To have been put off my food because of this?

[Beagle26]

AIBU to feel a bit revolted by servers handling food without washing their hands or wearing those cellophane gloves? Particularly if they are handling cash and have rings on their fingers. Went into a cafe today to treat myself to a cheese baked potato, and the guy serving me was bouncing it around gloveless, having just used the till. Couldn’t face eating the skin after that (and that’s normally my favourite part) because I was imagining all the germs. I am being a bit tongue in cheek, as I know it’s petty really, but it does gross me out.

Yanbu. I went to a very popular waffle and ice cream place and the lady cut up the fruit directly with her hands. What actually repulsed me was she had those hideous claw nails. Can't imagine the dirt under those. I asked to be refunded and told them why.

I can't eat KFC when the ad says hand made....

Why was he bouncing it about in his hand? Sorry but I just cannot imagine this happening not that I disbelieve you or anything. I remember once I was in subway and the girl grabbed her phone out her pocket in the middle of preparing my sandwich. No change of gloves or anything. I felt like walking out. Some folk really shouldn’t work around food.

I agree, especially annoys me when you ask for a cone ice cream and they can’t even be bothered to put a napkin around the cone.

After the first lockdown we went to a local country park and an ice cream van (not Mr Whippy, a type of retro van) was there and none of the servers were using gloves or napkins (or masks but that’s not the point of this) to serve fresh ice creams, so I decided not to have one. If you can’t be bothered with basic food hygiene then I’m not buying.

Off topic but why has the term 'waiter/waitress' become 'server' in the last couple of years?

I've noticed it all over the place. (Rather sounds like 'servant' as well...)

Whenever I see staff outside a cafe/ pub/ restaurant etc having a cigarette and then putting it out, I always wonder if they are going to go back inside and wash their hands before touching anything.....

Gloves are a red herring. Soap and water is very effective at cleaning hands. Gloves get just as dirty just as quickly as hands do. If they're being used, gloves should be changed every time hands need washing, in addition to changing the gloves.

Unfortunately many food handlers seem to believe in magic blue gloves, and don't change their gloves or wash their hands nearly as often as they should. Blue gloves seem to act as something of a deterrent to handwashing because it's more onerous to take off gloves, wash hands, dry them and then try to force gloves onto ever so slightly damp hands.

As a chef, I worry when I see blue gloves, and only use them myself if I have, for instance, a small cut on my hands.

You are correct about cash handling and rings though (except one plain wedding band, which is permitted)

@truhamboys Good point well made, people are more likely to wash dirty hands than dirty gloves

Gloves are a red herring. Soap and water is very effective at cleaning hands. Gloves get just as dirty just as quickly as hands do. If they're being used, gloves should be changed every time hands need washing, in addition to changing the gloves.

This. Anyway, there are bacteria everywhere all the time. Not much you can do about it. MN is such a hive of germphobia.

Those napkins are to protect the food from the germs on your hands, not the staff's, who should already have clean hands. Ice cream vans normally have an inbuilt hot running water handwash system.

At a country park, however, I would assume that little Johnny has picked up 3 sticks, stroked a dog and picked his nose since you last had the chance to wash your hands.

Handling food after handling money isn't ideal, but not wearing gloves wouldn't bother me at all. Gloves are theatre really and unless changed very often, are as bad as nothing.

You can't wash gloves.

Meh.. I work with kids. There's very little that can out me off my food.

Because someone serving a customer in a cafe is not a waiter!! 🤔

Meh. If it bothers you it bothers you. I don’t think I would have noticed to be honest.

Yabu. The amount of things you are touching throughout your day that other people have touched with their 'grubby hands'... germs are everywhere and everywhere.

Probably because it's gender neutral and that's the way everything's going now (c.f.: "batter" replacing "batsman" in cricket). If you think about it there's no masculine-specific part to "waiter" anyway, but it's for some reason more attached to men than "actor" is. The term "actress" seems to be disappearing on its own.

I once went into a takeaway for a baked potato with cheese. It was a bakery type place with a cafe. The girl behind the counter just grabbed a huge handful of grated cheese and put it on top of the potato. I commented on the lack of hygiene and was told that's how they were taught to prepare them! I politely said I wouldn't be happy eating it and left the shop.

What did they say when u said the reason?

Surely its a health and safety issue 🤮

Not as bad as the place I went to where the server was making me a sandwich, sneezed into her hand, wiped it on her pinny then put the sneezed onto hand on the sandwich to push it all together before cutting it in half. I said no thanks and left and she didn't understand why. Grim.

It isn’t petty - it’s gross.

I went to a fast food Mexican place once back in the ‘80s and the gloveless girl took my money and then proceeded to fix my taco and burrito — with her bare hands!!!

I asked for my money back and left, having scolded her. I should’ve asked for the manager but I was too nauseated.

It’s 2022 — I’ve never been back. Ever.

Some visitors were visiting the town we moved to and my mum was trying to convince them to move there too. In a cafe friend asked for tongs to get cake onto her tray from the cabinet and the server indicated she should use her fingers.

put her off the whole town, they moved somewhere else 😂

God that was 32yrs ago. Bet she still tells the tale

No, YANBU. My DS and DDIL were proudly showing us around the town they've just moved to, and were excited to treat us to brunch at their favourite place.

I watched one of the servers absentmindedly wipe her nose with her fingers repeatedly, then pick up cookies, cutlery, cups etc immediately after. Luckily, she wasn't involved in our food prep. I know it must happen all the time and we just don't see it, but it was very off-putting.

I'd rather someone not use gloves and use clean hands to handle my food. Gloves give a false sense of security. I use gloves as I work in care. In between going to each resident, apron and gloves are changed and hands washed. My hands are in a terrible state due to the constant washing and I have to use steroid cream every day but I'd rather be clean!

Handling money then food is disgusting as money is the dirtiest thing. I wouldn't eat somewhere if the food hygiene standards were so low.