Fast Food and Restaurant Employees Confess the One Item You Should Never Order

a reply to: eisegesis

It's actually usually the general manager of the store, and who he/she hires as an assistant. They are the one's who dictate that locations policy. Period. District managers show up once in a blue moon, and there is always warning they are coming - so any policies that aren't in-line with official policy become in-line with the official the day the district manager shows up.

Managers are governed by waste. They are allowed a certain percentage of waste, any more than that they are looked into pretty heavily.

In a busy store you never have to worry about throwing out food that is past the expiration times. You will ALWAYS sell it prior to any expiration time, (which is usually 10 minutes) and it is usually practically just out of the fryer if it is something like nuggets. Fish at both McDonald's and Hardee's are made to order. Hamburger patties are made in advance, but how it goes in a busy store is by the time another batch are cooked you have sold most if not all of them. It's simply a matter of trying to stay just barely ahead of the orders so the food is fast.

Not every wendy's uses old or expired patties. It is NOT the policy of wendy's corporate to do so. If any store does, it's the general manager of that particular store who made that decision. He/She is probably not good at keeping the food timed properly - you have to be able to anticipate your customers... its not as easy as it might look but a good manager is great at doing so.

I have seen stores so clean you could eat off the floor of a fast food restaurant.... with every single thing in it shiny like new... you couldn't find dirt if you tried - even inside machines. And I have seen dirty stores where the manager couldn't give a crap how clean the store is...

Best bet is to know the General Manager of the store you want to eat at - or do eat at.. and know what their personal policies are. I have seen some great ones! It is their stores you want to eat at!

And as a beside, never eat at stores that don't get a whole lot of business. Your wait wont be as long... but your food wont be as fresh either.

PS- I know all this because I was an assistant manager for McDonald's, a General Manager and then a Assistant District Manager for Hardee's, and worked at Wendy's as an employee for about 3 months once. (all that was about 7 or so years of my working life when I was younger)

originally posted by: ketsuko
When I worked at a Sonic back in the day, we were bored stiff when we weren't at rush times, so we cleaned everything top to bottom and took stuff apart to clean it, like the drink machines. If we ran out of stuff to clean, we were doomed to hours of weighing out portions of frozen tater tots, fries and onion rings that could be easily popped into the fryer. And that was completely miserable work.

As far as this goes, the last thing I would do is trust a PETA video. They are so zealous in their views that they are not above getting creative to push their agenda.

For what it's worth the PETA video was nothing more than slaughter house videos, mass animal farming techniques and animals being skinned alive. It was the first time I had ever seen such cruelty done to animals. I was ignorant. What made it palatable was because it was created by a bunch of hardcore bands, some who aligned themselves with PETA. It had a killer vibe to it and left out all the drama. Just a bunch of sick videos accompanied by some good heavy music with PETA's stamp at the end.

i think anytime you go to a fast food joint you take a risk...
do we really expect places where the majority of workers are school age kids and felons to care about what they are doing?

i know there are some responsible adults that work there but for the most part i think my above statement stands.

fast food joints are one of the few places that convicted felons can still get work....

my wife knows a lady through her brother that works at mcnasty and she cant get a job anywhere else...
she did 4 years of a 5 year sentence....breaking and entering....posession of the coka and a firearm....

we really expect someone with that kind of history to give a damn?

i dont

i dont think food safety/cross contamination etc is too high up on the list of your average fast food employee.

And luckily, health inspectors exist and do a mostly excellent job... if you haven't, I recommend reading the local food 'closure and reasons' blurb in your local paper ... some places are worse than you'd think possible when it comes to cleanliness and feeding the public... and they get closed!

One good thing govt does, at least...

But it's funny how many in middle to upper class America cause a ruckus in restaurants... asking for: better seating, not under that a/c vent, please... not so close to the bathrooms, or kitchen, please... too done... not done enough... my sauce was too cold...

