My emet experience at the deli counter

[luna33]

OK, I was telling my husband this story, and even *I* realized how crazy I am, and figured you all might enjoy it.


Disclaimer first: Normally I avoid deli counters, not only because I worry about food poisoning and the deli workers being sick, but because I am a vegetarian and am grossed out by the fact that the workers slice meat and cheese interchangeably without changing gloves (which is unsanitary too, of course). But today I was craving a cheese hoagie in a big way. So I decided to be brave and go. It was 9 am, so I figured their hands wouldn't be all meaty anyway. Boy did I learn my lesson! NEVER AGAIN!


While the deli worker was slicing my cheese, another one was working on someone else's order. As my cheese was handed to me, the other deli worker (not mine) staggered and clutched onto the slicer. Her customer said, "Are you OK?" and she said, in a really sickly voice, "I feel really dizzy." The other worker screamed "DON'T TOUCH THE SLICER!" And of course I immediately thought she meant so she wouldn't v*** on it (realizing later that it was probably so she wouldn't get hurt if she passed out). The sick one stammered, "I'm going in back" and staggered away.


Now the cheese is in my basket but no way in h*ll am I going to eat it, but I go to this store all the time and have to figure a way to get rid of it without looking insane. I thought about burying it in the back of the packaged cheeses, but there were all these people there. So then, I opted to "by mistake" leave it under a store circular in my basket.


Iwent home, Purelled and washed, chaneged my clothes, and ate the roll I bought. But then I flew intoa panic because the roll was in the case right in front of the deli counter! I became frantic thinking that maybe "she" had touched the rolls. All day I've been panicking over it.


I realize on some level that this is funny to a normal person. But even though my husband convinced me that deli workers don't stock the rolls, but bakers do, I can't shake the panic.


Anyway, I know you'll all relate and hopefully write back and tell me she didn't touch the rolls! AHHHHHHHH!

[beadgirl]

She didn't touch the rolls![img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

[ren2005]

Oh my.. that would freak me out too, about the cheese, that is!


But, No..I seriously doubt that she touched the rolls!

[tayda]

lol.. she didn't touch the rolls

[dord]

Hi Luna,


I agree with your hubby that the bakery people stock the rolls and I'm sure they are fine. I am with you and would have felt the same way, definitely would have dumped the cheese. I am going to rationalize here that the person was probably hungover, on medication or is pregnant? Extreme dizziness to the point of cutting oneself on a meat slicer doesn'tsound like a normal sv to me.

[luna33]

LOL . . . I realize there are 9 million other reasons for being dizzy, but of course I instantly assumed she had a sv . . . I mean, that's nuts, right? But as soon as anyone around me looks the slightest bit weird, or has any symptom, I'm instantly thinking "OH NO . . . "

[liriodendron]

grossed out by the fact that the workers slice meat
and cheese interchangeably without changing gloves (which is unsanitary
too, of course).

First let me get this off my mind. This isn't unsanitary unless they
don't clean the slicers which is a common concern of mine. The meat
they slice on there is supposed to be fully cooked meat. I repeat,
fully cooked meat. HOWEVER, it may coincide with dietary laws, such as
keeping Kosher and of course it may gross out strict vegans. I've seen
some busier delis use a separate slicer for cheeze though.



Now. I have had quite a few of these deli counter episodes myself. I'm
sure we all have. I've stashed my fair share of deli meat in cold cases
all over the store. LOL



There are things you can do to avoid deli counters altogether. For
instance, this time of year, you can buy miniature turkeys that are
about a pound. They are the same meat that they slice from in larger
sizes but it's a fully cooked and individually wrapped unit. You can
slice it at home with a sharp knife or you can buy a deli slicer which
are about $89 from a place like Linens & Things. You can also buy
the cheese and slice it yourself. Of course this works out to be more
expensive, and frankly it's sort of a pain in the butt, but you'll have
leftovers if you don't have a family to finish it off. I buy the Boar's
Head turkey and finish it off in just two meals. I don't know about
corned beef but I'm sure you can easily make that yourself too.



