Way to go Brent! That's exactly what I would have done, but much more louder and obnoxious about it.

I can name every person in my office who does not wash their hands. It doesnt matter if it's #1 or #2, they just dont wash... I refuse to touch any door handles around here anymore.

Awesome. He did the right thing making a public mention of it. (Kind of ironic that the consumerist poster seems to think he should have told the manager privately, and yet here it is being broadcast publicly on the internet.)

Sure, he could've handled it more discreetly, and spoken with the manager in private-he would've "looked into it." But calling him out in front of everyone is much more effective. And besides, don't the customers deserve to know?

Soemthing similar happened to me at an Edward's Cinema in town. I was drying my hands when I saw an employee come out of a stall and walk right out the bathroom door without even glancing at the soap and water that was only a few feet away. I followed him and watched as he went behind the concession counter and poured himself a large soda, then I followed him to the front door where he resumed his job of HANDLING PEOPLE'S TICKETS. After holding back a couple dry heaves, I finally muscled up to the customer service counter and told them what happened. I'm sure they took it very seriously, but I didn't stick around to find out.

I'm sure BURGER KING was so much more sanitary...good for you on calling him out, but this happens everywhere...from offices, to fast food, to the fanciest restaurants possible.

this never fails to amaze me. we learn in kindergarten to wash our damn hands, yet i also see the same thing on a regular basis. what's even more hilarious is when people wet their hands and don't use soap. more power to this dude for calling out this asshat. people wonder why they get sick...

Yea he could have handled it in private with the manager but to just make a scene like that means that the customer wanted attention to himself and be an a$$.

"I'll just go to Burger King."

Translated: "I'll just go someplace where I haven't seen an employee exit the bathroom without washing their hands, but know full well it probably happens anyway."

If you're that concerned enough to make a scene about it you might as well just go home and fix a sandwich.

I refuse to touch any door handles around here anymore.

Heh.. I don't touch ANY inside door handles of public bathrooms with my hand/fingers. When you count the thousands of people that have been in & out of the bathroom, the proportion that don't wash their hands, and the low likelihood the handles are cleaned regularly... well, you get the picture.

@dorianh49: Gross, yes, but its hardly comparable to the guy who handles your food. This probably isn't a health violation.

Your money is probably dirtier than those tickets he handled. At least in this instance, you can just wash your hands after you handle the tickets. You can't wash your food.

I've seen workers sneeze in the food preparation area. When I needed a part-time job, I did everything I could to avoid food service. To paraphrase a high school friend of mine-"If you saw what happened in the kitchen where I worked, you'd never eat out again." Props on calling the guy out, but if this left Brent thinking he had solved the problem as opposed to throwing into question all the other foodstuffs prepared by someone else that he's eaten, well, then he is a master of compartmentalized thought. It's a gift.

Wiener fries~ not appetizing.

Plus public restrooms, well actually it's the people not the restroom that make them disgusting and I wont use one unless it's an emergency. When my kids go I always tell them never to touch anything. My 3-year old loves to wrap his hands all over the flusher and I cringe every time. I make sure they scrub their hands down and I wash mine too, then as we exit I remind them don't touch and I use a paper towel to open the door. Mr. Dirty Hands Fry-man should have known better. I'm sure proper procedure was in his training video.

Whenever I use a public bathroom I ALWAYS take a paper towel with me to open the door after I wash my hands. I've seen way too many people use the bathroom without washing their hands and it really freaks me out.

@ITDEFX

The problem is that the manager would have 'taken it seriously' and probably would have done nothing

This way, the guy is held publicly accountable for something that is so abhorrently disgusting. Oh course, at the same time, I'm sure there are more germs on your hands then your genital area - but I'm not risking the remnants of herpes on my Whopper Jr

I was in Shop Rite yesterday buying cheese and had a similar conflict. I tell the girl the order, and as she's waiting for a slicer to become available, she's touching everything. Her cell phone, the counter button, her hair. And then resting her hand on top of the open part of the cheese. I asked her to either open a new pack or slice off the open top and put on a new pair of gloves or else I'm leaving. She just glares at me, and her manager steps in and says "No problem, I understand." and met my demands.

