When eating in a public place, it’s natural to hope that everything is hygienic. So, what should you do when you witness someone tainting a place wherefoodis served?
More info:Reddit
Eating food with someone else’s saliva on it isn’t something that most of the people would opt for
Image credits:Ivan Samkov (not the actual photo)
Today’s author noticed a child going rogue and licking sauce dispensers at Costco, so they reported this incident to the store’s staff
Image credits:Mike Mozart (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Kojach (not the actual photo)
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When staff confronted the kid’s family, they started pestering the author and blaming them for being a child hater
The whole story happened when the OP went toCostco. It’s an American corporation of big-box chain stores that are membership-only. In 2024, itranked5th in the top 50 of global retailers.
In the store, the original poster bought a famous Costco hotdog for themselves and their husband. The hotdogs wereintroducedin these chain stores back in 1984 and have been one the most prevalent things related to the brand since then. One of the most interesting facts about them is that since their introduction, the price has stayed the same — $1.50 for a combo with a soda. Well, the price is surely one of thereasonswhy these hotdogs remain so popular.
Now, nearly everyone’s trip to Costco includes a stop for a hotdog. And today’s author wasn’t an exception to this. After buying it, they went to the sauce dispensers for some mustard, and they saw achildaround 6-7 years old licking her fingers with sauce on them and then wiping those fingers on the sauce dispensers’ nozzles.
The OP decided not to confront the kid or her family and reported it to the staff, who ended up confronting said family. And then, these people approached the author asking why they didn’t come to them directly. They explained that they were concerned about food safety and weren’t looking to pick up a fight.
Well, being concerned for food safety is totally justifiable in cases like this. After all, it is known that various diseases canspreadthrough saliva. Starting from diseases like the flu and type 1 herpes (cold sores) to even illnesses like Hepatitis B or C. And, well, no one would like to get these from a Costco sauce dispenser, would they?
Image credits:Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
Yeah, sure, one can argue that we don’t know if this kid had any of thesediseases.Yet, it still doesn’t dismiss the fact that having someone else’s dribble on your food is a very disgusting thing. After all, when you’re getting sauce for your hotdog, you likely want something like mustard or ketchup, not a random kid’s saliva.
People online reassured the author that it was the right thing to do – the staff needed to know that the sauce dispensers needed to be cleaned. Additionally, if they would have gone only to the parents, they likely would have pretended it didn’t happen.A few even thought that the employee’s confrontation even taught the child a lesson abouthygiene, as for some of the commenters, it seemed that this kind of topic was non-existent in that family.
While some mightarguethat forcing good manners on kids isn’t the most effective way to teach them to do better, in this case, what was the better way to go about it? Hygiene in public eating places is very important, as it isresponsiblenot only for customers’ health but for the restaurant’s reputation as well.So, tip-toeing around this topic isn’t the best choice, and it’s probably better to show the kid why the way she acted was bad.
And who knows if this lesson will even stick with the kid. Maybe her family will talk it over with some other stuff, just like they did when the OP tried to explain themselves.Well, let’s just hope that it won’t happen again and the next time this kid is near the sauce dispensers, she won’t go around spreading her saliva and making strangers uncomfortable while herfamilymistreats anyone who brings attention to it.
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