What do you do when the person behind the chip counter coughs profusely without care!

RantorRave

Picture this, your in a takeaway or restaurant and the person either serving your chips or waiting on your table coughs continuously without putting their hand in front of their mouth, or really caring that they are poluting the air around you and probably your food. This has happened me twice now in last few weeks, and while my wife is more tolerant, it drives me up the wall. Next time should I;

a) Tell the person behind the counter or waiter to put their hand in front of mouth.
b) Just walk out without paying bill and if they argue, threaten to report on health grounds
c) bite my lip and say nothing

what do I do?

Latchy

Just dont go to the place in question again .

themadchef

Latchy wrote: »

Just dont go to the place in question again .

:eek: Latchy, NOooooo. Seriously, speak up. Jesus, if i seen someone coughing into my food i sure as hell would. The "say nothing" attitude is half the problem, if more people spoke up maybe more people would take notice!

Maybe they dont even realise they are doing it? Don't pay for a service you are not happy with, and dont just sit there whispering under your breath

Latchy

themadchef wrote: »

:eek: Latchy, NOooooo. Seriously, speak up. Jesus, if i seen someone coughing into my food i sure as hell would. The "say nothing" attitude is half the problem, if more people spoke up maybe more people would take notice!

Maybe they dont even realise they are doing it? Don't pay for a service you are not happy with, and dont just sit there whispering under your breath

I agree themadchef but if you go to any place that has bad hygiene practices ( individuals ) then wouldn't in a hurry to go back to get the same treatment .But a letter , phone call of complaint ( to the food place in question ) would be the correct way to go about it before calling in ' Elf and safety ' who might not be in any great hurry to check the place out anyway .

the_syco

RantorRave wrote: »

a) Tell the person behind the counter or waiter to put their hand in front of mouth.
b) Just walk out without paying bill and if they argue, threaten to report on health grounds
c) bite my lip and say nothing

Do (A). Why? Because (C) is stupid, and in the case of (B), the H&S will ring the place beforehand, tell them when and what date they will be over, and everyone will be told to wear clean clothes, be fresh smelling, and do everything by the book, or get sacked. That's how it was like 10 years ago, and they still ring ahead.

Tell them to cover their effing mouth when coughing. Of, if their are kids areound, say loudly "can you please cover your mouth, and not cough on my food". Mortify them

tony1kenobi

Hand them a €20 note with some poo on it. See how they like it.

jor el

RantorRave wrote: »

Next time should I;

There is no next time. You should have spoke to the manager about it, then left. Why would you let someone who's sneezing on your food, bring you food, that you'll then pay for and eat?

MOH

Sneeze on your cash before handing it over.

kimmykins

complain straight away and demand a new FREE portion of food

Cabaal

kimmykins wrote: »

complain straight away and demand a new FREE portion of food

that they just sneezed on and god knows what they've done out back?
ah no

the groutch

I'd go for option B every time

calex71

B, would seem to imply that the food would have been eaten after being coughed on ?


For me a simple , "do you expect me to eat that after you coughed on it" and then never return to the place.

alexmcred

Having worrked in the food prep industry for over 10 years at this stage I have yet to receive a phone call from The Environmental Health Officer that they are coming. They show up on the day and have to be granted access to assess the place.

Op I would complain to the management on the night.

If You report them to the Health board they will come out and investigate.

the groutch

alexmcred wrote: »

Having worrked in the food prep industry for over 10 years at this stage I have yet to receive a phone call from The Environmental Health Officer that they are coming. They show up on the day and have to be granted access to assess the place.

they don't give a call, but they hit alot of places within an area on the same day or week

where I used to work they had an agreement with all of the other supermarkets within a couple of miles radius that if one of them got a visit, they gave the heads-up to all the other ones

the_syco

alexmcred wrote: »

Having worrked in the food prep industry for over 10 years at this stage I have yet to receive a phone call from The Environmental Health Officer that they are coming. They show up on the day and have to be granted access to assess the place.

Odd. When they came to the place where I worked, the manager would arrive in about an hour before they came, and everything would be in ship shape.

Yes, not just the day, but he time of them coming in was known. This happened both 10 years ago in a restaurant, and just over two years ago in a cinema.

alexmcred

If it was every time there is something very suss going on or they were hitting the same places every time and everyone got to know the routine.

partyatmygaff

Health officers can do pretty little tbh, if 1 restaurant/shop gets hit they spread the news and in 10 minutes everyone in the area readys their shop and it looks great.



I dunno if any of you have actually worked in the catering industry but its not as ultra-rigid re: hygiene standards as you may think.

alexmcred

Haw worked in it for a number of years and would have to agree that their application can be very uneven. Having worked in a very popular chain the stuff they came up with seemed off the wall, having worked in a different chain they got away with murder.