that would be horrible

What is the big fear of spilling something? Set it away from your cutting area if it spills so what get a mop and clean it up that is what mops are for. Things get spilled all the time in a grocery store. Last week someone dropped a jar of pickles in the meat room on the way to the kitchen and it was all over the place. I didn't see anyone have a panic attack. I once dropped a glass jar of oysters on the scale where I was pricing it..that was a real mess but it sure wasn't an emergency. Everyone is going to be ok its just a spill calm down.

if that bottle of water touched your lips and you spill it on the floor it may be possible that some strain of germ will climb up the leg of the table and contaminate the meat. you can never be too careful.

 

I ll tellyou all the real reason behind these regulations.  Listen up...its money.  The more rules there are the harder they are to follow and the easier it is to fine the store and make money for someone. 

-- Edited by fdarn on Thursday 26th of April 2012 04:29:33 PM

i do and i let my people do unless some big wig comes in. i dont think its fair as hard as people work in the meat dept not have something to drink

Our company ( a high volume chain) has very strict sanitation policies across the board. Food and drink were not allowed in the meat dept. However, as others have said, we did it anyway.  Our only concern would have been the company's own sanitation inspector.  Store managers, even the a**holes, usually did not bother you over that. Most of them were smart enough to realize that people had variable levels of productivity and they did not want an empty case!

Hell I remember the days when everyone had a coffee and cigarette going right on the block in the cutting room, and a fifth of whiskey under the block!  You just had to be discrete so the customer didn't see you smoking. As time passed, smoking was only tolerated in the cooler when you were breaking down beef or making hamburger. Still more time passed and you could only smoke in the grocery back room behind the meat room, and now, it's  not allowed in the stores at all!

All that said, there are valid reasons for these rules. When one eats or drinks, invariably fingers touch the mouth and germs get transferred to the product you are working on.

With regard to food purchased in the store, that was fine but we had to have the receipt when asked or it was instant termination. If it was something you would use for a while, it was also fine to keep it in the cooler with the receipt taped to it and the receipt always had to be signed by the customer service mgr or store mgr. 

As to music, before I was a manager I was a night cutter, working the 10PM to 8:30 AM shift.  This was the toughest job in the dept, with a humongous production list to complete every night. I would always turn off the in-store PA and blast the boombox with hard rock. Our dept was completely enclosed so customers and night crew could not hear it nor could you hear them. One night about 3 AM I stopped to take a break and sat down on a milkcrate in the backroom behind the dept to have a cigarette and coffee.  all of a sudden a half dozen Phila Firefighters ran past me in full breakout gear dragging a hose. They did a double take on seeing me, stopped and said "What are you doing here??"

I said "I'm taking a break!"

Their response:  "The store's on fire! It was evacuated a half hour ago, get out!!"

So there can sometimes be a risk to loud music!  

I hide red bulls and water in my supply rack

Lady T-Bone wrote:

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I worked for a company once that made you take off your smock. cap or hair net every time you went out the market door. Said you would bring germs back in on them

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Those clowns don't know anything about microbiology. I know a little bit. They're just trying to justify their jobs by coming up with this crap. If they didn't get paid to think of this junk, they might have to do some genuine manual labor. All that is a waste if you don't change or cover your shoes in a separate room between the meat dept and the store. Of course you have to wear gloves when putting on and removing your shoes or shoe covers and change the gloves immediately after each action. It would probably be better to have someone with clean gloves put your shoe covers on for you. still, all that is not going to help much. Just google "sterile work environment". It's almost impossible.

 

Guess what?? (This is funny) At one certain Safeway store where I work (maybe one or two days per year for extra $$) they store the meat cutting gowns in the restroom! That's right. In the warehouse, upstairs in the employee bathroom is where you find the smocks/gowns & aprons. It's a huge restroom, but it's still a restroom. Isn't that a joke?

 

 

 

At my previous company, we had a sink near the meat dept entrance. If you left the meat dept, we had to wash our hands before entering the meat dept, even if you just washed them in the rest room.

it all comes down to a company's liabilities. If the company (or some suit wearing idiot) thinks there is a potential risk, then all of a sudden a new policy is made to cover their asses, in my store the other depts don't get to listen to their own music but we do in the cutting room. we keep food and drink seperate in a cupboard with reciepts attached. If we had a real staff room and a fridge then we won't need to keep our lunches in the meat room.
our department passes all health inspections and aside from some rusting racks which will be fixed/replaced soon, it's all good.

we all wear gloves when cutting meat to make in easier to answer the phone and serve customer's quickly. I feel bad for you guys/girls that can't have music/food etc because if it gets busy and you don't have time for a coffee break, at least you can have a drink of water nearby right?

we had a cutter who cranked up the music (full of swearing) so loud they couldn't even hear the phone! so guess what? he lost the privilege until he ended up quitting

if you are too strict with every little policy nobody is going to want to work with or for you, am i right? agree/disagree?

we arent suppose to buttttttttt we do and if health dept comes in we are notified asap and we put it by are jackets right out side the dept
if they forced it my boss would be doomedddddddddddd lol
always candy and cookies in her desk draw lol

Gee, no need for a George Foreman grill when the hot plates on the hand wrap stations along with a little aluminum foil work so well!  

phew you dodged that bullet

Always thought it was okay to not where gloves while cutting. It's totally within policy in my company (even though we all do wear them...we didn't used to for years, but my hands get colder in my "old" age). Food that can be directly ingested has to be handled with gloves (deli meat, hot deli product, etc..) Raw meat is not in that category. Is it not that way in other places?