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Unhappy Meals
By Christina Quick | August 13, 2008
I was disgusted to read a story in today’s news about a teenage fast food employee taking a bubble bath in a restaurant sink as a store manager and other workers watched. What are people thinking when they do things like this and then post the evidence online?
While I realize this is an isolated incident, it reminds me why I don’t often eat at such establishments. I have three reasons for avoiding fast food:
1. It’s unhealthy. Yes, there are token “healthy” menu items like yogurt and salad. But let’s be honest. Fast food restaurants make their money serving food loaded with hydrogenated fats, empty calories, preservatives and sodium.
2. It’s not a great value. For about half the price of a fast food meal, I can serve something tastier and more nutritious at home. As an added bonus, I get to skip the greasy tables, dirty bathrooms, tacky décor and shameless promotions for violent movies my kids aren’t allowed to watch.
3. I wonder about the cleanliness. Maybe this isn’t fair, but I seriously question how many of these undertrained workers maintain the same standards I have in my own kitchen.
I’ve accumulated a glut of personal experiences over the years to support my third concern, including one incident that happened just recently.
We were taking the kids to see a play and didn’t have a lot of time to spare. So we decided to take our chances and stop at the one place that was on our driving route, a fast food restaurant that serves fried seafood and chicken.
As I approached the counter with my family, my feet stuck to the floor with every step, my first small clue this might have been a mistake. Then a manager came to the register looking like something, maybe a bag of batter, had exploded on him in the kitchen. He was splatter painted with yellow goo from his hat down.
I took a deep breath, assuring myself accidents happen. Kids spill soda on floors. Things spontaneously erupt. I ordered, bravely trying to give this place the benefit of the doubt.
Contradictory as it may seem, I’m not the kind of customer who cranes my neck to inspect the kitchen. If I’m going to attempt to eat the stuff, I’d just as soon not know what it went through moments before.
So as I was standing there trying not to look, a young employee walked by with a tray of food. Just as he entered my line of vision, a piece of corn on the cob rolled off the plate and landed on the floor. Without hesitation, he reached down, picked it up and plopped it back on top of the mound of food.
He glanced around to see if anyone saw. No one else had. Then our eyes locked.
I’m sure my expression said something like, “Please tell me you’re not going to serve that.”
His face registered fear, then defiance, as his eyes seemed to say, “Lady, you wouldn’t say a word.”
He then put the tray on the counter for customer pickup and hurried back toward the kitchen.
I had a decision to make. I didn’t want to make a scene. It wasn’t even my food. But this was too much. I couldn’t let somebody eat that. This guy’s unsanitary habits needed to be stopped. It was the right thing to do, I decided.
“He just dropped that food on the floor,” I said weakly, incredulously.
“What?” the manager asked.
I was feeling bolder now. “The corn on the cob sitting on that tray fell on the floor, and I just watched your employee pick it up and put it back on the plate.”
The manager seemed strangely underwhelmed.
“I’m sorry you saw that,” he said coolly, reaching over to dump the tray in the trash. “I’m sorry that happened. I’ll talk to him.”
“Good,” I said. “But first, I want my money back.”
“And would you like your order too?” he asked, opening the register.
“No thanks. Just my money.”
We took our refund and went to a deli for dinner. While we waited, I tried hard not to see anything. The next night, we had a nice meal at home.
Topics: In the news |
August 30th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I enjoyed reading your blog partly because I hardly ever eat out. It reminds me of what people say about politics and sausage,(if you enjoy either don’t watch them being made!) I still love to go out and eat, especially when I see people pray! our lives are our ministry to the world, we’re supposed to be “in it” just not to be “of it” feeling hungry?
September 19th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I think we all have our own fast food horror stories, but this one makes me want to avoid them altogether, even when they try to lure me with their $1.00 “value” meals.