My confessions as a fast food+restaurant employee.

[pBLU-RAYs3]

The things I have eyewitnessed while working at both of these places. Both are franchises. I no longer am employed in this industry. One is a subs fast food place, the other is a dining type style that you find common on street corners, shopping malls. I choose not to name for personal reasons. It was a wake-up eye opener for me.
1) no such thing as a clean napkin-ALL napkins left by customers placed back into napkin holders- reason: cost
2) customer returns ordered items- Passed on to next unwilling customer who order same item within time frame.
3) you've heard of the 5-10 second rule when dropping something to the ground- More like if customers don't see it, serve it.
4) Washing hands seem to be the biggest rule breaker. I've reminded co-workers a few times to wash their hands(almost male workers 99%). You would think this rule is easy to follow, but no.
5) Co-worker sitting on food preparation tables/counters as resting seat. I've told him it's unsanitary. He's wasn't bothered by it. I notified manager, manager's response is "I didn't see it."

Also, more common knowledge, 1) better to order in person because drive-through & to go orders is where the customer doesn't always get the fresh-est food. 2) Wow, very high turn over of employees at the fast food I was at. Hired help seems a bigger priority than sanitary conditions.

Haven't seen any tampering of food by disgruntled co-workers but I was there for 1 shift. One man got fired for stealing from register, another one for pigging out too much. Care to share any stories you've seen/heard/read?
EDIT: Quality conditions all depends on the higher ups at said location.

[jstutman]

You didnt report this to the health inspectors when they do there reviews?

Your employee didnt by law list the department to file complaints with the corporate office?

A franchise can lose there franchise, very quickly when they are found to be violating policy set forth by the franchise contract.

IMHO: Your failure to report these findings is a bigger crime than that of the actual violations.

[KilloWertz]

I work in this industry and the store I work at doesn't have these problems. While it wouldn't surprise me if some places did, it's due to poor management. It is absolutely amazing that they let people do all of that at the places you worked. More amazing than customers going to one fast food place and thinking they are at a different one. That never gets old. Also, I agree with jstutman on everything.

[Marquoz]

I worked fast food before and well, it was bad. A patty for a burger gets dropped on the floor? Dust it off, toss it on the grill and heat it up to sterilize it. Bored at work? Pull some chicken nuggets out and play with them, have them dance around the station, then toss them in a box for somebody to eat. Play catch the tomato on the burger by flinging it on the ceiling so it stuck for a second and then it falls on the burger. If it hit the ground toss it on the burger anyway.

Washing your hands? Everybody there was 16, nobody cared one bit about it. Gloves while preparing food? Too much money.

[AppleCrumbDlite]

Originally Posted by jstutman

You didnt report this to the health inspectors when they do there reviews?

Your employee didnt by law list the department to file complaints with the corporate office?

A franchise can lose there franchise, very quickly when they are found to be violating policy set forth by the franchise contract.

IMHO: Your failure to report these findings is a bigger crime than that of the actual violations.

Whoa

[ThePhantomOak]

And yet, people in the United States almost never get sick eating.

If they follow 10% of the rules, we are living a very safe. I have eaten pigeon that was caught off the street cooked in a "fryer" that might never have been cleaned off of plates washed in what ever water was available.

What ever "nasty" thing some goof tries to scare me with, I frankly dont care.

[Marine Mike]

OP: How would you know if a woman didn't wash her hands? Do you hang out in the women's bathrooms?

Next question, if you are a woman, how do you know that male employees aren't washing their hands? Do you hang out in the male restroom?

Last question, why do you hang out for the majority of your day in restuarant restrooms monitoring handwashing?

[Marquoz]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

OP: How would you know if a woman didn't wash her hands? Do you hang out in the women's bathrooms?

Next question, if you are a woman, how do you know that male employees aren't washing their hands? Do you hang out in the male restroom?

