(Obviously) don't trust fast food!!

Hello everyone, first off I'd like to start off by saying that I myself work in fast food... which I'm currently trying to escape (get a new job or I'll be homeless).
I feel though that i should at least get this out to you all.
Fast food is a very corrupt business. Most of the health safety rules and such are not followed, and the employees are treated very poorly.
Here are just a few examples...

All food prepared that is waiting to be bought (also known as "staged") is supposed to be on a timer, ranging from 2 minutes to half an hour. Sometimes during "rushes", fast food resturants will "stage" commonly ordered food so it is ready. This food should immedietely be timed somehow, and be thrown away once its "hold time" is over.
Often times this isn't the case. Either because of laziness, or more often because the owner or manager is a cheap ass, food may be held for as long as 3 hours... depending on who notices.

In all of our training videos, as well as posters posted around the break room, hand washing sink, and office, it is directly emphasized that if you are sick, DO NOT COME INTO WORK. Even if you think you MIGHT be coming down with something, DO NOT GO TO WORK. This is hugely emphasized by all of our training. We work around food so its inevitable that germs may spread. However, when it comes to the managements actual response, you are usually forced to come into work, regardless of how sick you are. I've seen people pretty much forced to work even with the flu while they're coughing, sneezing, and/or vomiting. Often times people who make a habit of calling in sick (AKA, people who don't come into work while sick), are often treated poorly, disrespected by management, and sometimes fired... for following the rules. I'm just coming down from the flu myself, and when i called my manager to tell him i was sick and extrmely contagious, instead of being concerned for me as a person, he said, "Great. You killed us yesterday, who the hell am I supposed to get to cover your shift?" Very nice.

Upper Management is often cracking down on shift leaders for being "too lenient" or "too nice". I can't tell you how many times I've seen shift leaders and lower level managers leave the office crying after being "spoken to" or "corrected". Often times they will resort to verbal abuse.


Now I'm sure you're all about to scream; "quit!" or "speak out!". First off, I'm trying to find a new job. if I were to quit now, i would be homeless, which wouldn't be very productive, would it? Secondly, people who speak out tend to be fired... which I cannot afford.
I'm am merely trying to help out however I can, and that means making you all aware of whats going on. Often times, such as in my situation, individuals who attempt to better things are often shunned and/or fired.

 

Nope...no better in texas. You're not a person, you're a piece of meat (much like that left staged for a FULL SHIFT) and if you don't do exactly as you're told (despite the fact that it goes directly against public health codes...or even intelligent sanitary practices) you can expect to be disciplined, suspended or fired. Same if the management decides they just 'don't like you'

I've been fired for refusing to come into work with pneumonia, in a situation where I was handling money, with a high turnover (cashier at a casino....which if you want to see humanity's sick underbelly, that's a good place to start...desperate people sucking cigs, swigging booze, and shoving cash into slots for the pavlovian display of blinking lights)...point of fact, I was unable to call in, and my girlfriend had to do it for me...went back with a letter from the doctor and the hospital (where I'd been rushed TO from collapsing on the casino floor) and my department manager had security escort me out.

food...ugh...thank the gods I can cook my own. I once worked at a KFC that was doing business with a health certificate that was THREE YEARS EXPIRED.

seriously...if you guys go into one of those places, LOOK at the certification...chances are it's out of date.

Food's dropped, unsanitary handwashing, all kinds of nastiness... For example, our local mcdonalds, the assistant manager got busted for screwing his 16 year old girlfriend in the walkin unit on the boxes of patties! (talk about giving her a big mac?)

Then there's also the deliberate things that employees do (hock a big old loog into that soda for that guy)...or in the case of one of the local taco places (now shut down) a disgruntled employee mixed....fecal matter into the refried beans.

ugh. makes me not want to eat again.

 

agreed! If you try to follow the rules, you're punished for "insobordination".... geez.
BTW, interesting fact: are you talking about the Taco bell in AZ? I know the guy that did that....

 

Nope, Not a taco bell for us, and I'm in a small texas town, so evidently somebody ELSE had the same 'crappy' idea...

 

Yeah. the guy I know was in the news over it, but somehow still works in fast food... apparently it was some meth freakout.

 

yeah, the guy here got fired and went to jail...of course he also had hepatitis, so 'public endangerment' carries a pretty big charge.

 

Wow,, such harsh things are going on within the fast food realm.. Im glad ive been a veg for the last 4 years... Ital food only, that I prepare... Ive always have wondered what goes on at fast food joints though, XBloodyNailPolishX, you are going to have good karma for youre insight....right on for spreading the truth...

 

I'm applying now at "Whataburger", another fast food joint but owned by a smaller company... while I personally don't like their burgers, hopefully they have better food safety practices.

 

I know the vast majority of places would never leave a burger under the heat lamps for very long. Its there rules from upper management and there VERY strict on it. If you screw up there is a good chance you will lose your job! They take food poisoning VERY seriously. I dont know of a single fast food place that does not focus very hard on making sure that food does not sit long... and I have/had a lot of friends who work in fast food.

 

where do you live? I want to move to that area...because around here, the theory is (actually heard by a manager at one of the places I worked) 'if they die, how can anyone prove it came from here? we do not discard product. it stays on the line til the end of the shift if it has to, but it gets sold, and to hell with the state of it.'

 

I'm pretty sure unsanitary practices exists in the fastfood industry.
Heck, they might even drop food on the floor and it gets back on the counter to be sold.
How would the consumer know?

 

When food is dropped, we're SUPPOSED to discard it and make a new one... I've had managers reprimand me for pointing out that something dropped because then they have to make it again (oh, what a hassle!).