ALadyNCal

We wanted a small lunch on Sunday & decided to get out of the rut of our 2-3 normal places. Saw a poster for a chicken wrap on the TOGO's window & thought it looked interesting. We NEVER go to TOGO's -- it's been yearzzzzz.

It was fairly quiet. The guy takes our order and starts making the first of our two sandwiches. He is sniffling. OK. He sniffles more. OK. He wipes his nose on his shirtsleeve (between his elbow & shoulder). OKAAAYYY. BTW, his badge said 'trainee' on it... Then, just after he wrapped the second sandwich, I saw his NOSE DRIP

We take our tray & sit down. I asked my husband if he thought it was OK to eat these and he said "yes, I was watching him VERY CAREFULLY" Granted, the server was wearing GLOVES....but the whole thing made me uneasy.

There were 3-4 employees there, all young. No one 'appeared' to be in charge or a manager. I wasn't sure if we should've canceled our order and left or tried to bring to someone's attention that he SHOULD NOT BE MAKING FOOD or what

What would you have done?

dchristiva

After the second sniffle, I would have asked, "are you feeling okay"? On the third sniffle, I would have politely said "you know, I've changed my mind" and headed out the door. No reason to take a chance when I can plainly see that the server's got some kind of nasal issue. If he'd said "bad allergies", I might have let it slide. But a dripping nose? That's a deal killer for me.

Canarsie

I hope that was not because he might have snorted the coke...

...er...I mean Coca-Cola...

wharvey

No way I would have eaten that food....

youreadyfreddie

He shouldn't have been working.

sammy0623

slightly OT, but i wouldn't put your faith in gloves. study after study has shown that people are less likely to change their gloves as they would be to wash their hands if they weren't wearing them (this isn't just foodservice, hospitals and health care have similar results)

Princess1

I would have politely asked for my money back. I've done that with a Jack server who couldn't stop playing with the cig. behind her ear, and the cashier at the Nathan's stand in EWR who filled my fry order with her bare hands right after handling money.

chanp

Id would have not had him complete my order. talk to a manager or called later and asked if that was proper for an employee to work while ill. if not emailed togo's.

SDF_Traveler

I wouldn't have eaten; I would have asked for a manager and brought it to his/her attention and/or left.

The employee probably shouldn't have been at work; unfortunately many employees in the foodservice industry do go into work sick. If the employee wasn't a teenager and was paying their way through school or earning a living, they're already dealing with a low wage and likely have no benefits, no PTO, no sick leave, etc.

ScubaCat

I have to pile on a bit here -- every time I've ever worked in any form of food service, if someone was even suspected of being sick, he/she was sent home immediately. I definitely would not have eaten that food.

[Side story -- I ordered a sub at a subway by my house and noticed that the guy (we'll just say he was not originally from the USA) was not wearing any head covering and had quite a few strange white flakes of something all over his hair. Once I realized this, I told him I simply changed my mind and walked out and have never returned. That's the way I handle people with bad hygiene or who are sick and working in food service..]

braslvr

How do you folks deal with the multitudes of employees that you cannot see? All the kitchen people?

Personally, I just figure I'm taking a small chance of catching something every time I eat out, shake hands, handle money, touch a door knob or any other object that other people touch, etc. etc. This is why we have 'immune systems'. Totally needless stress.

gj83

The Wendy's in the Ithaca, NY mall made the cash handlers wear gloves. Let's just say I never ate at that wendy's.

I pointed it out to coworkers and they thought it was a good idea to wear gloves b/c they put the food on the trays too. I never got to the point of actually filling out a comment card. I just took my money to other places. I couldn't remember if ServSafe specifically prohibited cash handlers from wearing gloves or just said to change them before actually handling food.

NB: most hand hygiene things I have read say you should still wash hands before putting the gloves on, not just take one pair off and put on a new pair...Maybe TSA needs handwashing sinks in the work area.

thenelsons

No matter how hungry I was I think the drip would have killed my appetite ...how was their health rating??

mikew99

Like how sausage is made, I try not to think about it.

But if I can see that the person in front of me who is making food I will eat is sick, that would just make me too sick to eat.

msimons

Being single, I have some preferred restaurants to eat out, always eating at the bar section.
On occasion, the bartenders had a cold, I draw the line where they sneeze in their hand...then proceed to make more drinks.
Once after having them remake my drink, had to talk to mgr, and he took him/her off duty.

If its just an odd sneeze, and they catch it on their elbow...no problem.
But can only let things go so far.