Tell the manager or walk away
 

Today I took 3 of my kids for ice cream cones at a local coffee/desert place.

After I placed my order and paid, the waitress sneezed violently into her hand. She then headed over to the ice cream container and prepared to scoop out the ice cream.

I asked her to wash her hands before touching our food. She gave me a baffled look so I repeated myself. She washed her hands then served our ice cream.

I don't plan on going there again.

Should I call the manager or forget about it? I don't want an apology, a free meal or anything like that. I figure if it revolted me there are 25 other customers who got a similar impression of the place and someone needs to tell the manager. On the other hand it is not my job to do his quality control for him.

Would you tell the manager and then never go back, or just never go back?

Take a photo of the offending employee with your cell phone, and then write to the manager attaching a copy.

Definitely tell the manager. Poor food handling is responsible for an incredible amount of disease around the world.

If an illness is traced back to customers eating there then there is every chance that the store will be shut for at least a short time.

No manager worth their salt wants the bad publicity that illness traced back to their store causes.

The manager needs to be informed of the dire need for hygienic training among his staff. If she does this, it means she hasn't been told otherwise. That means it is the manager's fault. However, if you give the manager her name, she might get fired. The consequence is too hard. So just tell him you saw an employee sneeze into "their" (keep it neutral, even if it's a grammar mistake) hand and then handle the food. Tell him the hygienic way to do this is to turn and walk away as far as possible from the foot before the sneeze comes. Then sneeze into your elbow.

There are hygiene guidelines for food businesses. Tell him you will come back in the future to check. If conditions aren't better you send a letter to the city's health office.

Till

Definitely tell the manager. He/she needs to know. If you were that manager or an owner of a restaurant, wouldn't you want to know if your employees are doing anything that might cause your customers to go elsewhere?

And as others have said, I would keep the specifics of the situation very vague. The goal is not to get that employee fired but to make sure that ALL employees are aware of the proper hygiene behaviors around food.

I would also add to be ploite and respectful and very specific with what you saw. Don't sound like you are coming across as someone looking for a free ice cream.

Let us know how you handle it and what the manager said.

I would tell the manager. There is no excuse for 'baffled looks.'

I'd go back, if the person wasn't working there that day.

I'd ask to talk with the manager. Hopefully, the sneezer wasn't the manager. I encountered something similar in a sandwhich shop and the manager had the poor food hygene issues...

Most of the people doing these jobs are very far down on the job pecking order. They receive little if any sanitation training or on the job supervision. Turnover is usually very high. Telling the store manager is about as useless as writing a letter to the CEO or the local Board of Health. I walk.

MisterNice

Should you do some positive to remedy the situation or just be passive-aggressive and walk away and complain about it on the internet. Seems a pretty easy decision to make.

Wirelessly posted (Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

I say call the Cops...

No needing to call the cops. Just tell the manager immediately. Because the food handling are taking own responsibility need to be washable the hands all of the time. It's against the laws. Every time he/she need to change the gloves all of the time.

If the local Health Department accepts online complaints, that's the way I would go.

Yeah, good idea. he will try have to get file complaints against the restaurant. The Health departemnt will give issued the ticket for that. It's importance where he will write the reports to County Inspections.

YEAH, I AGREE!!! Just make sure you don't call 911:

Man jailed for calling 9-1-1 over McDonald's burger order

Geeze, what an idiot! Then again not the first time i heard someone calling 911 because of their food order.

Definitely let the manager know!

Ditto on calling the manager. And if you're not looking for compensation, then mention that in the letter too.

My wife once observed a McDonald's employee failing to wash her hands before leaving the restroom, and promptly found and informed the manager. The employee was fired before we could even walk out. If you don't tell the manager, you may be exposing other patrons to health risks.

I know McDonalds is not good for us at all. Because it was absolutely very worse meal. So instead, where I will have to eat someplace else. So please don't go to McDonalds for a long time. Because we are no longer eating the lunch & dinners. So I will rather to get eat breakfast time only where I ate steak, eggs & cheese bagels.

Tell the manager!!!

Right. He must try to be informed the manager immediately.

Tell the manager...

Maybe tell manager. But definitely walk away. If she's doing this upfront/out in the open, how often does it happen with other employees out of sight?

This way they will know where to avoid on their break.

tell the manager

That employee deserves to be fired.. no need to hide her identity.

She could well be using the restroom and not washing her hands..

You are kind of screwed if you ever complain in a place that serves food. The workers there will not forget you and right or not someone will take their frustration out on you.

Not going back is really the only thing you can do and not risk a surprise in your next dish.

Several comments above on employees not washing hands after using the restroom have made me pause and think. We've all observed folks not washing after using the facilities at our workplace, in airports, restaurants, most public locations.

I once found myself standing at a urinal before services at my church when the guest speaker entered, used the one next to me, and promptly left without washing up. Not a big deal, it happens all the time, but it was strange how what I'd just seen affected my impression of him and his message.

It wouldn't occur to me not to wash up because this was imbedded deep in my brain by parents who said it over and over again when I was young, and often watched to make sure I obeyed.

My only point here, I guess, is that the judgemental attitude we might harbor to the non-washers rightfully belongs to their parents.

Nonetheless, the manager should have been put on notice.

Not much chance of reprisals in your typical ice cream shop, where you can watch everything they do. But point well taken for most other restaurants.

Did you see them fill the vanilla topping container?

Did you take food from that woman? I would have turned and walked away!

Yes, tell the manager, but your first responsibility is to yourself and your family. Refuse servcie and walk away.

If the manager doesn't listen call the health dept.

Regardless of the complaint, I always direct it to the manager.