# Horrible Practices You've Witnessed Behind the Scenes in Restaurants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940 "2012-04-25T18:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/101 "2012-05-03T16:55:57Z")
If anyone has one bad thing to say about Jimmy John’s, I’m going to cry. Hard. For like an hour. My only food horror story involves [food at the state fair](http://esoileau.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/be-still-my-heart/) — but that was on purpose. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/102 "2012-05-03T17:48:43Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve always suspected that about grocery store garlic bread. It always looks great, but it never tastes like much of anything. Those bread sticks go stale after a day, so reheating them, then re-using them turns them into lumps of sawdust > [@gwendee](#): > > I am all for reducing waste. If you don’t want repurposed foods stay away from meat loaf, meatballs, and many soups. Sadly, this wasn’t about reducing waste, it was about making as much money as possible. (and I don’t eat meatloaf, meatballs, or soup!!) > [@kath94](#): > > At the first place I worked we didn’t have a popcorn popper. We ordered “prepop” which arrived in giant bags which were stored upstairs from the auditoriums, then placed in our heater behind the candy counter for serving. I overheard one of the ushers, whose job it was to bring down the bags of prepop, speaking with the manager by telephone. They were discussing the presence of rats, rat excrement in the popcorn bags, and the usher asked how to handle the bags that had holes in them but no evidence of rat poop. \ OMG I used to work in a cinema with that same problem! They’ve now got a proper popcorn machine ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/103 "2012-05-03T17:51:04Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > If anyone has one bad thing to say about Jimmy John’s, I’m going to cry. Hard. For like an hour. I’ll do the same if it’s about the Hard Rock Cafe. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/104 "2012-05-03T18:03:24Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I’ll do the same if it’s about the Hard Rock Cafe. ☹ I’d hoped someone with the handle _ **Soylent Juicy** _ would have a more substantial contribution to the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/105 "2012-05-03T19:18:14Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > What she had seen was the grill cook take a push broom and use it to clean the grill, and then set the push broom aside where he’d taken it from to begin with: resting bristles down on the floor next to the grill. I’m utterly baffled. I’ve been a pro cook for nearly 29 years, and I can’t think of any conceivable reason to use a broom to clean a grill. > [@blindboyard](#): > > "I should add, by the way, that the Auberge was not the ordinary cheap eating-house frequented by students and workmen. We did not provide an adequate meal at less than twenty-five francs, and we were picturesque and artistic, which sent up our social standing. There were the indecent pictures in the bar, and the Norman decorations—sham beams on the walls, electric lights done up as candlesticks, ‘peasant’ pottery, even a mounting-block at the door—and the patron and the head waiter were Russian officers, and many of the customers titled Russian refugees. In short, we were decidedly chic. > > "Nevertheless, the conditions behind the kitchen door were suitable for a pigsty. For this is what our service arrangements were like. > > "The kitchen measured fifteen feet long by eight broad, and half this space was taken up by the stoves and tables. All the pots had to be kept on shelves out of reach, and there was only room for one dustbin. This dustbin used to be crammed full by midday, and the floor was normally an inch deep in a compost of trampled food. > > \ While exaggerated, this just verifies my experienced observation that restaurant owners always have money to remodel the dining room, but “just can’t afford” to fix/upgrade the kitchen. > [@gwendee](#): > > This at least doesn’t completely gross me out. I’ve always imagined that garlic bread exists because some thrifty home cook wanted to serve bread but only had day old and needed to spruce it up. > > I am all for reducing waste. If you don’t want repurposed foods stay away from meat loaf, meatballs, and many soups. Yup, there are a surprising number of “traditional” foods that have their origins in reusing leftovers or ingredients that have gone stale. I think the majority of restaurants these days, at least in the USA, make these things with fresh ingredients, though. At least the places I’ve worked at have. > [@thevmax](#): > > HOWEVER…it’s not right for the customer to pay a premium price for EverClear when they have ordered Grey Goose! :mad: If you have tasted premium liquor and, god forbid, rail hootch, you know the difference. I can easily tell Seagrams Crown Royal from rail brand, and I am willing to pay the difference. Also, filling liquor bottles at a bar with something other than their original contents is quite illegal here in Washington state, and I’d imagine in most other states as well. I suspect it’s related to another liquor law that forbids substituting a non-alcoholic drink when the customer has requested an alcoholic drink (presumably in a situation where the customer is too drunk to notice, and you don’t want to serve him any more booze, but you want to keep taking his money). Both practices are basically “fraud”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/106 "2012-05-03T20:04:29Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I’m utterly baffled. I’ve been a pro cook for nearly 29 years, and I can’t think of any conceivable reason to use a broom to clean a grill. typically grills are cleaned hot. And a broom would just be a shitty tool. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/107 "2012-05-03T20:05:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > typically grills are cleaned hot. And a broom would just be a shitty tool. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/108 "2012-05-03T21:09:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Yup, there are a surprising number of “traditional” foods that have their origins in reusing leftovers or ingredients that have gone stale. I think the majority of restaurants these days, at least in the USA, make these things with fresh ingredients, though. At least the places I’ve worked at have. Oh, I ring the changes on leftovers in my own kitchen. However, I KNOW how many days old that chicken broth is…and how old I’m going to let it get before it goes down the drain. I believe that most restaurants and stores are responsible and take care to only offer healthy foods. However, it just takes ONE irresponsible employee or manager to really mess things up. My very first retail job was working in the restaurant in Montgomery Wards, both as cashier and as busgirl. When I bussed the tables, I was firmly informed that I should save the intact butter pats…because the manager would set them out again if they looked OK. Yes, this was a violation of the health code. She didn’t care. I was also supposed to put all the meat scraps from diners’ plates into a bucket. I was told that this was for the manager’s dogs. However, I noticed that the cafeteria served up a LOT of meatloaf, chili, stew, and other dishes that could be made from anonymous meats. I also noticed that none of the cooks ate those dishes. When I worked in a convenience store, we sold a lot of canned drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. And it was pretty common for the workers to use the pallets of canned drinks as stepstools. The pallets didn’t have a covering on them, we just used to step right on top of the cans, right where people drank from the cans. Urk. I always drank fountain drinks from that place. This store also had a deli in it, and we roasted chickens and ribs on a daily basis…when we needed to. If we weren’t selling many chickens, we just didn’t roast them for a day or two or three or four. Or a week. We kept them in the back cooler, and put ice on them. And no matter how long they sat in that back cooler, we’d never throw them out. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/109 "2012-05-03T22:23:12Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > …Cockroaches in the ice machine above soda fountains. This happened more than once. One person who worked there has basically had ice ruined for him and never, ever gets ice from soda fountains anywhere, anymore… No drinks (with ice in them, at least) from fountains. Check. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > … it was pretty common for the workers to use the pallets of canned drinks as stepstools. The pallets didn’t have a covering on them, we just used to step right on top of the cans, right where people drank from the cans. Urk. I always drank fountain drinks from that place. . . No drinks from cans, always from fountains. Check. … wait. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/110 "2012-05-03T22:37:44Z")
I once saw a server pouring unfinished glasses of tea right back into the refill pitcher. She wasn’t even particularly discrete about it. ---
**Author:** ![crookedteeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@crookedteeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crookedteeth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/111 "2012-05-03T23:16:14Z")
I guess I’ve always worked in clean restaurants. Either that, or I’m oblivious. The worst thing I’ve ever seen was a waitress (with a bad attitude and short fuse) spit in someone’s refill. In her defense, the woman was a complete bitch that complained about everything - even if there wasn’t anything to complain about - and always tipped whatever change was in her pocket. This usually meant no tip, and at the most $0.75. I still could never do that, even to the worst tables I have. At the restaurant I work at now, all of the food is cooked fresh daily, no frozen foods. Most of our customers are regulars, so no need to mess with anyone’s food. It’s the first restaurant that I’ve worked in where I’ve never seen a cockroach. Cockroaches are in almost every restaurant, but I’ve never seen one here. Doesn’t mean they aren’t there, just haven’t seen them. It’s clean, the servers are always friendly, and I’d recommend it to anyone. This may have something to do with the fact that it’s the first restaurant that I’ve worked in that wasn’t a chain restaurant. Or it could be a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/112 "2012-05-03T23:20:14Z")
Having read this thread, could you PM me with the name and location of what is apparently the only non-disgusting restaurant in the world? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/113 "2012-05-04T12:15:58Z")