Really, restaurants are staffed by underachievers with attitude and the cooks are invariably (99% anyway) insane... so raise hackles at your own risk! The squeaky wheel gets the floor grease and saliva ...in restaurants anyway.

originally posted by: eisegesis
Great stories everybody. I hope more members chime in. Remember, you are anonymous on the internet, lol!

Angry past employees? Maybe...

Managers instilling bad practices on their employees sound more like it. Combine that with lazy, self entitled workers who look to cut corners and neglect their duties because they were busy answering text messages.

It reminds me of politics, the more corruption, waste and fraud you report, the more likely you will find yourself out the door. You have to be willing to deceive the public or you can't join the club.

Back in the early '90's I used to work in Pizza Hut just after college. (3 jobs actually but this one of them that involved food.) Some of my duties included handling the cast iron pans we cooked our dough in. I had to prep them for the dough. We had a HUGE industrial sized oil bottle with a squirter on top. Every personal pan got half a squirt, small one full squirt, medium-2 squirts, and large-3 squirts. Then you were to put the appropriate sized dough in the appropriate sized pan, put a lid on it and place it on a rack to go in the fridge to proof overnight. Once it had proofed, punch it down, and smooth it out to reach the sides. Place toppings on the pan to order using the drink cups. Small cup filled halfway for personal pan, small filled all the way for a small, small filled twice for a medium and small filled three times for a large. Place on the oven roller (lasts 3 minutes usually), and serve to customer or give to delivery. Place piping hot oily pan in hot soapy water.

I've also been on dish duty. That oily water and the oily pans will make you break out like nobody's business! A dirty inside secret? There's only so much scrubbing you can do to those cast iron pans. You can never get all that oil off. So you're essentially putting oil on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil. Those pans were disgusting! I never wanted pizza hut again after that.

originally posted by: Baddogma
And luckily, health inspectors exist and do a mostly excellent job... if you haven't, I recommend reading the local food 'closure and reasons' blurb in your local paper ... some places are worse than you'd think possible when it comes to cleanliness and feeding the public... and they get closed!

.

not all the time man....i took a part time job at little caesers several years ago...i didnt last long...the place was disgusting..
they got violated by health inspectors before, during, and after my time and all they did was catch a fine...they also had a long time to pay it....the place is still open..

originally posted by: Anyafaj

Every personal pan got half a squirt, small one full squirt, medium-2 squirts, and large-3 squirts. Then you were to put the appropriate sized dough in the appropriate sized pan, put a lid on it and place it on a rack to go in the fridge to proof overnight. Once it had proofed, punch it down, and smooth it out to reach the sides. Place toppings on the pan to order using the drink cups. Small cup filled halfway for personal pan, small filled all the way for a small, small filled twice for a medium and small filled three times for a large. Place on the oven roller (lasts 3 minutes usually), and serve to customer or give to delivery. Place piping hot oily pan in hot soapy water.

I've also been on dish duty. That oily water and the oily pans will make you break out like nobody's business! A dirty inside secret? There's only so much scrubbing you can do to those cast iron pans. You can never get all that oil off. So you're essentially putting oil on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil. Those pans were disgusting! I never wanted pizza hut again after that.

caesers was very much the same way.....
they would make this huge vat of dough and after it rose for like a half hour, they would weigh out certain amounts and roll it into a giant ball. they would set x amount of balls on a large, silver pan. from there they went into the fridge on racks that almost went to the floor.
they were allowed to be used for almost 2 days. it was not an uncommon thing to go in to get a tray of dough and find mouse/rat # on the tray.....the dough was still used.

same deal with the dishes as you....there was a 3 compartment sink that was never used properly...just regular soap and water...the cast iron pans that we cooked the pizza in never got clean...they took a squirt of oil like you mentioned but after the cook they would sit in a stack all day...im talking more than 8 hours.
so after 8 hours they get 'dipped' in soapy water and rinsed off....they always felt greasy.....

