To have offered feedback on a new supermarket worker?

[StitchWitch]

I bought cheese at the cheese counter today and was a bit taken aback that the girl (very young, very clean looking) handled the cheese with her bare hands. After serving me she brushed back some attractive wisps of hair that weren't under her hat and as she handed it over I - much to DD and DS's mortification - asked very politely about their hand washing policy. She looked new and I wanted to make sure she would do it at least if prompted. She said 'oh yes, we wash our hands', gave me the cheese, rearranged her fringe again and turned immediately to serve another customer barehanded. I didn't feel there was any particular danger in this case, but I was pretty sure she wasn't following their guidelines and it made me wonder what other hygiene rules she wasn't following.

I didn't want to make a fuss over nothing so checked the food standards website for guidelines (no bare hands on food, no loose hair etc) before going to customer services. I just said very politely that I felt a bit uncomfortable for the reasons above and the lady looked appalled. She called a manager and I explained it to him in the context of her looking quite new and it being a training opportunity. He was brilliant, perfect attitude. He confirmed that everything she had done was against their policies and confirmed that she was new and obviously needed a bit more training. He thanked me for drawing it to their attention without making a big fuss, and assured me the girl's manager would talk to her about it. All sounded very positive and not punitive. Do you think I did the right thing?

My sister works in a supermarket behind one of the food counters. Her poor hands are wrecked because of how often she has to wash them according to their procedures.

Oh for heaven's sake. I'm not 'scared of hair', I'm just naturally rule abiding. I follow food safety guidelines in my own kitchen (I regularly cook for clients) and when I see them being flouted it concerns me. I gave feedback in the spirit of in being a training opportunity, and the manager took it in the same sense. I had waited to tell him face to face to ensure it wasn't presented as an irate customer wanting the girl bollocked.

Sounds like a mixed verdict, leaning towards me having been unreasonable. I can live with that :)

My hands are wrecked too, Pourquoi :(

Hand washing is done frequently and training says not to touch face or hair, you have to be aware that you do this though and quite often it is done unconsciously.

This. I have a few habits that I didn't even realize I did until people pointed them out. Harmless ones like furrowing my eye brows when my forhead itches.

But as for gloves, yes. She needs to wear gloves.

Although in this instance, you were probably fine. I doubt you got anything from her.

I wouldn't have noticed any of that. I'm agog that others would, tbh.

Dont need gloves! Hand washing often is better than gloves, colleague had lady scream blue murder at him for not wearing any and demanded a manager who also informed her what we had said gloves are less hygienic and trading standards (lady said she was going to report) would tell her the same

You try working on the counters where all you end up doing is constantly having to wash hands. It kills. I'm saying that from personal experience.

Yes she shouldn't have touched her hair then move onto the next customer but as she's new she has to get used to the routine.

Personally I think yabu only because I know that there's so much to think about the counter at any one time.

It was dead in the store, if that makes a difference Huffle? The next customer walked up just as I finished, there wasn't a big queue. I do know how sore hands can get with constant washing.

I reported it largely because the hair fiddling looked like an unconscious habit and it's not appropriate in that role, though it would be less of an issue if she learned to use the packaging to avoid direct contact with food.

why is hair such a transmitter of evil germiness?

Chefs do not wear gloves and handle food. They have the same standards to adhere by, but I have still seem them touch their face and wipe their forehead.

If I worried about everything I would never eat.

I do wonder about the wearing of gloves. I've seen, for example, gloves being worn while making sandwiches, but the person wearing them handles knives, then picks up fillings, wearing the same gloves. Is that hygienic? Genuine question.

OP, no, I wouldn't like to see someone touching their hair, then handling food.

You are all lightweights.

I grew up in the era of "Open All Hours" shops.

Cheeses sitting out on counters, loose goods scooped out of tubs or barrels etc. Nobody cared or worried.

And do you know what? We mostly all survived.

I am allergic to latex, only mild but even though it's not server to carry a pen it's rather uncomfortable. I would rather plan hands than the risk of latex.

