15 “Disturbing” Secrets About The Food Industry That You Should Know Before You Eat Out

14.

“I currently work at a locally owned cocktail bar. The cleanliness standards behind the bar are less than ideal. One coworker constantly picks stuff out of their teeth, licks their fingers after eating something, and never washes their hands. I’ve worked with them for three years and have never seen them wash their hands. People sneeze, cough, and blow their noses without washing their hands. Bar rags — towels we use to clean off the bar and tables, towels many of us tuck into our belt loops to wipe out hands on (making cocktails is extremely sticky business) — get dropped on the floor all the time and picked right back up like nothing happened. (Keep all that in mind when you use a straw or eat the garnish on your drink.) Some of my coworkers have a very aggressive ‘leave that for the opener’ mentality when closing, meaning the place is not properly cleaned up at the end of the night.”

“People don’t understand that the dishwasher is really a sanitizer, so dishes aren’t scrubbed before going in, meaning many of our glasses have visible lip rings/lipstick marks when they return on the shelves. And finally, the space behind the bar is NEVER cleaned. We have a decade and a half’s worth of spilled liquor, spilled syrups, leaking soda kegs, dropped garnishes, etc., on the floor under the bar, under the dishwasher, behind and under the bar fridges, etc. To me, the place always smells slightly rancid because of all the sugar just festering away in unseen places that have never been cleaned. People seem to think that health inspection standards don’t apply to bars because ‘alcohol kills germs,’ and we don’t serve food, but we’re hand-making drinks that people consume. It’s food service.

But all this is nothing compared to the coffee shops I’ve worked at – independent and chain. The only coffee I drink is from my house. I don’t go to coffee shops because I know all too well what goes on: towels from the floor used to clean steamer wands, milk resteamed so many times it curdles. Ick.”

—Anonymous, 35, Montana