And now it's time for a story.

One time I went to a Subway restaurant in Florida and the "Sandwich
Artist" had some raggety, dirty gloves on with food all over them. I
told her what I wanted and I asked her to please change her gloves
first. (Something I rarely, if ever, do) She was a snotty b* and said
"No, they're not dirty". At which point I said, I may be allergic to
any number of the food crumbs that had encrusted the gloves (I'm not
making this up, it was bad). She began making the sandwhich and ignored
my request to change the gloves. It was very busy in there. So I just
walked out the door. Bottom line is if it makes you uncomfortable and
going to cause worry, just eat something else.



A lot of these workers think they're being sanitary because they've got
gloves on but if they never change the gloves, and practice safe food
handling, the gloves are pointless.



Now's I get to tell you that if you aren't convinced yet about the
integrity of the rolls, just pop them in toaster oven before you use
them.

[mjewell]

LOL - the funniest part of your story is that I am imagining you sneaking all over the store looking left and right trying to find somewhere to stash your cheese!

[spilled_milk]

I can totally relate to the deli thing. However, the dizziness can be caused by many other things. In fact, today my friend got really dizzy and fainted because of supposed dehydration. Since I have a wicked fast metabolism and my body turns my food into energy too quickly, I have to eat very freqently or else i get really dizzy or start fainting. She could have also been pregnant, as others said. Dizziness can be caused by tons of things. However, I think you're smart to hide the cheese...I would have done that to. Now you know that you're perfectly safe, no matter what it was!


<3 Anya--

[gumdropper1]

I don't mean to one up you, but recently I was at the snack bar at Sam's Club (the home of healthy eating, lol), and I ordered a frozen Coke. Wouldn't you know the water buffalo who was serving it had to tell a co-worker just then that her stomach was still acting funny and someone had told her to drink Sprite. For whatever reason, I couldn't tell her to cancel my order, but I decided not to drink it anyway.


It made me wonder how many times I've been served at eateries over the years by people who were sick, and I didn't catch anything. It seems the likelihood of catching something from a drink cup is small, especially since I use hand cleaner so religiously.


So, yes, I know exactly how you felt, and I don't think you're crazy.


Doug

[liriodendron]

Doug,

You're right. God only knows how many of the servers have been ill.
During the peak of my e-phobia, when I was in college, I would eat at a
lot of restaurants on a regular basis... The same ones over and over
and would get to know the server's on a first name basis. At some
point each server told me that they were out sick with v* for days. One
time, the waitress told me that after I had ordered and I was sitting
there in such terror. She also told me that practically the whole place
had been out with it and then I told her about my fears and she said
she washed her hands a lot since she came in to work. I was trying to
remember the other day what I did. I think I might have eaten some of
the food anyway since I had already started on the drink. But I know I
didn't eat it all and I wanted out of there quickly. And sadly when the
servers told me that, I would never go back to those restaurants. I
can't imagine what they though about that because I was such a regular
and then all of a sudden I stopped going. Sick workers are required to
tell the person in charge at the restaurant and they are not supposed
to handle food. I realize these servers were supposed to be better but
I still think it would be better if they were given non-food tasks for
some time following that if they absolutely had to go in to work.



As for the deli, there is a deli near me that I am comfortable at. It's
a grocery store deli but the manager is usually standing there the
whole entire time watching everyone like a hawk. I've actually told him
how impressed I was and we got into a discussion about food safety.
They make all kinds of things there like subs and fried chicken too and
I usually talk them into frying up a fresh batch of chicken just for
me. One time I actually saw one of the workers wash their hands after
handling the raw chicken even though he had gloves on and I couldn't
believe my eyes. I let him know I liked seeing that.



So now that I am trying to watch what I say about "avoiding" things
here, I'll just point out that although ready-to-eat foods like deli
and bakery items pose a big risk when handled by ill workers, deli's
are one of the few places you can visually keep tabs on the meal from
start to finish. Some deli's do everything they are supposed to and
those are the ones I like to go to whereas some deli's don't and those
are the ones I don't like to go to.