Last question, why do you hang out for the majority of your day in restuarant restrooms monitoring handwashing?

Some of the restaurants I worked at had a sink behind the counter where you were supposed to wash your hands. They might have seen people not using that one.

[Ferris]

Originally Posted by Marquoz

Some of the restaurants I worked at had a sink behind the counter where you were supposed to wash your hands. They might have seen people not using that one.

Well, most restaurants have sinks throughout the place...

To the OP:

You worked an an abhorrent place. I want to call out that in my experience in what the OP is saying is more the exception than the rule. I don't eat fast food much anymore, but I do this because it's not the most healthful food.

I worked in fast food and restaurants for 7 years (as an employee and manager) and have NEVER seen anything like this. You have the occassional case where someone forgets the need to wash their hands after touching their apron, but what you posted is absolutely flagrant. From time-to-time, slip-ups are expected, and there are some terribly managed stores out there, but they're relatively rare across wide regions.

[mikejet]

That's why I like In-n-Out and how open everything is. You can watch your burgers inception from start to finish.

[Mike53421]

One Mcdonald's near my house in Mississauga, Ontario, friend of mine told me he once heard of somebody peeing on the grill but not sure how reliable that is. However, I am never going to that location. I'm sure something bad has happened to fast food places but until I have a bad personal experience I won't be overly paranoid, you kinda just have to expect it... I guess.

One Pizza Pizza near my house, the employee went to hand me the slice, SNEEZED, and I handed the slice right back to him, I haven't been to that location in probably five years or so now.

[jkwest]

what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, IMO...I'm not going to live in a bubble my life, so, this kind of stuff happens some places...I realize that...I accept it and I move on and live my life. The Human Body is quite resiliant...it will tell me when something bad happens..

[Bigdog]

You guys do know that many high end restaurants suffer from the same dirtiness also right? There is a reason why most places keep the kitchen far out of view.

[Downhere]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

You guys do know that many high end restaurants suffer from the same dirtiness also right? There is a reason why most places keep the kitchen far out of view.

You would have thought that everyone has seen the movie Waiting... by now...I think that explains it all.

[Deemarr22]

Everything has some sort of germ on it, no matter how much you try avoiding it. Something will always be there. Sad, but true.

[pacificvibes]

Why on earth did I read this right as I am getting ready to go and get lunch, great...

[Batman1980]

Well the sad truth is most fast food restaurants are staffed by children so you're not going to get the sanitation standards you would at a sit-down restaurant but that's to be expected when you pay a little less for your food.

[JamesKurtovich]

I've worked in a diner and at Checkers Drive-Thru, and I can say that some places are better than others. It all depends on management.

At our place, the only bad thing I witnessed was our grill guy spitting in one guy's burger because he thought he was a "poser". We would eat fries out of the fry holding place all the time, of course with gloves on.

We NEVER put napkins back into the dispenser. I've never seen that happen. Ever.

When we dropped food, we'd make new food. I believe the worst occasion was we'd run a hotdog through the sink to clean "stuff" off of it.

When a customer returned food, it wouldn't go to another customer. One of the employees would get it.. since it's kind of pointless to throw it out. (A LOT of food gets wasted in these places)

Checkers is considered a pretty trashy chain too.

[DutchBoy]

Originally Posted by mikejet

That's why I like In-n-Out and how open everything is. You can watch your burgers inception from start to finish.

And the burgers ain't half bad, either. Believe I'll go have myself a Double-Double for lunch.

I worked fast food for a couple of years as well (Chick-Fil-A). While I'm not sure I ever saw anything as flagrantly foul health wise as that, I'd rather not talk about many of the other things that went on in the back.

[Another_Dude]

Originally Posted by mikejet

That's why I like In-n-Out and how open everything is. You can watch your burgers inception from start to finish.

They have cattle?




This is why I like living in Kansas, you really can watch your burger, steak, chicken, pork chops, bacon, etc from start to finish.