Dodgy hotel kitchens.

[lindapinda]

When I was a teenager,I worked for the summer in a small seaside hotel.At breakfast one morning,the chef was adding the fried egg to the fry I was about to serve,but the egg slipped off the plate and landed on the kitchen floor.Without missing a beat,he just scooped it up,and plonked it back down on the plate and told me to take it out! Had to do what I was told,but I never forgot that! Anyone else ever witnessed anything similar?

[spudqueen]

When I was at school I had a Saturday morning job in a bakehouse. When it was my birthday the lads who worked there picked me up and put me feet first in the flour bin, and I'd just mopped the floor. Yeuuukkk. Of course the boss didn't know what had happened and used that flour to make bread. Also they used to soak stale cake in water and then use that in the meat and potato pies. Awful.

[lindapinda]

Good one Spudqueen! I always think that we're probably definetely better off not knowing whats been where,with things that we're eating! But sometimes it's a bit interesting to hear about these horrors!

[shaneystar]

I used to work in Bakers and some of things they did would put you right off.Any fresh cream cakes that hadn't been sold on the day of baking would be "rescued".The old cream scraped out and fresh piped in and then they would be put out for sale again the next day.Also stale bread would be sprinkled with water and put back in the oven to crisp the crust up and out it would go to be sold.

[Dark Angel]

When I was in College and working for Food Service I heard that a young chap working in the dishroom was known to scoop up leftover food from plates going down the conveyor belt and eat it!

Noone knew know why this chap did that because the Food Service staff used to be allowed to sit and eat for free (whatever they fancied,whatever amount - this was in USA) before the cafeteria doors opened to the college students and faculty.

[VINNY100_2]

Many years ago I Worked in a pie factory and they made scotch eggs if you dropped the  meat you were made to pick it up and mould it around the egg covered in hairs and dust.I also worked in a hotel where the spanish chef would p**s in the pig bin and then carry on preparing the food.The second chef was always drunk and would drop food and just plonk it back on the plates.The wine water would open the wine drink half of it and then top it up with water.I dont eat out alot these days(:)

[Artful]

Dare we hope that as all these stories by the tellers refer to 'a long time ago' that things have changed?

Over here it seems that more and more restaurant kitchens are open plan and you can see a lot of what is going on. It means cleanliness is a priority in such an environment.

[shaneystar]

Hi ArtfuI. It wasn't all that long ago when I worked at this particular bakers shop.It was a private concern and is now shut down.I wonder why !! I think most places are good on hygiene these days ....but I don't know if you have ever seen a programme narrated by the late great John Peel called "Life of Grime".Some of the things on there would turn your stomach and you would never eat out again!!

[Artful]

Hi shaneystar, how are you getting on? No, I haven't seen the programme you mention unfortunately. Yes, the late and great John Peel, they even mentioned his demise on French TV.

[shaneystar]

I'm fine..hope you are too.This was a series that ran for quite a while here.There were all sorts in it.It was set in the London Borough of Harringey and another series was I think from Manchester.It was basically about all these good people who have to clear up after others.
There was a lovely man on there who was health inspector for restaurants ,cafes ,fast food places and so on.
What stuck in my mind was the place where they scraped the bones and odd bits of food people left on their plates into a stock pot which was then boiled up to make soup for the following day!! Needless to say he shut them down.But some of the places were appalling.My husband couldn't watch it ..it made him feel quite nauseous.

[lindapinda]

Shaneystar,Vinny and Dark Angel,thanks,I'll think twice before I ever eat a cream bun again! Unfortunately,I'd already had a few picnic mini scotch eggs today!

[VINNY100_2]

Were they crunchy(:)

[lindapinda]

Don't even go there!!

[funkychicken]

About 2 years ago my boyfriends dad worked as a maintenance person in a hotel, one day the sewage pipe burst but that wasn't going to stop the chefs preparing food for the wedding taking place that day, so they carried on preparing the food with sewage round their ankles

[gingerflaps]

when i was 17 (im 24 now) i went with my freind to pick up her parents chineese and the door was left open into the kitchen so u could peek through, so me being me tipped toed and looked into this kitchen only to see a chineese guy stirring a big pot of food with a wooden stick with blue paint all the way up the stick, and if that wasnt enough, there was a dog laying on the floor under his feet. i told my freind and she walked out saying 'yeah, i think we'll go to 'the dragon' from now on!!!'

[Glossopswift]

During a much-loathed student summer job in a pub/restaurant I used a dustpan and brush to sweep up a bowl of cress that had fallen on the floor. The manageress took the d&b off me and tipped it all into a colander, rinsed it and it went back into the bowl. Another day we were short of a piece of liver for the mixed grill, the same manageress went up to the flat and came back with a piece. Apparently, the day before some had been put aside for being out of date and she said the dog could have it�and the amount of times I saw a piece of steak being nibbled at to see why it had been sent back for being underdone�it always went back under the grill at about half its normal size.

[butter1]

I had a Saturday job in a deli.  Whenever the cheese had gone off my boss told us to scrap off the mold and put it back in the counter.  We also made sandwiches for customers and if there were customers he didn't like he would drop the han or whatever it was on the floor and put in back in the roll or spitt in it.  I try not to think about it when i eat out.

[lindapinda]

Glossipswift,Butter1,have now lost faith totally in eating establishments.Will now be dining chez linda to feel safe!

[Glossopswift]

Don't lose faith Linda! I still go into that place every now and then. The management has changed so I'm sure the kitchen has too. My rule is that if I like the taste of the food and it doesn't make me ill I'll go back.

[Otrere]

I once heard a story (how true it is, I don't know) that a customer walked into a well-known burger restaurant and asked for a chicken burger without mayonnaise.

When said customer bit into the chicken burger, lots of goo oozed out. The customer took it back to the counter to complain and it was sent off for analysis............. only to be discovered that it was .......... a cyst.

[hellywellywo]

That is a true story Otrere.  I am first hand witness to this happening to someone with a chicken burger in Burger King.  Needless to say I am very picky and fussy with my food now. Oh yeah this happened 12 years ago when I was 16.