Julia Altshuler wrote:
> Nancy Young wrote:
>> Just curious what others would do. Idly curious.
>>
>> This asian market where I go once in a while, it has this
>> air of being less than sparkling clean. Perhaps this impression comes
>> from the fact that the
>> shopping hand baskets are *filthy* dirty grimy. I don't
>> even like to touch them. I will not forget to bring my
>> own cloth bag to use next time. If I thought anyone there spoke more
>> than two words of
>> English, I'd call and tell them about it. I'd rather not drive to
>> some other far off place.
>>
>> What do you think? Be nice. Heh.
>
>
> There's a difference between things that are grody and make us think eww
> thoughts and things that are truly health hazards and make us literally
> sick. Ask yourself which category your Asian market falls in.
>
>
> For example, you could have a food store with clean shiny floors, no
> dust, everything spic and span, and a bunch of employees who don't wash
> their hands on exiting the bathroom. On the other hand, you could have
> a food store that's dimly lit, dusty, maybe a spill that's not cleaned
> up right away, but everything's clean where it counts. They may pay
> attention to keeping their refrigeration at the right temperature, to
> keeping the sell by/use by dates honest, to washing and sanitizing
> things that matter like everything that actually touches food.
>
My buddy owns a commercial refrigeration company and he gets to see a
lot of back ends and that is quite accurate. He won't eat or allow his
family to eat in most of the big box chain restaurants for that reason.
The front end might be clean but the poorly paid untrained staff are
doing lots of unsanitary and unhealthy stuff.



>
> I haven't visited your Asian market so I don't know, but I wonder if
> it's not more of the former and less of the latter. If that's the case,
> take a deep breath and decide you're being too fussy. The department of
> health is usually good about noticing the things that matter.
>
>
> But that doesn't solve the problem. The management should still clean
> up the shopping baskets, and they don't understand English. There has
> to be a better way to communicate. This is a long shot, but you might
> try it.
>
>
> Go to the store with brush, a rag, a bucket of soapy water, and a spritz
> bottle with a water/bleach solution in it. Choose some observable
> place, and proceed to clean one basket. Do so quietly and neatly. When
> you're done, empty the bucket somewhere that won't disturb anyone, maybe
> on the edge of the parking lot. Then use that one basket to do your
> shopping with. I'll bet they'll get the idea.
>
>
> --Lia
>