What would you do?

We are all concerned with having enough staff to manage a shift that we often overlook things that can impact our business in a much greater way than being short a person or two. As restaurateurs we expect our staff to be there day in and day out. We don’t worry about conflicting responsibilities whether personal or professional because at the end of the day we need to be properly staffed.

 Managers and Owners would rather have an employee who is exhibiting signs of illness (being sick) work rather than stay home and get better. Did you know? It really is true that germs travel, some people are carriers and you risk infecting every person that the infected employee comes in contact with.

 No matter what we tell the employee – stay away from food, don’t serve a guest – it inevitably happens that they will because either someone else didn’t come to work or you were busier than expected and they were pressed into action. I love when I hear someone told they can just wash dishes! Whether the dishwasher killed the bacteria and washed away the toxins is moot (and a completely different conversation) because the infected employee is going to handle the utensils, glasses, china, 1/6th pans, sauté pans, etc. after they have been washed and sanitized. That employee will then transfer their germs to the clean dishes that will go into service and be handled by other personnel. This act alone is creating cross contamination. Then, on top of that, food will be placed on the plate and then served to a guest. Do you see what’s going on here?

Recently I was having lunch at a local restaurant and was half way through my meal when I noticed something that really aggravated me. The very person who served my food was blowing their nose in public view and went straight back to work without washing their hands. I was furious and requested to speak to the manager and requested my check at the same time.

 The manager came out and I explained what I saw and why I was concerned, can you guess the response? I’m sorry Sir, he only has the sniffles and we were short staffed today. No remorse and not a care in the world that he was purposely risking everyone’s health whether guest or fellow employee. I left my card and proceeded to leave and I will truly never return to this restaurant.

 Now, why do I tell you this? You might be saying Mark we know all this, it is common place and routine. It’s not a big deal.

 Well I can tell you that it is a huge deal. I recently went through nearly a month of being sicker than I have ever been. Not only did I contract the flu, I also came down with pneumonia spending five (5) days in the hospital. My life, my work came to a grinding halt. Two weeks into being incapacitated, I received a call from the manager and he was apologizing as the employee was diagnosed with the flu and thought I should know.

As restaurateurs, we need to be cognizant of everything we do and how we conduct our business. We have to understand that there is an inevitable cause and affect and if we aren’t careful, it can put us out of business.

 Last thought…we refuse to serve food that we know is spoiled but we are willing to allow an infected employee to work. Both are obvious and both can devastate our business yet we deem the later to be acceptable. Please see both as unacceptable for you never know the true impact of your decisions.