One of my teammates on my high school basketball team earned the nickname “Shitface” the very same way. Another teammate saw him pop out of the stall and fly right by the sink on his way out the door, neglecting to pass Go or collect $200, and then put his hands all over his girlfriend’s face not 10 feet away from the bathroom door. I mean, the guy touched his cock, then his ass, then the doorknob, then his girlfriend’s face, in that order.
Took him a while to live that one down.
While that may be technically true, there could well be a law that mandates hand-washing “when switching tasks”. That’s the law here in San Diego County, at least; it’s vague, sure, but you might be able to bring a challenge under that one if it exists in your area.
Right now I’m that guy. Sorry. If I were sick and I asked to be sent home, I probably would be. But I’d be penalized for it later, and if I called out sick I would see an immediate drop in hours (I already don’t make nearly enough to cover my expenses) and I would run a serious risk of being fired; I’ve had a “Final Warning” about an unrelated incident and I’ve called out sick a lot already due to a cardiac scare. I can’t afford to miss a shift and I definitely can’t afford to lose my job, either. But nobody at my place of business handles food with our bare hands–always with tongs or disposible gloves–and I wash my hands constantly. The only things I touch with my bare hands are the outside of your cup and your money. I can distinctly detect the scent of cocaine on most paper money, so my hands are probably the least dangerous thing that’s been on any given dollar bill in the last few months.
Not to mention the mother that let her little kid slobber on that produce before putting it back, the people going through the store who were touching germy cart handles/wiping their nose/whatever and touching that food first, and so on. The cashier was probably thinking “wtf, do you even know what goes on that belt and how many people touched that food before you?” Wash the produce when you get home.
My statement is about the person that has the sore throat, is coughing, and is losing their voice, or has the nastiest flue. We had a guy come to work with the Chicken Pox. His excuse was he couldn’t afford to take off. It’s an employment issue, and like I said I will wait in a different line, because I can’t afford to get sick myself.
I remember one time at a local Tastee-Freez or something similar, I ordered a sundae. The girl preparing it dished up the ice cream and toppings, and apparently got some on her hands, so she proceeded to lick off her fingers before she handed me the sundae.
I probably should have complained, but I didn’t want to cause a scene, and she really didn’t touch any of the food after the licking incident, but still, YECHH.
When I (briefly) worked at Panera as a second job I kept a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket. I didn’t touch food without those bakery tissues, but I found my hands got a bit tacky after handling money for awhile, so a squirt with hand sanitizer and I’d be good again.
The funny thing is, if she was cute, I bet you wouldn’t have minded if she tranfered her spit to your mouth in a more direct way, right?
As much as I’m on board with food service workers being sanitary, is it really feasable for someone to wash their hands after every transaction? Yes, it’s best if there is someone to handle your cash and someone else to handle your food. But in the case where someone must do both (and these places exist), it’s unreasonable to ask the person to abandon their station after every sale to run off to the bathroom. For one thing, the speed of your service would slow way down.
An instructor that I seriously respected as a #1 standup guy was one of the major players running the organization’s local TKD tournament. A fairly big one with hundreds of people. All day long he’s running events and shaking hands with not only everyone that goes through his events, but lots and lots of passersby and other interested parties.
Then I’m in the restroom when he comes in and uses the can. Walks straight out without washing his hands, off to run the next event.
I don’t go to those places. In fact, I just passed up one place today. It used to be my favorite place until I saw the guy taking the money handling the food. One hopes that there would be more than one person in a food service establishment. But if there aren’t, they can at least use gloves.
Togo’s is pretty good about this. They use gloves and the person cashiering is not the person preparing the food. Of course, one doesn’t know how they prepare the food before you get there, but that applies to all food.
How do you feel about the table clean up where a person with a rag wipes down about 10 or more tables and seat surfaces, without ever cleaning the rag in a cleaning solution?
