Is This Taking Cleanliness Too Far?
Other
Just popped into Waitrose and the aroma of cooked chicken gave me the idea to get one and save time later. There was an assistant at front of deli counter telling customers that the section was closed as there was no water. I asked if it was ok to pop a chicken in a bag as I assumed there was no water needed.
She explained that they could not wash their hands after serving. I have always seen them use a large implement to lift the chicken which goes straight into a bag and even so I thought they could wear gloves if it was a problem. Or maybe just sell the chickens (they usually go very fast) but keep the refrigerated part closed. I asked what will happen to them and she whispered conspiratorially that they would be thrown. I was absolutely flabbergasted. Surely staff could take one as they left or better yet place the whole tray of at least 24 chickens in the back of a van and deliver to our local homeless shelter.
I wonder how often this happens in supermarkets and we are being told not to waste food!!!
I know my local supermarket give a lot to charity. They are restricted by what products are allowed to be given, probably do not want to be held responsible for any poisoning. It is much better these days than it once was, unfortunately food waste is probably still in double digit percentages for most supermarkets on fresh products.
I can see it is a bit of a minefield, but I think they should have announced free chicken over the tannoy while they were still super freshly cooked rather than throw away. Mind you there would have been a stampede so maybe better for her to have offered them to passing customers and to be honest if she wore those blue gloves and used a large fork there would be no contact with the food.
Lynibis It would make sense from a point of view of waste and making the customer happy plus potentially increase sales of that product in the future. Unfortunately we live in a world that does not allow staff to make these decisions, big business tends to value conformity. Gone are the days when the owner of a business would make ad hoc decision.
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