Proper Use of Gloves
Let me paint a picture for you…
My wife and kids are sitting at a table waiting for me to buy lunch at one of the quick serve restaurants in Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park. Now it’s one thing to notice as 20 minutes has gone by, I’ve only moved about 5 feet in line and I see that out of five registers there is only one open at Noon.
It’s another thing to notice that there are at least five people standing around waiting to put tickets together. It’s yet another thing to see that the kitchen is putting food out at a snails pace.
All of these things I have been conditioned to expect (haven’t you) when your out at an event or theme park. But what really got me was that they were following California State Health Code by wearing gloves. Now you are probably thinking to yourself that’s a good thing, right?
NO! I can’t stand that part of the any States Health Code!
Why?
Let me tell you the rest of the story…
From behind the single register in use, the cashier asked not one, not two, but three people to try and fix a rope in the line that is not linked to the pole. Out from behind the counter, one at a time, line employees come out to see what the problem is and try to fix it…the whole time wearing their gloves!
That’s right, they start working on this rope that has been touched by no less than one hundred thousand people who visit the park each day, who have runny noses, gone to the restroom and not washed their hands, people with other infections and communicable diseases, with their gloves on.
Oh sure, you’re thinking they will go back to work, throw the gloves away, wash their hands and put a new pair on. Right?
Wrong?
Like in many restaurants I have visited, these line employees went back to work with the same gloves on…one scooping ice with the cup in hand and filling drinks, one filling Icee’s and the other pulling fries from the tray. You can only imagine how I felt after waiting in line for 45 minutes to order theme park food and purchased two Icee’s, a large order of fries and chicken tenders.
If your State Health Code requires the use of gloves, please make sure you train your people on their proper use and the importance of hand washing. Unfortunately, without the right training your people think gloves make them safe to serve food at all times.
If you don’t train them now, you could be making your guests sick and even worse, dead.
Here’s an article I found that might interest you if you agree with my view point – http://www.slate.com/id/2127050/device/html40?nav=ais