Would it be safe to say that your average fast food joint would be cleaner than most restaurant kitchens? The only really clean kitchen I have ever seen was at the Pier 4 Restaurant (Boston). The kitchen is all stainless steel-walls as well. At th end of the day, they cleaned everything with steam and a high pressure hose. But the food is pretty mediocre. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/114 "2012-05-04T18:29:09Z")
While at a Hardees, I was waiting for my order at the counter when something (I don’t know what) on fire fell on the floor, and continued burning. Not giving off a little smoke, it was burning. And none of the workers paid any attention, including the person who’d dropped it! Me: “Isn’t that on fire?” Them: (Shrugs.) Me: “Shouldn’t you put out that _fire_?” One of Them: “Ah, it’ll be okay.” Me: “It’s on FIRE!” (And the fire was growing.) (Note that my fiance was in the bathroom at the time. I was about to go running over and pound on the door.) One of Them: (Very reluctantly puts out the fire.) This was many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/115 "2012-05-04T18:56:57Z")
As a teen, I worked the back room of a bakery. The only time they ever cleaned the oil in the donut fryer was when it became so black and sediment-ridden that the fryer would choke on it and puke it all over the bakery floor. It was my job to clean it, which took the good part of all night since it hardens up pretty good on a concrete floor and takes the degreaser a while to really work. The manager also had me poor all of the waste down the storm drain out back, since he was too cheap to pay for any chemical waste storage or removal. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/116 "2012-05-04T18:57:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > typically grills are cleaned hot. And a broom would just be a shitty tool. > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Exactly. I can only tell you what we saw. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/117 "2012-05-04T19:16:22Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > No drinks (with ice in them, at least) from fountains. Check. > > No drinks from cans, always from fountains. Check. > > … wait. :dubious: Don’t even ask about the syrup/water lines in the fountain machine. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/118 "2012-05-04T19:34:04Z")
\*\*Lynn Bodoni’s \*\*mention of Montgomery Wards reminded me of my very first paying job, seasonal help at the Monkey Wards candy counter. Remember when department stores had those? My dad used to buy warm cashews with his pocket change at Sears. The poor guy behind the counter had to measure out 37 cents or whatever of nuts. Anyway, popping popcorn on a Saturday afternoon guaranteed that the counter would be swarmed. (Even today, the smell of freshly popped popcorn reminds me of Sears. ) This was probably standard practice, but at MW any stale, leftover popcorn became caramel corn the next day. Or the next. …and back to the movie theater, I remember the ushers trying to clean out the fountain soda tubes. “Hydro engineering” they called it, forcing water backward through them. Sometimes the fuzzy, green “snake” that emerged was a foot long! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/119 "2012-05-04T19:36:18Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > \*\*Lynn Bodoni’s \*\*mention of Montgomery Wards reminded me of my very first paying job, seasonal help at the Monkey Wards candy counter. Remember when department stores had those? My dad used to buy warm cashews with his pocket change at Sears. The poor guy behind the counter had to measure out 37 cents or whatever of nuts. > > Anyway, popping popcorn on a Saturday afternoon guaranteed that the counter would be swarmed. (Even today, the smell of freshly popped popcorn reminds me of Sears. ) This was probably standard practice, but at MW any stale, leftover popcorn became caramel corn the next day. Or the next. > > …and back to the movie theater, I remember the ushers trying to clean out the fountain soda tubes. “Hydro engineering” they called it, forcing water backward through them. Sometimes the fuzzy, green “snake” that emerged was a foot long! :eek: Interesting..draft beer line NEED regular flushing and cleaning (or else the beer spoils). How come soda lines are not subject to the same maintainance procedures? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940/120 "2012-05-04T19:58:03Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > While at a Hardees, I was waiting for my order at the counter when something (I don’t know what) on fire fell on the floor, and continued burning. Not giving off a little smoke, it was burning. And none of the workers paid any attention, including the person who’d dropped it! > Me: “Isn’t that on fire?” > Them: (Shrugs.) > Me: “Shouldn’t you put out that _fire_?” > One of Them: “Ah, it’ll be okay.” > Me: “It’s on FIRE!” (And the fire was growing.) > (Note that my fiance was in the bathroom at the time. I was about to go running over and pound on the door.) > One of Them: (Very reluctantly puts out the fire.) > > This was many years ago. What, you never heard of floor-broiled? It’s a lot like flame-broiled but lower. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-practices-youve-witnessed-behind-the-scenes-in-restaurants/619940.md?page=7)