Things I've changed

Working with food has caused me to change the ways I do things. I used to cough and sneeze into my hand. That's the way my mother taught me. Cover your mouth when you sneeze - does that sound familiar?

But when working with food - that's the wrong thing to do. Your hands are then covered with germs and you have to wash them. So you sneeze into your elbow and cough into the floor.

And then there's other things. I used to just use a dish-cloth to wipe the table and only made sure to get all of the surface. But since working in the food industry I learned to - keep the same leading edge. We move our hand around so that the same edge is leading no matter what direction the cloth is going. The last thing to touch the survface is the cleanest part of the cloth.

These things all make sense once you figure out how to do them. But .... it seems really difficult for some of my employees to learn.

I've heard, more than once, 'but I do it this way at home' and 'my mother taught me this' and 'why do I have to go to all that trouble' and... I could continue with the excuses. But what I need is for us to find the best way to take care of the food and to do it that way. It's not what your momma taught you or what is polite or what is quickest. The question is what is the safest and cleanest way of doing things.

So we wash our hands in a different sink than where we do the dishes.

We cover our coughs with the inside of the elbow and when our hands aren't free cough towards the florr.

We do many things that aren't the same way we learned at home, but we keep on trying to do them better. Or at least that's what I keep telling new employees. And the employee's that last learn to do it my way and that I'm open to suggestions, but you better talk with me before you change things. And we keep the place clean, tidy, healthy and welcoming.