Would it bother you if the girl behind the counter in the bakery sneezed on the bread you were about to buy?

[Bluebell99]

I was queuing to buy bread in the bakery this morning, got to my turn and the girl said, excuse me, and then turned away from the counter and sneezed behind her where the uncovered loaves of bread were. She then turned back to me to ask what I wanted without washing her hands or anything. I said "Actually that's put me off" and so I left without buying anything and she looked surprised! I wasn't snooty about it or anything but couldn't face the thought of bread with particles of snot on it. Was I unreasonable. It's lovely bread btw.

My local Asda has a fishmonger who I saw blow his nose and then handle the fish without gloves or washing. I avoid him now though will go if the other staff are on and try not to think how he might have touched the fish

If you knew half the stuff that goes on, you'd never eat again.

I know a thing or two about fray bentos pies, for example, that would turn your stomach.

Not nice, but I've heard far worse and I wouldn't buy it after that.

My Dad works in pest control. He's told some lovely tales when we've been eating out at restaurants...

... not to mention the stories about cleaning out the big vats at chocolate factories.

... or about how many bugs you get in a bag of flour. And which brands have the biggest problem and why.

Shall I stop?

Ewwwwww. I would not have wanted the bread either but am not sure if I would have been brave enough to say so. Good for you I say!!!!

About the wasps on baked goods in Germany...you get them in all food places in hot countries. There's not an awful lot you can do about it.
I wouldn't be bothered by it but maybe that's me being German and therefore used to wasps all over food during the summer. Snoot on the other hand...

When I was a teenager, one of my first jobs was working in the bakery section of a very large grocery shop.

One of the jobs was feeding loaves of bread through a mechanical bread-slicer. We used to be encouraged to press the loaves of bread gently down with our hands so that they would go through the machine faster, and inevitably, somebody would get a finger sliced sooner or later.

What was meant to happen was that this was reported, an incident form filled out, and the machine dismantled and thoroughly cleaned before being put back together.

Because this took so much time and effort (not to mention no bread getting sliced!), what actually happened is that anybody who cut themselves would get such a harsh telling off by the supervisor that they would 'magically' never have an accident again.

People kept on having accidents. They just quietly bandaged their fingers and carried on.

I can't buy sliced bread to this day.

Good for you Bluebell. Countless times in Tescos/Sains the person on till will either sneeze, scratch her neck or worse whilst touching my groceries. Why on earth would i want to pass onto my kids any virus that she has after she has sneezed onto her hands and touched my veg? Can we really be the only ones to have notice or is there a reticence in this country not to complain about anything?

I had similar at a deli counter... a girl sneezed into her hands then continued to serve me my ham. At first I was so socked that I didnt say anything and went away. then thought.....I just cannot serve this to my dc so went back and gave her back the ham and told her why. She did look rather shocked

eww, YANBU i would not buy it either !

Gross

Thinking I will be baking my own bread in future!

Urgh. In college I had one early start, so every week would get a bacon cob from the local Spar. One week I was at the hot food bit and the shop girl came off the till, picked up the cob to cut it. I said weren't you just handling money or something similar and she said, very chirpily, 'I do both jobs!'. Erm no that wasn't my reason for asking! I asked her if she had washed her hands and she looked puzzled so I walked out. And never went back. I still wish I had emailed the company..... money is gross.

Yes money is dirty. I used to work with a guy that carried his notes around in his underwear!

Urgh urgh, I really hate money- which is an odd thing to say but I've worked in several shops and my hands would stink after a shift. Worst was in the summer season in Newquay- can't even remember how many times I was handed money from bikini tops, socks, wetsuits etc etc

Oh and I've also worked in a bakery before and I will never, ever shop in one!

I am actually never eating anything again.
Unless I grow it and and prepare it myself.

Ewww, I was always funny with food but this has just ruined it for me.

I don't even buy unwrapped rolls in the supermarket any more because one day I saw a woman test them all for crustiness before choosing one.

Vile. Entirely reasonable of you I think. DH and I were house hunting a few weeks ago and stopped off at a cafe in SW London to grab a quick sandwich. Place looked ok, woman appeared behind counter so I gave her my order, watched as she cut the bread with no gloves then looked again to see her hands were filthy, literally caked with dirt under the nails. Instead of saying 'you're too grubby to make my lunch' I took a faux phone call in my phone and gestured something alOng the lines of 'sorry have to leave urgently'. Hideous.

YANBU though I would have not had the nerve to say to her!

Those who say they would never buy bread from a bakery, would you not buy it from anywhere then - would you only make it yourself?

DH was in Atlanta on business recently. He went into mcdonalds with a colleague and the server suddenly ran out and vomited in the street then came back and handed them their food. Needless to say they didn't eat it!

Stop stop stop!

I can't take it anymore, but it's car crash viewing so I can't hide the thread either.

Are the half-baked baguettes ok then? The ones you finish off in your own oven?

I make my own bread after watching the woman at the local bakers wipe her snotty nose with her fingers and handle the bread. ick

But someone up thread said there were beasties in flour what am I supposed to eat dammit? I do not own a farm.

la la la I cant Hear you regarding flour

whispers
Don't eat organic...

I get hayfever and work in a hospital so unfortunately the odd sneeze is unavoidable. However I always make a massive point of using a tissue, throwing it in the bin and washing/gelling my hands immediately after. Yanbu. I also hate it when I see people wiping their nose/touching their face/hair when preparing food. And don't even get me started on the chef I used to work with who allowed sweat from his face to drip into the food. Boak!!!

I remember reading an article a long time ago about the permitted number of insects/bits of insect 'allowed' in chocolate bars-it was surprisingly high...

Put me off for all of 5 minutes!

I bake my bread most of the time, but stuff in the flour doesn't bother me so much (as long as it is cooked it's probably ok)