"You could have poisoned my baby!"

[BlaqueLily]

I've lurked the boards for a long, long time and made the occasional reply, but this is my first real post on CS.

Basic background is that I work in an ice cream shop that's only been open for a couple of weeks. The company is well-known throughout the USA and Canada (I live in Canada). Everyone working here is brand-new, and this happens to be my very first job in food service. I try my best, but sometimes I'm forgetful.

The customer had her small child in a stroller and was browsing the ice cream cakes on display. I asked her if there was anything she needed help with and she politely declined and thanked me for asking.

A few minutes later, she approached the counter and asked if she could just get a chocolate dipped cone for her daughter. It took me a minute to understand that she just wanted the cone without ice cream in it. I asked my manager if that was okay, and it was. I felt silly for asking, but I'd never had that request before and I only wanted to be sure. Her patience had obviously thinned a bit after this exchange, but no big deal.

I grabbed a cone with my bare hands and offered it to her. She scowled and told me to get one with a napkin. Upon realizing what I'd done, I immediately apologized and agreed that that was not the correct thing to do. I tossed it out. I picked up a napkin and tried not to touch this second cone, but for whatever reason I failed and my thumb brushed against it. She saw this and told me to get a new one. Her patience had obviously reached its limits and I was getting a little nervous and shaky, but I remained calm and apologized again. I should mention that we follow health regulations to a T. My hands are ALWAYS washed, but she didn't know that and I never explained, and honestly I don't think it would have made a difference even if I had explained.

Then here's where I screw up (even more). She decided to give me the dollar for the cone even though I had asked her to wait til we were at the cash register. Without thinking, I took the dollar in one hand and immediately put it back on the counter upon realizing that I still hadn't given the woman her cone. I turn around, took a third cone with a napkin, and this time I almost did it, but the tips of my fingers touched it for maybe a tenth of a second. Mind you, the hand that touched it never came in contact with the money. This probably doesn't matter, but I'm just saying.

Customer: *BIG scowl* Do you realize what you just did?!
Me: *pause* I'm sorry, ma'am?
Customer: (very slowly) You-touched-food-after-touching-money!!

At this point she went on a huge tirade. I can't quote it, but the main points were this:
1) I could not do my job.
2) I was harming her daughter.
3) How could I do that to a BABY?! (BIG emphasis on this point)
4) The store didn't know anything about cleanliness...or something to that effect. Her English was fractured and it was difficult to understand her throughout the entirety of the exchange.

She wasn't screaming, but she was LOUD. I tried to apologize and go get my manager or even get a new cone for free, but I couldn't get a word in. She yelled right out the door.

Look, I do understand that I shouldn't have touched money before touching food, and I do feel bad about that. Really bad. I always wash my hands after handling money of any kind (or anything that isn't food, really). In my mind at the time, the only purpose of grabbing cones with napkins was to avoid a mess when we put ice cream on it. I can't touch food at all and I can't believe I didn't remember that at the time. Her implication was that I was poisoning the kid, and personally I seriously doubt that was possible. Maybe I'm wrong.

I needed to get this story off of my chest to truly just let it go while also admitting my fault. Thanks for listening. I know it's wordy, but I felt that the details were important to understand what happened.

[Cai1987]

Wanna bet that she was going to take that cone from you with the same hand that she'd just taken out the money with?

Don't worry about it. Clearly a case of overbearing parent. I have a two-year-old. The things that child has put in his mouth...

[FuzzyKitten99]

Don't worry too much, as she could have been much more polite about it. Honestly it sounds like she was just LOOKING for something to complain about.

There is an issue with handling money and then food, as money can have more bacteria on it than the bottom of your shoe. We actually did this as an experiment in biology in high school.

However to yell at you like that is not exactly productive nor any more in the right.

[XCashier]

Honestly it sounds like she was just LOOKING for something to complain about.

That's what I'm thinking. Some people just aren't satisfied until they have a reason to yell at and belittle someone.

Yeah, I'm sure that your freshly-washed fingertip brushing a square centimeter of ice cream cone will poison that child, who probably routinely sticks his toes, pet toys, rocks and other items of questionable cleanliness into his mouth.

[BlaqueLily]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I was hoping to hear a mother's opinion on this because I'm only a young adult and don't have kids. I am aware of how dirty money can actually be. As soon as I handle any transaction, I run off to the nearest sink, wash my hands, and help the next customer. It was just a major d'oh moment with picking up the dollar and forgetting to wash my hands before getting the cone. And I didn't even consider the fact that the mother was going to touch the cone and give it to the kid after handling money herself. Like...are your hands better because you've given birth to this kid or what?

And yeah, my fingers barely grazed the damn thing...

[teh_blumchenkinder]

... I ate an outdoor ashtray full of ciggy butts when I was a toddling thing. After the inevitable eruption, I was fine. I agree with the "oooh... the things they put in their mouths..." :shudder: We were all like that once. I'm sorry you got yelled at.

[Mishi]

Sorry that you got yelled at, especially over something so small. Kids really do put everything in their mouths - dog food, mud, tissues... so a briefly touched icecream cone isn't a big deal. Actually, my dad's favourite story is about the time he changed my dirty nappy and found half of a cockroach!

[XCashier]

I was hoping to hear a mother's opinion on this because I'm only a young adult and don't have kids.

I am a mother. And I still say that mother was just looking to be a Drama Queen, making a massive mountain out of a microscopic molehill.

