The Server Sneezed!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
by Marilyn Freedman
I am in Montreal helping my sons set up for school. We got into town at 1 am and, after bringing the bags into the apartment, we head over to the nearest coffee shop. It seems that, like Toronto, Montreal has a coffee shop on every corner. I am amazed at how many people order a regular coffee at this time of night. We are next in line when the worst thing happens. The server sneezes into her hand and continues to serve the customer. Problem for me! Problem for my son who tells me that if I don’t like it we should just leave, because he is already anticipating being embarrassed by what he sees as me “complaining”.
My turn. I ask the server, as diplomatically and nicely as I can, if she would please wash her hands before serving me because she sneezed – repeating it twice, because she doesn’t seem to understand. She says yes, but rings up my order, takes my money and hands me back change (yick!), then grabs a cup. I ask her again to please wash her hands. She goes to the sink, turns on the tap, runs her hands under the water without using soap, and with dripping, wet hands, serves us! I give up.
This happened at one of the big 4 coffee chains in the heart of the student ghetto at McGill. In the interest of public health: WASH YOUR HANDS! Cold & Flu season is around the corner!