nasty hotels and covid

So, I have a lot of trouble trusting ALL businesses/ organizations that say that they are going to do what they say they are doing with regard to the cleanliness issues and this virus...No matter how "strict" the recommendations from health experts (in any sphere......hotel...spaces with children/teens...pools...bars...restrooms...restaurants.. others)..ugh..


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltBrCJC5BNI"]YouTube[/ame]

I'm rather surprised at the consistent lack of bed hygiene. That was the second item I checked having stayed in hotels three nights weekly on average during my career. (first was peering into closets and showers while front door was propped open for security) Very rarely detected obvious signs of used sheets/pillowcases. We actually had a sly spelling for seldom changed comforters! TV remotes are infamously as or more filthy than toilet seats. And those glasses/coffee mugs? Many properties clean them in-room with cloths. I'd never trust bathroom counters and would lay out a series of Kleenex before setting out toiletries.

Climate control is crucial and I despise the heat, preferring to sleep in in sub 60F conditions! Learned how to defeat energy-saving thermostats as the a/c fan must run for background noise while sleeping. If I had a dollar for every unplugged mini-fridge.... the cycling of mechanism all night is ghastly. Phone ringer disabled after very late arrival when sleeping until late morning was necessary. Nothing worse than a maid call asking if service needed.....

OK, hotel rant off!

LOL! True. Don't get me started on the bed-bugs risks lol (they can't do much about that...but ew....)

This just reminds we of watching people "clean" when I worked at restaurants growing up...Like....It's all about looks for many....it "looks" clean...Sure, the rags they use to wipe stuff off have stop-bath solution on them, but half the time, rather than sitting in the buckets, they just sit on a table somewhere festering...and then the stop-bath (cleaner) doesn't get changed hardly at all...yet it is used to wipe all the tables etc...and then silly people place their silverware directly on the "clean" table..Menus and condiments got wiped down MAYBE once a day (and poorly) because it is usually a task that was saved until the end when everyone was trying to close up and get everything done as fast as they could so they could go home. Honestly, I'd say that it happened far less-- and even they try to make people do this stuff more often, people in restaurants have SO MANY jobs to do and there isn't enough time to get it all done...so corners get cut when people get yelled at for moving too slowly. I doubt this will ever change...especially when tips matter. By the end of the day, after getting yelled at and bossed around, it's easy to just want to go home...especially if you are a teenager and you don't take your job THAT seriously.

About 1 month before this whole thing blew up, I was at a pita place, and the guy making the sandwiches was also manning the cash register. He proceeded to make a sandwich, keep gloves on to touch the same touch screen that they touch when handling cash etc--- even though I paid with a a card (the screen is the same one they use all day)..SO he touches it with his gloves on and then goes back to the line with the same gloves on and is like "okay, what would like you on your sandwich?" I asked him to change them and I felt bad, but seriously?!?!

I have also seen this happen multiple times at other sandwich shops but never had the nerve to call them out...Same with certain pizza places...It's all the places where people work the line and ring people up at the same time...If I take money from someone and touch that screen with money hands, the screen is still dirty when the next guy touches it...SO nasty...and those oven handles...ugh....so many frequently touched surfaces..

I also notice that these places like to hand you your plastic cups by the rim (placing one finger in the cup and one on the outside where you mouth would go)--- I get that they are hard to pull off that stack otherwise, but they should make them use those dispensers that they have at gas stations or something, because that grosses me out too.

Last part of my rant about all of this would have to be that people are constantly wearing their masks below their noses or touching them with their "clean" hands, only to touch other things. It stressed me out!

Ugh bedbugs... a fellow crewmember was bitten on his face at a mangy Holiday Inn at some forgotten city. I returned the following week for another stay and avoided his room. When asked, hotel staff had no "recollection" of the event!

My only restaurant job was busboy during a summer. We used to serve muffins in a basket after guests were seated. The unused portion was recycled into the warming oven - ideal incubator if they were handled, coughed or sneezed on! I recall watching sliced deli meats sitting on a counter in prep room while flies were busily engorging and spreading their treasures! I was 14 and probably lacked ideal habits. Restaurant had a walk-in refrigerator and I frequently stuck my hand in bowl with large strawberries and dipped them in gooey strawberry filling. Inserted into mouth, licked fingers.... No excuse but I copied that from the adults!

At least three gross events witnessed as patron:
1- Ate at a family restaurant in New York circa 1969. Waitress emerged from kitchen bearing a tray with entrees. Sneezed on the food before head turned to side. Didn't skip a beat, walked to the table and served!

2- Ordered a sandwich at employee cafeteria. Server puts on disposable gloves, then scratched an itch on her leg for about ten seconds while I discussed ingredients. Proceeded to make sandwich without changing gloves! No, I didn't eat it....

3- This one is the worst! Had lunch with my stepfather who famously disliked sliced tomato. Left it on his plate.... waitress cleaned table, placed dishes in a bussing bin within view. Removed his tomato before dumping dish and put it on a condiment tray for re-use. Full disclosure, waitress was owner's wife!