Ugh, I'm through with going inside these places. Either pick up my food at the sidewalk window in NYC, or drive-thru elsewhere. Eating while walking is easier than eating next to the kid painting the walls with ketchup and knocking drink after drink on the floor or sitting on the mysteriously sticky or discolored seat, or the guy passed out in a booth. Maybe the ones by me are the anomaly, but it saves me the trouble of staring into the kitchen while I order and triggering nauseating thoughts. I'll just eat in the car or as I'm crossing the street, thank you.

Actually, knowing where my hands have been and where my "junk" has been, it makes a lot of sense to wash my hands before using the bathroom!

He did the right thing by calling the guy out in front of everyone. Customers have the right to know if someone handling their food has filthy hands. Oh, and shouldn't he also have had plastic gloves on for food handling?

Sad. My sympathies always lie with people who get paid peanuts to produce (or as Bush terms it "manufacture") a cheap meal for me.

On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of urine (mine or others').

@Front_Towards_Enemy: Yeah, which is why I hate electric hand dryers.

And maybe I just won't eat lunch today.

My mom washes her hands before she prepares food, thankfully, but we have a running joke because I'm a hand-washing Nazi. She'll come out of the bathroom, and I'll say, "Did you wash your hands?" And she'll go back and wash them if she hasn't.

Did this person actually watch him go directly from the bathroom to the fryer? A lot of times its more convenient for employees to wash their hands at the sink in the food prep area since you have to touch the bathroom door, then touch another door to get back into the prep area and rewash you hands again. Thats kinda the reason they should put employee restrooms in the back of the kitchen area. People are really stupid when it comes to this.

I thought the grease acted as a way to burn off the germs...

I always use my last paper towel to open the door in public places. Sometimes I get busted doing it, and I feel kind of like an idiot/sissy. But at least I'm an idiot/sissy who doesn't have other peoples feces all over my hands. I think it's hilarious how people will use the bathroom in a public place, open the door w/ bare hand, then go touch their food. mmmmm delicious.

Another passive aggressive American. Couldn't he have just said something before he left the bathroom? That way the guy could have cleaned his hands, and all would've been well.

I love the added purple "accenting" to the image. :D Keep up the good work guys! (And thanks to the OP for the story!)

Wtg, Brent. That took balls. A lot of people would've just stalked off in disgust.

Also, Mr. Dirty Hands Fry Man would be an excellent name for a band.

Reminds me of when that judge made a wal-mart shoplifter stand in front of the store with a sign that read: "I stole from this wal-mart"

If everybody was held responsible in this way, I bet the petty crime rate would drop significantly.

People that don't wash their hands after using the bathroom are disgusting. And you know who you are.

@jaydez: Not only washing hands, but there are guys in my office who don't flush the urinals. I don't know why that don't just tap the handle, but they just won't.

Would you like any smeg with those fries?

@Daemon_of_Waffle: Because then we'd have to wash our hands from touching something so gross and dirty!

One time at the office, the trash can in the break room was really full, and someone for a laugh wrote on the whiteboard next to the trash can: "He who tops it, drops it!"

Like jaydez, I had also found out pretty quick who doesn't wash their hands after either #1 or #2. So I added at the bottom: "And wash your hands after the restroom please."

I come back to the break room later and found that someone had erased MY message, leaving only the original. It's apparently TABOO to tell your co-workers anonymously that they need to wash their f'ing hands!! WTF!!

I'm also in the camp that just dabbing your hands with water doesn't actually qualify as washing your hands. Also, a little soap won't kill you.

@Stormslanding: Good point. At the restaurant I worked at, not only did we have to wash our hands in the bathroom, we had to wash them again at the handwashing sink before we could go anywhere near the food or registers.

To some folks that might seem like overkill, but it was better safe than sorry.

@snoop-blog:

Groooooooooooooss.

IMHO, calling him out in public not only made it more likely it would be actually dealt with (instead of merely "being taken seriously"), but it also increased the odds that *other* workers would be more diligent in their hand-washing, too.

The OP just made the place more sanitary for other customers (for a few days at least.)