[BlaqueLily]

Thanks guys. This situation seemed tricky to me. I mean, the way she yelled at me shook me up quite a bit, but at the same time I felt the guilt of knowing I had made a mistake here. The various responses has helped me to get over what happened and learn from the incident.

Small related story: My sister works at an ice cream shop that also makes hot food. Some guy wanted a chicken wrap, and so her co-worker made it and called out for the customer to come and get it. A kid came up, touched it somehow and asked if it was his chicken wrap, but my sister's co-worker said that no, it was for the customer before him. So the kid stepped back. The guy the chicken wrap was originally for became angry and demanded for my sister and her co-worker to re-make the wrap because the child had touched it, saying it was "disgusting" and other such words.

...The kid had touched the PAPER wrapping, not the chicken wrap itself.

[Pixilated]

Mom is either hyper-obsessed with germs, which does not bode well for her family, or was just looking for something to complain about. If it's the former, this obsession with germs has become ridiculous (not to mention counter-productive, as many doctors will tell you). At least one of the local supermarkets has these antibacterial wipes you can use to wipe down your buggy before you touch it or put your child in the seat. Please ... want to guess what the most germy thing in the buggy is likely to be at that point? The kid!! And unless the person who used the buggy just before me has got bubonic plague, I'm not overly worried about the 'germs' they might have left on it. (OTOH, I read a post -- on here, I think -- where a customer took money out of his mouth to pay for something. That is a whole different ballgame. Would have sprayed that money down with disinfectant in a New York minute and I don't care how offended the customer might have been!!)

[Andara Bledin]

... I ate an outdoor ashtray full of ciggy butts when I was a toddling thing.

My mother has informed me that at one point I decided to check out a kitty deposit. She also tells me that it was out of my mouth even more quickly than it went in.

^-.-^

[Crime Scene Scarf]

Thanks guys. This situation seemed tricky to me. I mean, the way she yelled at me shook me up quite a bit, but at the same time I felt the guilt of knowing I had made a mistake here. The various responses has helped me to get over what happened and learn from the incident.

Small related story: My sister works at an ice cream shop that also makes hot food. Some guy wanted a chicken wrap, and so her co-worker made it and called out for the customer to come and get it. A kid came up, touched it somehow and asked if it was his chicken wrap, but my sister's co-worker said that no, it was for the customer before him. So the kid stepped back. The guy the chicken wrap was originally for became angry and demanded for my sister and her co-worker to re-make the wrap because the child had touched it, saying it was "disgusting" and other such words.

...The kid had touched the PAPER wrapping, not the chicken wrap itself.

I wouldn't get angry, but I'd want a new one. Kids pick their noses, pick things up from the ground, and so on. I don't really want that sort of stuff on my food, or the wrapper while it's around the food.

I wouldn't have minded in the OPs case, because I tend to assume people working food serving places have some sort of hygene, but I absolutely cannot trust that the complete stranger customer has. Especially not if they are a child.

[BlaqueLily]

I wouldn't get angry, but I'd want a new one. Kids pick their noses, pick things up from the ground, and so on. I don't really want that sort of stuff on my food, or the wrapper while it's around the food.

Yeah, you make a good point. I didn't think about that. That would gross me out too.

[Gizmo]

Sorry that you got yelled at, especially over something so small. Kids really do put everything in their mouths - dog food, mud, tissues... so a briefly touched icecream cone isn't a big deal. Actually, my dad's favourite story is about the time he changed my dirty nappy and found half of a cockroach!

This only makes me NOT want to have children. lol.

Although when i was a toddler I managed to get a bottle of bleach down from the highest shelf in the bathroom* and drink it. I think I did go to hospital for that one!

*This shelf was high enough I'd have problems reaching it now at 5ft 5 without standing on tip toe. How as a two year old I managed to get up there and down again without hurting myself I don't know.

[AccountingDrone]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I was hoping to hear a mother's opinion on this because I'm only a young adult and don't have kids. I am aware of how dirty money can actually be. As soon as I handle any transaction, I run off to the nearest sink, wash my hands, and help the next customer. It was just a major d'oh moment with picking up the dollar and forgetting to wash my hands before getting the cone. And I didn't even consider the fact that the mother was going to touch the cone and give it to the kid after handling money herself. Like...are your hands better because you've given birth to this kid or what?

And yeah, my fingers barely grazed the damn thing...

I am the god mother to 6 girls, we haven't managed to kill one yet.

As we joke about it:
New mother brings home the first child - house has been sterilized by hosing it down with bleach everywhere. Kid drops his pacifier, mom puts it in the dishewasher and washes it on sterilize cycle then gives it back.

Second kid, house has been cleaned just before bringing the kid home. Kid drops the pacifier, it gets hand washed before handing it back.

Third kid, house gets a quick vacuuming before heading to the hospital to give birth. Kid drops pacifier it gets a fast rinse before being handed back.

Fourth kid, what cleaning? Pacifier hits the floor, it gets wiped off on the leg of the pants and handed back.

Fifth kid - damned lucky to get born in a hospital. Pacifier drops, gets handed back to keep the kid quiet.

Sixth kid - pacifier drops, put the kid down, he'll find it eventually.

Really, kids play in the dirt [if they are normal and get to go outside] and eat the dustbunnies from under the couch, and french kiss the cat, and eat the dog kibble out of the bowl. Unless they have a serious health issue, they are pretty damned resiliant.