So I went to the coffee shop in my building today and ordered a drink (hot apple cider). I get home and realize they gave me the wrong drink. I go back to the shop where they had also realized their mistake and had my correct drink sitting on the counter.
I ask if they could give me a fresh hot apple cider (because it’s been sitting on the counter for 10 minutes). So the barista pours it back into the big pot and pours me a new cup.
This strikes me at the very least, stupid. Don’t pour the cool drink into the pot before you serve me a new one.
But, more importantly, this strikes me as gross, even though the drink was in a cup with a lid.
It’s probably not a health code violation although an inspector could make it one if they felt like it. Assuming the drink was poured into a clean container and kept covered there’s nothing wrong with doing that. The problem is that the cup was probably not being observed the whole time. Someone could have come along and lifted the lid to take a sniff or a taste. But health rules in most states are not quite strict enough to ban that practice outright.
I’m with TriPolar. This is a case of “would I do that if I were at home?” Most certainly. I hadn’t thought of the sitting unobserved aspect. But otherwise, a-ok with me.
Wow, yes, I’d say that’s a big no-no, particularly in this covid world. They don’t know if you’ve taken a sip, mingling your spittle with the drink, or god knows what else you might have done with it.
In theory you are probably right. But it still feels like they could have spent the slightest bit of effort not looking like they are pouring unused drink back in the serving pot.
Yeah, maybe not a problem from a scientific standpoint, but probably a health code violation - “Foodstuff once served (in any form) must not be returned to a preparation container…” In any case, a no-no.
I am unclear on this “cider pot” so please excuse my ignorance.
Is this, like, a large vessel on simmer/boil from which, presumably, fresh drinks are pulled?
If so, did the cooled (but presumably otherwise untouched) drink get poured back into a communal vessel that re-boils the whole lot?
In that case, I’d assume the heating of the ingredients would nuke any imaginary germs that somehow could be re-transmitted back into the general cider.
I’ll allow, however, that the optics ain’t great. Wait a sec until there aren’t any customers to see, then pour the cold/unwanted drink back into the main pot.
It was the cup they were going to give to msmith537. There are probably lots of moments when something that’s going to be served to a customer sits unobserved for long enough that someone else could conceivably sniff or taste them, but it seems paranoid to worry about it.
I agree. That’s why it was wrong even if there was a high probability that nobody contaminated that cider. Unless that server had eyes on the cup at all times he should have tossed it. Obviously if he poured the cider in a clean cup, immediately realized it was the wrong thing and poured it right back in the container then reasonable people wouldn’t object. If was done in front of an inspector he should cite the place just for being stupid.
I don’t know where this place is, a lot of little shops are having a tough time, I wouldn’t want to see the place get cited by the health dept. for something so mild. They just should be smarter. Losing a customer will cost them much more than the value of a cup of cider.
It’s not really that paranoid at all. I read the Starbucks reddit from time to time, and a very common occurrence is someone grabbing a drink from the handoff, taking a sip, and only then looking to see that it’s not what they ordered. Many times they then set it back down, and if the worker hadn’t noticed them doing so, the real customer wouldn’t have known. People are stupid and selfish.
I don’t think there is any health issue involved, as long as the barista is sure no one else has touched it. However, appearances are important. The actual cost of the cider to the coffee shop is trivial, and not worth making a bad impression. While it would have been OK to give the customer back his original drink, if he wanted a hot one it would have been better just to toss it and draw a fresh one from the pot.
I once mistakenly put an extra sandwich on a customers tray. The customer got halfway to his table, did an about face and then informed me of my mistake. I took the sandwich still in it’s wrapper and put it back in the warming bin.
The manager then promptly took it and threw it in the trash: “Anything that goes over the counter goes in the trash”.
