Telling her not to let her child touch all the food?

[aaronslands]

I'm currently on holiday and this morning went down for breakfast
It's a buffet breakfast.
I'm stood behind a lady and her daughter (probably 6 ) and she's walking around touching the sausages then she touched the bacon
The mum is saying "oh do you want that?"
The daughter says no and she walks on (leaving the food she touched )
After the 5th time she did it
I said "excuse me ,I don't mean to sound rude but it's not very hygienic to let her touch food if she's not going to put it on her plate-it's a bit off putting for other people"

She looked at me -said nothing and kept walking

Was I in the wrong?

I saw a man in Sainsbury's picking up bread rolls sniffing them and putting them back. I never eat unwrapped baked goods now.

You’re being unreasonable because you were there at the time however imagine how many people sneezed and coughed all over it before you got there 😉.
Yes it’s not polite and it’s gross but it’s a child and probably isn’t gonna kill you.

Oh I've seen a man systematically open jars of dolmio, close them and put them back. I told staff and I guess they had to throw them all away. Always double check the pop up button, in case jar guy's been earlier.

And I've accidentally bought a partly drunk bottle of water before 😫 I'm so glad I noticed before I sipped.

It's possible to do that without sounding demented though.

"Don't touch the food, that's dirty" is far more effective than "FUCK OFF OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR BRAT".

And this is why I hate hotel buffets - ok if staff are there to serve but self service and you always get this kind of thing.

I was really hoping restaurants/hotel buffets would be a thing of the past after covid. ( I know it's cheaper and faster but it's still grim).

I agree. I either go for breakfast really early when there's hopefully less chance of food having been handled, or avoid hotel breakfast buffets and go out for breakfast instead.

I never buy unwrapped bread. I used to go to a coffee shop a few years ago, which did lovely (looking) pastries and scones. But, all out, uncovered, I just couldn't buy them. 🤢

I saw small kids in a supermarket one day, squishing their fingers into yoghurts. 🤢 I don't think there was an adult with them, or nearby.

I told a staff member and I presume they removed the yoghurts.

@Verbena17

doesnt matter whether it’s a child or adult, it’s still gross and isn’t acceptable
child germs are no less than adult germs
op did exactly the right thing
go op!

Some people are really clueless/grim arent they? What part of dont let your kids dip in or touch the food do these adults not understand.

And dont get me started on people who are drinking in AL resorts at 0900 in the morning or are piling up their plates at the buffet to get their monies worth

It is disgusting. I was at a breakfast buffet once and saw a woman touching pieces of toast with her hands then putting them back. Vile. At least a child may not have known better and her Mum should have told her. But a grown woman doing it is disgusting

This is what puts me off buffets tbh

It's totally possible - any premier inn or similar buffet is accessible

I had a mother like this. (All else she was a good mum) we were in Morrisons and I was touching the bread with the flour on it An older man (rightly) went up to me and said ‘we don’t touch food we are not going to buy’. Well mother dearest gave him a scowl and said ‘she has autism’ (I do but even more so of a reason to keep a closer eye on a kid). In some situations some other wise great parents have a blind spot when it comes to their darling. Well done OP, maybe the little girl will think twice before she goes touching food she isn’t eating or buying.

How horrible.

I was in a Carluccios where they very unwisely displayed all their cakes and desserts on a large table at one side of the restaurant. I was queuing for a table for coffee because the place was full, and I happened to be standing beside this table. A child of about 5 (no younger - could have been older) kept coming up to the table, looking up at me and other adults in the queue and then sticking her finger in the creamy cakes, licking it and repeating. I told her off (I don't care who disapproves of that - they can come over here if they're hard enough!!!) by frowning and saying '"No - you mustn't do that - people can't eat those cakes if you've licked them!" I did not smile or show that I though her behaviour endearing in any way - it was more of a death stare.

I could see the parents and grandparents sitting at a big table nearby (girl and younger brother kept running back and forth to them). I saw the mum look over while the child was contaminating the cakes and just look away again quickly...a look which said..."If I don't see what's going on (which I do...) I won't have to deal with it."

I quickly found a member of staff and told them what had happened, and which of the big cakes (about 5 ) I'd seen the girl scooping and licking cream from. The look on his face! He'd clearly been aware too, but now I'd told him he was going to have to do something about it. What a shame and a waste of lovely cakes.

When I went back some weeks later, that big table had disappeared!

Also once had coffee somewhere and at the next table a couple were allowing their daughter (again, school age - old enough to be corrected) to pick out the lovely brown sugar lumps from the bowl, put them in her mouth and then replace them in the bowl. Lovely! They knew what she was doing. I bet they'd have made a fuss if someone else had done this to their food! I just don't know why they didn't stop her. Again, the little girl was catching other people's eyes with a 'Aren't I sweet...and naughty!' look.

Some parents are weird.

I’d like a rule at hotel buffets that no under 12s help themselves. I don’t want their hands touching everything. That said, some adults are as bad.

Exactly, put more succinctly than I did.

It's disgusting and why hotels with open buffets often get mass outbreaks of d&v - we often go all inclusive skiing and it never ceases to amaze me how many kids get their grubby hands all over the food (and their parents don't see an issue with it).

YANBU OP. It would have grossed me out too

No you were not, some parents make me so angry just never tell their children don't do anything. X

@maddiemookins16mum , a lot of hotels have that rule, about young children not allowed to serve themselves, but they can't forbid parents to take their children with them to the buffet I guess. And some parents do a good job, teaching their children, how to first look, then put one fooditem on their plate etc. Others, well, .......

So no tongs? Very strange breakfast buffet. I'd go elsewhere next time. Wouldn't be happy having meats etc that other guests had touched, 6 years old or older.

In my experience bacon and sausages are hot in a buffet breakfast, on hot plates.

Did she not burn herself?

Yanbu

Ours always partook of the hotel breakfasts on our holidays. Having said that, nobody ever touched the food - there were always tongs. The idea of someone grabbing food with their bare hands is disgusting and wouldn't have happened anywhere we went, frankly.