The hair thing would bother me.

Poor girl may have lost her job due to your "observation". She may have been on probation. Did you check the FSA on your phone before ambling to Customer Services? Out of interest what age is your DD?

Do you make a habit of pouncing on people who are new to post and reporting them to management I wonder? Or perhaps you should volunteer to train staff appropriately given you appear to think you have the appropriate experience!

salmotrutta I grew up the same and am still alive.

I wonder of the OP bought Stilton? A lot of cheese is made "by hand" without gloves!

The last time I bought something from a shop that used gloves (Subway), I told the assistant not to wear gloves as I was allergic to latex.

She hadn't washed her hands after the last time she wore them though, unbeknown to me. Because the day after I ate the sandwich I had oral thrush for 5 days.

I think gloves lead to a false sense of cleanliness, to be honest.

Hah!

I think some people on this site might actually faint with shock if they knew how Stilton (or Gorgonzola) was made.

Imagine - actual microbes being involved in food production...

Just don't mention yoghurt.

Personally, I couldn't bring myself to get my knickers in a bunch about a bit of hair-flicking.

I worked on an open food counter, I can imagine golves being pretty unhygenic compared to clean, regularly washed bare hands.

The only reason I think YABU is because I now work at a supermarket, and what the manager said about training, etc, non punitive sounding from your point of view - well I don't think it will be.

We have been told we can face a disciplinary if we don't put the climb on stools to reach high places back at the end of the night. Not just tidily, but in the space marked out with marking tape in the warehouse for stools. Oh, and tonight a "photocol" (sic) appeared in the staff room about disciplinaries being issued for any cup left undried on the draining board. And marking tape has appeared on the sides labelled "toaster", "kettle" and, my personal favourite, "Things that go in draws".

So I think she'll get in shit.

oh & ironically, it was overuse of gloves that caused my allergy, which is so bad I carry antihistamines everywhere.

So to me, they are the work of the devil. My kids can't even have balloons in the house because of it, and at a recent birthday party my 6yr old gave the balloon back while all the other kids walked out with theirs....

So yeah, gloves - not so good. Give me a few germs any day.

I do agree that coughing & sneezing on food is grim, though!

I think gloves lead to a false sense of cleanliness, to be honest.
Agreed. I am interested to know what the official word is on the wearing of gloves vs bare hands.

On a related note, as I approached a check out one evening, in my local supermarket, the cashier sneezed into her hands. I'm no shrinking violet, and I grew up in an era similar to that described by others on the thread, but that made my stomach turn.
I went to a different check out.

Fabulous, I hung back where she couldn't see me and continued my shopping in that aisle whilst keeping an eye on the hand washing sink. She didn't approach it once. I sincerely hope the girl didn't get into trouble, but she definitely needed some hygiene training. It was actually blue cheese I was buying, and as I said I didn't see any particular risk. The girl was alone on the counter though, with no direct supervision. If she hadn't grasped the basics of washing hands frequently and not fiddling with your hair every time you're not actively serving, I felt concerned what other hygiene rules she might be breaking. My DD is in her early teens and I teach her and her younger brother (both good cooks) food hygiene.

Jill, the official word on gloves is actually included in the document I checked, but I can't seem to persuade my phone to paste the link. In short, serious consideration should be given to hygiene and gloves are no substitute for hand washing.

www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/cshrpershyg.pdf

Oh good grief, YABU! I could understand if she'd sneezed over your cheese or hawked up all over it. I'd be having words then.
If they have clean hands though, I really couldn't get too worked up about picking it up without (shock, horror!) tongs. Or brushing a wisp of hair away.
It's a wonder how we all lived years ago without any of this germ phobia nonsense.

She wasn't brushing a wisp of fringe away, she was fiddling with her fringe with her fingertips between each transaction. And now I come to think of it, the food item she was rearranging barehanded before serving me was a quiche. One of my clients (who admittedly won't be eating this cheese!) goes into anaphylactic shock at the merest trace of egg. Hygiene matters more in shops when you have no idea what allergies might be at play.