Lipstick on a glass

[StepAwayFromGoogle]

So, our family went out to a local restaurant about two weeks ago for my and my Mum's birthday. Ordered drinks, they arrived, Dad took a couple of sips of his wine and realised there was a lipstick mark on the rim.
We called the bar manager over. He seemed really unbothered. Said "I'm sure you can understand that when we're busy a few glasses slip through the net and don't get polished". We were incredulous. Explained it was nothing to do with them being polished, it was to with them being clean. If there was lipstick on the glass we doubt Covid 19 had been cleaned off. My Dad is 74. It could potentially have made him very ill. The bar manager kept saying "I understand" but didn't apologise or seem to take it seriously at all.
We had other issues throughout the meal - each course arrived with one meal missing, we ordered ice cream for DDs and had to chase it three times before finally giving up and asking for the bill.
Mum asked to speak to the restaurant manager who murmured all the right responses in a dead pan way but also seemed to not be taking the whole thing seriously.
The day after Mum emailed the restaurant to complain, focusing on the fact that in a pandemic they weren't cleaning their glasses properly. No reply in a week. Wrote to the chain that own the restaurant. A week later no reply from them either.
Surely this isn't acceptable? Is there anyone we can report them to? They are potentially spreading Covid merrily around the local population.

Yuk! There should be a law that you wipe your own lipstick off a glass. How can you drink and see the ghastly remains on a glass for someone else to deal with? Bloody hate lipstick. (As you can probably tell)

Pandemic or not that's grim. I expect things to be visually clean as well as having been physically cleaned. Lipstick on a glass is not clean.

Daily Mail - sad face. Surely that’s your next step?

Covid or not having to drink from a glass with the previous users lipstick is grim, just like the waiting staff who hold your glass by the rim when giving it to you no thanks.

Tbf, the shit service was probably as a result of you having an OTT reaction to some lippy on the glass and accusing them of spreading COVID. I think they saw you as a write off and a fuss pot so gave up trying. Not acceptable but it happens.

Tbf, the shit service was probably as a result of you having an OTT reaction to some lippy on the glass and accusing them of spreading COVID. I think they saw you as a write off and a fuss pot so gave up trying. Not acceptable but it happens.

Classic. Can't complain. They'll stop trying.

@diddl

"it absolutely does not mean that the glass isn't as clean as any other on the table."

Kinda does though, doesn't it?

What I obviously meant by that was that I doesn't mean the glass with lipstick harbours any more germs than any other glass on the table

My white plastic chopping board is permanently stained red from beetroot juice but it doesn't make it 'not clean' after it's been scrubbed with hot water and disinfectant.

Obviously the lipstick shouldn't have been there, but the OP's primary concern about it being a covid risk is unfounded.

Most restaurants will be operating with a skeleton staff. That does not excuse the dirty glass though.o

You know as well as I do that some lipsticks are designed to stay on. They're not removed easily even with make up remover whereas covid? - killed off easily with soap and water.

If that glass had been through a run in a dishwasher it was covid safe.

As an aside, I haven't eaten out once since lockdown. I'm at home, staying out of everything like a scared little mouse and even I think your'e BU!

Well this escalated a bit. Not in the slightest bit bothered about compensation - in fact, hadn't even crossed my mind. I was concerned about the Covid risk, which it turns out was completely unfounded, and I think I thanked a couple of posters that pointed that out. Knowing that, yes, we probably have ended up making a mountain out of a molehill. But surely the restaurant could have explained that to us two weeks ago?
The sloppy service is another thing. But we just won't go back again.
No need for anyone to be nasty. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

@ktp100 - Yes, I know some lipsticks are designed to stay on. No, I didn't know that some lipsticks can survive a hot cycle in a dishwasher. I don't wear lipstick and I've never worked in a bar. I've always assumed lipstick on a glass meant it hadn't been cleaned properly. Turns out I was wrong. Every day is a school day.

I agree with you op. Ok it’s not a COVID risk but this is poor service from a restaurant so they should have been bothered.

Lipstick is really difficult to get off glasses. Covid, less so.

Glasses are generally put through a glass washing machine that uses hot water and detergent both of which kill covid.

Glass wash machines aren't great at removing lipstick as they don't actually rub the stain. Ideally all glasses are pre-treated by twisting them in a special sponge gadget to lift the stain before they go in the machine but some lipsticks are very resistant.

Obviously lipstick stains should be spotted before the drink is poured, a good bar tender holds the glass up and checks it before pouring for this reason. If any slip through then the drink should be replaced without quibble but it isn't a covid risk.

Lipstick is a nightmare to get off, glad your mind has now been put at rest.

I knew there was a good reason I've never wanted a dishwasher.

Your washing machine also doesn’t get every stain out of clothes. Are you going to get rid of it too?

It will clean the vast bulk of your dishes better than hand washing.

Glasses can come out if the dishwasher with lipstick on them. There is no chance if any germs if any description surviving the heat of a dishwasher. That’s why pubs, bars, restaurants and hospitals use dishwashers.

You got an apology and an explanation from the manager. If your 74 year old dad is that vulnerable, maybe you shouldn’t be dining out yet!

Honestly, he was at no risk of anything more than finding himself wearing Magenta Magic lipstick when he’s normally a Fuchsia Dream.

Honestly, he was at no risk of anything more than finding himself wearing Magenta Magic lipstick when he’s normally a Fuchsia Dream.

@CatSmith - not sure where you got that from. We got neither an apology or an explanation from the restaurant. Had we done, I'd never have written this post.

My 74 year old Dad isn't that vulnerable. But if he was I think an attitude of "we'll try as hard as we can to protect the vulnerable in our society" rather than "if you're really vulnerable stay in your house and don't go out ever because the rest of us are going to do fuck all to protect you" is the one I'd go for. But each to their own. You do you.

I'm surprised at how many people on here seem to think it's normal and acceptable for a restaurant to give a customer a glass with someone else's lipstick still on it.

It might not be spreading germs and the glass might be perfectly clean, it's still not acceptable and the staff member dealing with it should have apologised.

You'd think that given how parlous the situation for restaurants is at the moment they'd be a bit more aware of the need for decent customer service.

Sounds like it's not the sort of place you're be going back to OP

I worked in a bar years ago and one of the first things they said to you was to look out for lipstick when you were washing glasses in the glass washer.

If a dirty glass does slip through the net, they should apologise and replace it with a clean one.

Lipstick doesn’t come off in the dishwasher where I work we try to clean off before washing with a sponge soaked in a special cleaning solution. They will have been washed but they should really have noticed when pouring the drink if not before but I wouldn’t make a fuss apart from asking for a different glass

You got an apology and an explanation from the manager. If your 74 year old dad is that vulnerable, maybe you shouldn’t be dining out yet!

🙄 They didn't but hey you should suck up bad service.

Not.

I think you'll find customer service from big companies will get progressively worse.

There's a current movement in industries where it comes in to play, to provide a very rudimentary service. The train of thought is , is that 'customers ' have become more grabby and entitled over the last few years, and no matter how much you put into your customer service, it won't be good enough these days, so don't worry about it.