasticKitty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/74 "2003-08-18T21:50:55Z")
The moral of the story is…don’t be a dick. That goes for both customers **and** restaurant employees. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/75 "2003-08-18T21:51:37Z")
What did you misunderstand about the words I clearly posted in this thread, Jeff? ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/76 "2003-08-18T23:07:27Z")
Sometimes, **Monty** , not everyone is going to deal with a situation the way you would. That doesn’t automatically make that person a useless member of society. From **alice** ’s experience and judgment–which was most likely correct–calling the Board of Health would have resulted in an _at most_ two-day closing; she didn’t have any concrete proof that anything had happened anyway. What she did do was to quit without another job (a hard thing to do when you’re 17 and haven’t enough experience to realize that those types of jobs are not that hard to come by) and told everyone she knew not to go eat there. Your solution would be the best one in a perfect world. In her world, she did the best thing she could think of to do. Should she have called the Board of Health anyway? Sure. Why didn’t she? Most likely because she had reason to believe it wouldn’t have done any good. And she was probably right. Bottom line: what she did took guts and had a real impact, probably more than calling the BoH would have. And maybe, just maybe, she would also call the BoH (in addition to quitting and spreading the word) if she had it to do over again. I seriously doubt that you’d get her to admit that now, though, since you’ve thrown so much vitriol in her face. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/77 "2003-08-18T23:39:58Z")
Then you’re missing the point of my postings here, skeptic. Quitting was good. NOT TELLING THE POOR CUSTOMER WHO GOT THE CRAP WAS WRONG! It’s the latter stunt that alice is rationalizing away and that takes a complete lack of guts. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/78 "2003-08-18T23:53:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*What did you misunderstand about the words I clearly posted in this thread, Jeff? \*\* I don’t think I’ve misunderstood anything. However, like **skeptic\_ev** , I can understand why **alice** didn’t report anything. > [@](#): > > **Quitting was good. NOT TELLING THE POOR CUSTOMER WHO GOT THE CRAP WAS WRONG! It’s the latter stunt that alice is rationalizing away and that takes a complete lack of guts.** Is this a backpedal I see? At the very least, you’re jumping to conclusions again. **alice** hasn’t said anything about not telling that customer about the dirty chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/79 "2003-08-18T23:55:37Z")
And if anyone is thinking “band name”, “dirty chicken” sounds more like a sex act. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753/80 "2003-08-19T00:06:17Z")
Next question is how many customers had the chicken sandwich? If it wasn’t her table how could she tell the right person that their sandwich had been in the garbage? If he was kicking up a big enough fuss about the mayo that the other waitresses had noticed then maybe, but really you can never tell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-nastyness-featuring-shiva418/195753.md?page=5)