the big silver trays that the dough sat on in the fridge for 2 days never got washed....they took a hit of oil too before the dough went on...i was only there a little shy of 2 weeks and i had never seen them get washed....not even 1 time...

there was so much more than that too...i was completely disgusted the entire time and i just couldnt do it....
i had to get out of there.....
they are still open so i dont imagine much has changed

originally posted by: Grovit

originally posted by: Anyafaj

Every personal pan got half a squirt, small one full squirt, medium-2 squirts, and large-3 squirts. Then you were to put the appropriate sized dough in the appropriate sized pan, put a lid on it and place it on a rack to go in the fridge to proof overnight. Once it had proofed, punch it down, and smooth it out to reach the sides. Place toppings on the pan to order using the drink cups. Small cup filled halfway for personal pan, small filled all the way for a small, small filled twice for a medium and small filled three times for a large. Place on the oven roller (lasts 3 minutes usually), and serve to customer or give to delivery. Place piping hot oily pan in hot soapy water.

I've also been on dish duty. That oily water and the oily pans will make you break out like nobody's business! A dirty inside secret? There's only so much scrubbing you can do to those cast iron pans. You can never get all that oil off. So you're essentially putting oil on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil, on top of oil. Those pans were disgusting! I never wanted pizza hut again after that.

caesers was very much the same way.....
they would make this huge vat of dough and after it rose for like a half hour, they would weigh out certain amounts and roll it into a giant ball. they would set x amount of balls on a large, silver pan. from there they went into the fridge on racks that almost went to the floor.
they were allowed to be used for almost 2 days. it was not an uncommon thing to go in to get a tray of dough and find mouse/rat # on the tray.....the dough was still used.

same deal with the dishes as you....there was a 3 compartment sink that was never used properly...just regular soap and water...the cast iron pans that we cooked the pizza in never got clean...they took a squirt of oil like you mentioned but after the cook they would sit in a stack all day...im talking more than 8 hours.
so after 8 hours they get 'dipped' in soapy water and rinsed off....they always felt greasy.....

the big silver trays that the dough sat on in the fridge for 2 days never got washed....they took a hit of oil too before the dough went on...i was only there a little shy of 2 weeks and i had never seen them get washed....not even 1 time...

there was so much more than that too...i was completely disgusted the entire time and i just couldnt do it....
i had to get out of there.....
they are still open so i dont imagine much has changed

Not agreeing with the pan thing or the mouse crap but the dough for 2 days in a cooler is very much ok. In fact it can go a few more days if desired. Actually makes better bread/crust/buns etc. It's a common practice for a lot of bakers.

Peace

I spent my mid-teens to mid-20's working in mom&pop shops - mostly pizza and Italian joints. Almost all foods were made from scratch but I did witness a renaissance of sorts in that convenience-foods were coming in. For example, we used to boil eggs for our salads but viola..now you could buy a gallon container of pre-cooked, shelled eggs that were packaged in some kind of "brine" that you simply had to fish out, slice and serve. I've never eaten one nor plan to.
I nor my family eat fast-food except maybe 3 times a year if we can't avoid it. Just too many risks in my eyes.
I like to know WHO is making my food. HOW they're making, WHEN they're making and WHY they're doing it the way they do.

I don't totally distrust the industry though. In fact, my near-term dream is to pay off all bills/debt, get out of the software industry (I'm a programmer) and open my own place with a small menu, house-made beers and a reasonable wine menu.
Hey....a man can dream, can't he??

originally posted by: jude11

Not agreeing with the pan thing or the mouse crap but the dough for 2 days in a cooler is very much ok. In fact it can go a few more days if desired. Actually makes better bread/crust/buns etc. It's a common practice for a lot of bakers.

Peace

i get that but they advertise dough made fresh every day...i guess teechnically its true but what you get is dough they made 2 days ago...you dont get the dough made that day..
its a bit of deception i think...throw in some mouse # an yeah