AIBU to be surprised about Tesco employee

[Singinghollybob]

I was in Tesco earlier and an employee was stocking the unwrapped individual bread rolls, taking them from the crates and putting them on the shelf. I'm not the most germ - averse person however he was handling the rolls with his bare hands. Am I alone in thinking he should be using the tongs that are hanging below the shelves to handle unwrapped food, and wonder what Tesco's policy is?

it they wear gloves they usually still touch everything with the same gloves. they dont just wear it while touching food.

Gloves aren't anymore hygienic than clean hands and can sometimes be worse if not changed as frequently as you would wash hands.

I have no problem with staff, hopefully with washed hands and basic hygiene, touching bakery items. It's multiple customers, children and the occasional beastie that's the problem.

I am always flabbergasted (a word which may show my age) by the germ paranoia people have. One of the best books I've read in a couple of years was this edyong.me/i-contain-multitudes, which is fascinating and eye-opening and means I let my dog eat poo. Nuff said.

I saw a customer return a sausage roll in Greggs as it wasn't warm enough. The person behind the counter slipped that one out of its bag bag onto the tray behind the counter and gave her another

For those of you that only buy wrapped , how do you think they get in the packets .? Robots ?

YANBU I was in Asda and an employee sneezed all over the fresh veg and carried on stacking them as if nothing had happened. I was really shocked that he didn't even attempt to put his hand over his nose or at least turn his head :(

I used to work at Tesco on the delicatessen, believe it or not, wearing gloves/hats/hair nets isn't a LEGAL requirement, it's just Tesco policy. The bakers don't tend to wear gloves when handling bread as it's more of a hinderence for them. Although I do totally agree using tongs would look so much better to the customer. I remember the disposable gloves we were provided with were poor quality and would end up ripping the moment you put them on.

This thread is hilarious. How has anyone got the slightest immune system? Washing fruit with vinegar???

Sometimes I wonder how my peers and I survived to adulthood.

I used to work the bakery at a Tesco express. Never wore gloves to put them out but we was told to hand wash a lot and I always did. It's some of the gross customers that touch and handle food that are worse tbh.

I dont buy unwrapped stuff that's within the grasp of the general public anymore. My local Starbucks arranged muffins on the counter at perfect sneeze height, I really wanted one but couldn't bring myself to do it. I dont mind if it's in a counter for staff to get.

Ice cream vans are a bit grim too. I always wonder where they go to the toilet! I often bin the cone.

For those of you that only buy wrapped , how do you think they get in the packets .? Robots ?

It’s not the staff that concern me that much as like I said I saw a child drop a doughnut on the floor in Lidl’s and put it back. I also seen a huge fly on a cake in there and that’s not to mention the amount of people that touch them, kids licking them, sneezing on coughing.

Ice cream vans are a bit grim too. I always wonder where they go to the toilet! I often bin the cone

This one freaks me out aswell as the men was placing the flakes on with his bare hands made me feel abit sick. And obviously they touch the cones.

This thread is hilarious. How has anyone got the slightest immune system? Washing fruit with vinegar???

Tbf that's probably the most reasonable of all the things mentioned in this thread. A batch of bread rolls goes from oven to display. Fruit has to be picked, loaded, transported, unloaded, and then put on display. And FAR more people pick over fruit and veg in search of the perfect produce than do so with bread. I would say fruit and veg is easily the most handled and therefore most potentially dirty item in the supermarket.

I would hazard a guess that most people get ill from either not cooking food properly or not storing food properly rather than because someone else has previously touched it.

I lived in a rural area of Somerset which has a upmarket supermarket there. I witnessed the staff putting the floor mats that had been walked on all day lots a farmers with Wellies on and put them over the open/loose fruit and veg trays. They cleaned the floors and then put the mats back on the floor. Made me want to throw up, and I'm not squeamish or ridiculous about hygiene. I complained and they said they'd look into changing their practice.

Meh, it's all just extra protein.

I would hazard a guess that most people get ill from either not cooking food properly or not storing food properly rather than because someone else has previously touched it

When it comes to fruit, I'd say that's most likely not true!

When I said rinse with vinegar I mean i fill the sink with cold water, dash of vinegar, soak fruit for a few minutes and then using a colander I rinse off the vinegar. The acid in the vinegar kills germs and bugs and any other sort of yucky matter. I don't think I am being at all unreasonable with my fruit and salad cleaning 😂😂

@BadSun how many times has fruit made you ill?

OP When you make sandwiches at home or put biscuits on a plate for guest do you wear gloves and use tongs ? Maybe your DC or guests will be horrified because you touched the food and are now petrified they will become so ill

It makes no sense, but gives me the jeebies.
I was in asda waiting for the pizza counter woman, she was helping someone look at the fresh buns/cobs/baps, ungloved hand was touching them all, squeezing them, sniffing them.
Someone has baked them with no gloves on, so it's so silly, and as PPs have said, they'll be touched by every person who walks past.
I dont buy unwrapped products.
I've worked at Tesco, I used to love their pick n mix, until I saw a 4yo walking past with his Mum, pick up a gummy sweet and pop it in his mouth. Mum went mad, made him spit it out, told him it was stealing, and the put it back in with the other sweets

All this "I never buy unwrapped food" is why we have a plastic problem.

Not as bad as being in Pizza Express where I watched the manager sweep the floor with a string mop then used it to do the table top before he reset it with cutlery etc.