My experience in the food industry is extremely limited, so my data is twice the singular of anecdote, but…
When I worked at the movie theatre, I handled popcorn, money, tickets, and other things. The only sinks were a floor down, and pretty often we couldn’t leave the counter for any reason. When I worked at the deli, the bathroom was in the back. The front sink was often in use for washing dishes or food prep, and there was no soap. And if we took the time to wash up during the busy times, the manager would get on us.
Does McDonalds have a sink right next to the drive-up window?
You may not see the cleaning solution, but it was probably soaking in super-strong sanitizer for several minutes before the table run, and it’s probably going right back in there afterwards. I don’t worry about it, personally. And it’s not like you eat directly off the table or anything.
McDonald’s usually doesn’t have the same people running the register and touching food, except for scooping up fries, and there’s a scooper for that. If they drop it in the pile of fries, they ought to sanitize it before going on, but these are things best not given too much thought.
When did people become so germaphobic? people are actually afraid to touch money now? How many people have ever died from money germs.
I worked in food service for years and I’ve never heard of this as an issue. In my experience, fast food workers routinely handled money and food interchangeably (it’s not true that the stations are always regimented so that those working the tills never cook the food. Quite often – especially when things are very slow – it’s just one or two people doing everything). When did money become a deadly toxin.
The answer to the OP’s question is no, it isn’t necessary to wash your hands after touching money. There are medications which can help you with your phobias.
Having worked in various food service over the years in Indiana and Michigan, health codes can vary from county to county. I’m ServSafe Certified, and have a good general knowledge of Fast Food requirements.
Most of the time individual chains have stricter policies than the health codes. Not that they are always followed very well.
Also, yes, you’re supposed to wash your hands whenever you switch a task, or if you’re doing the same task for over twenty minutes, you’re supposed to stop and wash your hands.
In a lot of counties in Indiana, they have a handwashing chart, that you’re supposed to fill out, with each person’s name and times worked on the sheet, and they are required to wash their hand once an hour. Never did a Health Inspector want one, though it was always posted.
But on the flip side of that, there were many times it was just one or two people in the store, and we’d go from handling money to packing food, but this was KFC and we had tongs or gloves for the sandwiches. And as a handler of money, I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d get squicked out about where the money had just come from, ew.
I did get one of those kitchen timers, and it was set to go off every half an hour, people would then have to take turns washing their hands at that point, so at least I’d have the peace of mind that hands were indeed getting washed.
Cashiering in a convenience store is enough to turn even the most levelheaded person into a germophobe; there are some nasty people out there. I learned the hard way that when a smelly homeless guy holds out his hand to give you money you do NOT cup your hand under his to receive it. They fish change out of the sewer and other less savory places and it’s covered in muck and filth most of the time. I’d make the guy show me the change and I wouldn’t take it unless it was clean.
There are all the lovely people who sneeze into their hands or wipe their noses on their hands, then give you money. No way out of it, gotta take it. I’ve had people sneeze RIGHT ONTO THE MONEY already in their hands! Thanks a bunch for the virus load, people!
I had a guy pull his leather wallet out of his back pocket and pull out a soaking wet ten dollar bill–I asked him if maybe he fell in the pool or something? Nope, just sweat, he replies. I swallowed my suddenly buoyant gorge, smiled weakly and lay the bill on the counter behind me to dry off.
Call centers are horrible germ vectors too–one guy just lost it one day when he was in a stall next to another guy who did all kinds of smelly business and then walked out without washing. It was “hunt the shoes” the rest of the day until we discovered the culprit and tipped off losing-it-guy as to whom he needed to address his ire. Didn’t-wash-hands guy was all kinds of embarrassed after losing-it-guy got done with him but I bet he doesn’t ever forget to wash after the toilet again!
I’d see people pick their noses then put their hands onto the computer mouse–those that didn’t lick their fingers off first THEN grab the mouse… I don’t touch other people’s mice unless I absolutely have to.
It’s a wonder I’m not all OCD washing my hands four billion times a day and wearing latex gloves filled with Purell, I swear.