OHHHHH THE TOMATO ONE AND THE ROLLS KILL ME!!!!
But yeah, I mean, there are "regulations" but it's not like they get followed half the time anyway...

Touching their face with gloves on is another thing I see a lot--of touching surfaces like counters that are no food prep surfaces and then proceeding to put hands right into food to prepare it.

When I was like 16, I worked a place that had ice-cream (like an old-fashioned soda fountain) and we weren't even required to wear gloves..or any hair coverings or anything-- just reach in and scoop. CAN'T BELIEVE PEOPLE WERE OKAY WITH THIS...

I suspect restaurants have notice prior to health inspections. Think they get warnings in most cases before cited or downgraded. This coupled with low wage employees results in horror stories. Thankfully most of us have suitably robust immune systems and survive.

Oh I forgot other tales.... finding a large roach in frozen container of supermarket sourced manicotti ages ago. Went to a mom and pop restaurant in NYC with a window view of kitchen via hallway to restroom. Noticed a cat walking along a narrow table near sink and prep area. A cat!!! Only thing worse is contemplating the possibility of its litter box in the kitchen lol.

Scott said:

I suspect restaurants have notice prior to health inspections. Think they get warnings in most cases before cited or downgraded. This coupled with low wage employees results in horror stories. Thankfully most of us have suitably robust immune systems and survive.

Oh I forgot other tales.... finding a large roach in frozen container of supermarket sourced manicotti ages ago. Went to a mom and pop restaurant in NYC with a window view of kitchen via hallway to restroom. Noticed a cat walking along a narrow table near sink and prep area. A cat!!! Only thing worse is contemplating the possibility of its litter box in the kitchen lol.

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LOL!! Yeah-- they usually at least have a window of notice (from what I understand)...Health dept states that there will be an inspection at some point in the next 2 weeks or something (my bosses at the time seemed to know because they would usually tighten things up around that time). Plus, even when they do show up, they usually putz around at a booth with a clipboard or speak to a manager first, so everyone in the back can scramble around and try to fix the obvious stuff.

Sadly, many of the infractions aren't super obvious unless you observe long-term (like a fly on the way). So even when they come, they are going to see things like.."chicken was stored above the lettuce" or "dishes sitting in sink" ,but rarely do they observe employee behavior (unless it's something crazy obvious, like lack of gloves on a prep line--and you can always tell it's an inspector because of their laptop or clipboard)....and they never come at closing, which is when a lot of sketchy stuff happens.

That cat story is INSANE....!

OH---The ice machines!! Those are nasty...people scoop out of those things to fill the troughs etc-- and hands are not usually very clean. ALSO-- Both my sister and I worked at places where we saw employees drink from a cup they brought or a large plastic one....and then USE THE CUP TO SCOOP DIRECTLY FROM THE COMMUNAL ICE MACHINE! ...
People also used to use their hands sometimes to get a chip of ice and throw at a co-worker (as a joke)...but hands in the machine...

Redi-whip--- people used to spray that into their open mouths...

Those soda machines--- also nasty (people refill cups that people have already drank out of and when you do, it splashes back up onto the dispenser). I remember at one place we got dinged for that on an inspection and were told to use new cups every time, but that lasted for like a day....

Last one--- the lemons, cherries etc...those "garnishes" omg.. This applies to every single restaurant where I ever worked (nice places too...)

1. they sat in a tepid pool of what was ice at like 8AM but is melted by 10...
2. The tongs were always getting dropped or moved or in use (or left in the dishwasher from the night before and never returned to the station), so 50% of the time, people quickly plop them into drinks with their bare hands!!! Hands that had touched all sorts of things--- like other people's dishes...A waiter will move plates/wipe a table and immediately run out new food as long as their is no visible soiling on their hands that cannot be wiped on an apron. Plus, it gets really hot, so people are always wiping their faces with their hands...

I guess that's why buffets are currently out of vogue, spurred by covid. Piggish folks and lazy staff encourage the spread of germs and filth.

Airline food chain of custody can be sketchy. Prepared in flight kitchens and routed to the aircraft via trucks with lifting beds. On hot days food must be quickly transferred to onboard "chillers" keeping temps safe. No refrigerators aboard airliners - chillers are a halfway method to avoid excess weight. In some cases dry ice is used. I've watched flight attendants drop poly bags of ice to the galley floor in effort to break into pieces. Take bag and place on counter (with contaminants) and toss into bins. Do not ever place food on a seat tray table unless you wipe it down as they are frequently baby diaper changing stations! Lucky if they are wiped down by cleaning staff once per day! (much has changed in the age of covid)

Personal tales of cockpit food service: We are provided dedicated crew-meals on flights as needed by virtue of body clock and hours on duty. Flight attendants will often "share" extra goodies and I was always wary if we ate after passenger service. On more than one occasion, an item such as dessert, shrimp appetizer, or crock of nuts was served to passengers, uneaten, and brought forward!