OTOH, I would suggest the OP not go back to that particular Wendy's soon. Though his fries would be handled by washed hands, his soda might be spit into... or whatever the cool way to sabotage someone's fast food is these days.

Check out [www.ontheyellowlist.com.] I created the site because I was sick of fellow employees pulling the same stunt with hand washing. After I got it up and running, I sent the link around to fellow employees. Since then, no one has been busted.

@flamincheney:

RTFA The OP was leaving as the worker flushed. Then the worker passes OP about 3 seconds later. The OP didn't know if the worker was on break or not.

Good call on Brent's part. Call it out publicly. If I had been another customer there, I would be glad to find out also so I could get my food elsewhere.

The guy started handling the fries? Wierd. Around here they use those metal scoops to put them in the cardboard fry boxes. That guy must have tough hands. That grease gets pretty hot.

My complaint is the lack of actual confirmation. If the story is to be believed as written (problem is people's perception of time is generally REALLY bad), all we have to go on is the belief that the employee was not in the can long enough to wash his hands. The poster did not actually see the employee's entire journey from the bathroom back to the line. That's not proof, that's a hunch. That's OK if you're going to file a complaint with the board of health or a manager. I just don't think that's strong enough to go calling someone out like that in public. You probably don't have to worry about a fast food employee having the time and money to sue you if you're wrong, but the potential is there at least.

I had the same thing happen at a Kenny Rogers (remember those?). The employee came out of a stinky cubicle and didn't wash his hands. When I confronted the manager she insisted that they had a 'special soap' in the kitchen that employees used.

As long as the OP did not go off all bonkers, a firm slightly loud voice was all it takes and is much more effective (with regards to other employees) than speaking privately to the manager.

Two thumbs up.

I once worked at Wendy's. Looking back, I probably caused a lot of trouble because the sinks in the kitchen were much better than the ones in the bathroom, and there'd sometimes be an actual line in the bathroom.

On the other hand, I once had people monitor our bathroom habits at a non-service jobs, and that was very disturbing.

Yuuummmm, famunda cheese fries.....btw, I gotta million of em.

wah! i won't touch bathroom door handles! my co-workers who pee and don't wash are gross! wah!

let's be clear about something here- when was the last time you heard of somebody getting sick from touching the door handle in a fast food restaurant? i'm not talking about employees- they should definitely have to wash their hands. But to all these nancy germophobes out there- get over yourself. Unless you have some sort of immune deficiency, your body is more than capable of handling whatever may get on your skin from a bathroom door handle.

and another thing- i'd be willing to bet that on your average american man with good hygene, the transfer of pathogens goes from fingers to junk when he takes a whiz ,not the other way around. Your hands are out all day touching doors, money, chairs, keyboards, phones, papers, etc. while your junk sits quietly in your nice clean underwear, under your nice clean pants, shielded from contact with anything foreign. chances are, your peen is one of the cleanest parts of your body. As long as you manage to avoid pissing on your hands (which most of us do), failing to wash your hands after taking a piss (for somebody who doesn't work in food prep) is not exactly a crime against humanity.

OP made a good call on saying something publicly about the fry guy. But as for the how disgusting all the surfaces in a public bathroom are, I'm not totally sure what the big deal is. Yes, I'm sure the door handle is full of germs, but I've never had to use a paper towel to open it to keep me from getting sick. Never been sick from bathroom germs, knock wood.

And yes, I wash my hands every time.

@Bladefist: I do that too. I don't mind admitting that I'm a freak when it comes to public doorknobs, shopping carts, shared computer equipment, etc. I use a paper towel or the bottom of my shirt to open everything and wash my hands ASAP after using someone else's computer. Sure, I get funny looks sometimes, but I'm the only one among my friends, co-workers, and family who hasn't hand a flu in over 15 years (and I don't take flu shots).

When you think of all of the diseases and viruses that can be passed on to customers by negligent employees, it can make you feel like never eating out again. Food service managers should be allowed to fire someone on the spot -- without penalty -- for not using proper hygiene.

@Mr. Guy: Beat me to it by THAT much.