To think it’s disgusting when checkout staff lick their fingers to open the bags???

[Chocowoka]

As above. I absolutely hate this when I go shopping. I rarely forget my bags, but on the occasion I do and I need to buy a bag, it drives me up the wall when the staff members licks their thumb, opens the bag and proceeds to handle my food.

I was in a bakers recently and bought a sausage roll and the guy serving licked his finger to open the paper bag. I was nearly sick and thought how disgusting is that. If you’ll do that blatantly in front of me, I dread to think how low your hygiene standards when there’s no one there.

Was talking to my friend about it the other and she said the same, she finds it disgusting too. She said “They may as well spit on you. You don’t want any if they’d saliva on your stuff” and I quite agree.

Surely we’re not the only ones to think that?

If I was the owner of a business I would discipline staff if they done that!

It has always been part of the hygiene training you get when you work in stores. You just don't do it!

And if you look behind most supermarket tills they do have a little wet pad.... buried under thereams of other crap!

🙄

I work in a shop and no way is this acceptable. I was once in Morrisons deli and the lady wiped the plastic sheet they put meat on down the front of her mucky pinny, no idea why, I asked her for a clean piece and she looked at me like I was mad. My ears were burning when I walked away but standards really are slipping.

It's definitely a pet peeve of mine, I find it gross.

Completely agree with you it's on par with those self order touch screens and Ipads at macdonalds , just vom

@Chocowoka
It's a pet hate of mine because it really does matter. I have been known to point it out /complain in food shops where they should know better. Even basic food safety training will highlight why you shouldn't do it.

Similarly, I avoid 'help yourself' open deli bars in supermarkets. Bacteriological tests on them often reveal unappetising findings which have nothing to do with the recipes

@Chocowoka if it’s not your problem how they open the bag it also follows its not their problem how you feel about them opening the bag. The easy answer is to say you’ll pack it yourself. Or bring your own bag and stop whining.

@lowlandLucky....do you put your food in the trolley open then? Those trolleys that are stored outside in the dirt and wind and rain and probably have rat piss on them.

SirTobyBelch

How is somebody else's Staphylococcus aureus any different from mine?

Well the answer to that could be quite long. But you'd be happy for a stranger to lick your food before you eat it? Spit on it?
Not to mention that they may carry MRSA even if you don't. Yet.

Good luck with that.

And yet here we all are, all still alive and well. You suck the spit off a partner, your children get spit on you when they kiss you, you open toilet doors in public loos without washing your hands, you handle money thats maybe passed through hundreds of sweaty hands...the list goes on and on and on. And here we all are, all still alive and well.

It's just a bad habit to do this really, people have done it for years and years. and usually without anyone mentioning it. But you didn't have to do this when shopping in the olden days, with white,and brown paper bags for most things.

@OwlBeThere

Well as a couple of people have already mentioned, in some places ie M&S (not sure they other ones) they aren’t allowed to do that.

Regardless of whether a customer likes/dislikes it, the point is it’s highly likely they aren’t supposed to do it!

Believe me, I take my bags 95% of the time but occasionally I do slip up

Meh, can't get worked up about it.

It’s grim.

I avoid cashiers like the plague and use self service whenever possible

@LellyMcKelly

The difference better having my husbands spit is exactly that, he’s my DH. I to t mind his spit. Same with DC, they’re my babies so of course I don’t mind they’re split etc...

I do however mind Sheila from check out 6 spit!

Being*

Sorry about the spellings

I've never seen any shop assistants do this,

All the tills in Tesco seem to that the little damp sponges for opening bags

I was in a pie shop last year when someone ordered a meat & potato. The assistant picked up the pie with bare hands and put it in the bag, then took the payment with the same bare hands. As the next customer approached she did the same again. Pie, money, pie. All bare handed.

I walked out and I actually made a complaint to head office who seemed to make the right noises about hygiene.

So yes, licking fingers to open bags is up there with it for me.

It's disgusting, but I worked in a small shop where the door was kept open, even in the snow. I wasn't allowed water or hand cream behind the till and had no way of opening the bags without licking my (numb) fingers, it was simply impossible without. I just did what I had to do, and stopped working there when I could.

Yes though I've never seen it happen.

Meh. We all touch things every day that other people have touched (having wiped their noses, stroked their pets, licked their fingers, touched all kinds of stuff etc). Think how many grubby hands money has been through. If you could actually see all the microscopic bits of stuff on everything around you, I doubt you'd carry on worrying about a bit of spit. Sure you can avoid cashiers when possible, but think how many people have touched the self-service till.

I've got a better (worse) one! Try working in a jewellery shop when people try on a ring and its tight and they suck their finger and hand you back a drool covered ring.... Vomit.

Then look affronted when you hold up the display tray to put it on so they can't just drop it in your hand ... Double vomit

I can't get worked up about it. As lazylinguist said, if you really wanted to avoid all germs at all costs you'd never leave the house. Also, I don't tend to eat, lick, or handle the middle bit of the bag (where it opens) afterwards, so meh.

"That’s not my problem as a customer how they open the bag though."

"It's not my problem how they do it BUT it must be done JUST how I want it"

Take your own bags. Problem solved!

"Not to mention that they may carry MRSA even if you don't. Yet."

Fucking MRSA!!! Only on MN!