2005 Soap Box Archives

Hygiene (or lack thereof) 01/21/05

A few days ago four of my office employees ordered lunch from the same fast food restaurant. In 24 to 36 hours they all came down with serious stomach problems, cramping, vomiting, dehydration and other symptoms which accompany such ailments.

It was not food poisoning which is evident after only a few hours, although the symptoms can be similar.

No this was some kind of e coli bacteria and what really makes me angry is that it was probably caused by some employee going to the bathroom and not washing their hands afterward which in my book is one of the most stupid things I can think of.

There is a sign in all restaurants telling employees to wash their hands after a bathroom visit and I mean, come on, who in their right mind doesn’t wash their hands after going to the rest room anyway?

And not just fast food restaurants but all kinds of restaurants fall short of the mark occasionally.

A few years ago a place in suburban Chicago which was responsible for a couple of deaths and I don’t even know how many near deaths and serious illnesses and guess what the cause was? Something had happened to the hot water system and the manager allowed the dishes to be washed in cold water. Cold water doesn’t kill germs and I can’t imagine how a person could advance to a managerial position without knowing that.

We’ve all heard of similar cases of restaurants breaking the rules of basic hygiene and their customers having to pay the price by spending miserable days and nights, missing work and just generally having their lives interrupted, if not ended.

I eat in fast food places sometimes for convenience and sometimes necessity. Like early in the morning when Hazel and myself are traveling. It saves a lot of time to pull up to a take out window, pick up your food and keep on trucking.

I must say that most of the people we encounter at these places are courteous and hard working. But once in a while we run into some employees who seem to have no interest in their jobs and had just as soon you hadn’t bothered them.

You have to wonder just how conscientious these people are when carrying out their jobs. Do they wash their hands after going to the restroom? Do they clean the grill and the rest of the kitchen thoroughly? Do they make sure that food is kept at the proper temperature and all the other things which go into serving food that is not dangerous to the public health?

Which brings me to a point I would very much like to make.

There are no unimportant or useless jobs, everybody’s job is important to somebody, in fact, it could even involve life and death situations.

I believe that it is the responsibility of the companies who operate these businesses to protect an unsuspecting public from people who either don’t have sense enough or just don’t care enough to practice elementary hygiene.

If it takes better management, hire them. If it takes higher wages, pay them. But they owe it to the American public to make sure the food is healthy.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels