My ruined breakfast!!

My office is located in one of those locations where after 7.00 am traffic builds up very quickly because of many side roads onto the main road, non-existent bus stops where matatus and buses inevitably stop creating a traffic jam and where all shapes and sizes of cars, trucks, buses and matatus pass meaning that by 7.05 am there is a major gridlock building up that often clears after 9.00 am.

I was at the office bright and early one morning at 6.45 am  parked outside my office and as usual was reading one of the dailies. Sometimes its a book, sometimes catching up on my emails but usually its reading one of the dailies but if after a long sleepless night catching forty winks in the car. This particular morning, I decided that I needed an early breakfast snack so I got into the coffee shop/supermarket/fast food outlet in the same building as my work place.

This was a routine that I had done many times as I would order a cup of coffee and a snack, eat at the adjacent food court, outside if it was warm and inside if cold. Many times in view of the early morning, the supplies of cakes, pastries, pies etc are just being loaded into the display case by the service attendants and this is so routine that I hardly notice what they are doing.

For some reason that I cannot explain I was unsure of the girl that was on duty that morning. She was not new to me, but she had a furtiveness about her that was not usual. I tend to notice behaviors of people and if I have interacted with you I will realise if something is not quite the same. My breakfast was served and I began munching away happily on my snack only for something to make me look up towards the display cases where the snacks were being arranged.........and my breakfast was ruined!!

This girl believe you me was busy placing the snacks in the display case with her BARE hands!! That's right, her bare hands, no glove, no tweezers (or whatever those long handled things are called), no serviette..............nothing but fingers to snack!! I could not believe my eyes!

Did this place that prides itself on being a high end fast food joint serving all kinds of foods and snacks to hungry Kenyans from 7.00am in the morning to late at night not have a policy on food handling?? I lost my appetite there and then in disgust. It is not that the girl was dirty, she could have scrubbed her hands clean with dettol a few minutes before she started her handling of the snacks for all I cared, but did she have to touch my food with her bear hands? Had she handled my very appetising pie similarly before serving it to me?

Seeing one of the other staff of the place who looked suitably managerial (which I later learnt was not the case) I called her and explained that my breakfast had been ruined and explained what I had seen. As is won't to happen she was suitably apologetic and told me that action would be taken against the individual. There and then I swore never to eat another snack in that place ever again and true to my word I have not.

I was so upset that when I got to the office a few minutes later, I sent an email to the company that runs the restaurant complaining about this carelessness, but I have neither received a response nor an acknowledgement concerning this incident. I also no longer see that infamous girl though for all I know she may have been transferred to another outlet!!

This incident reminds me of the often repeated stories of how you would lose your appetite if your ever ventured into any of the kitchens of our high end hotels and restaurants because of the way the food is handled in there and it occurred to me that often what you see will indeed kill you..........or your appetite.

So stay secure in the ignorance that what you don't see won't hurt you if you see my point particularly in culinary matters!! As for me and my custom to this chain of fast food stores.....we have parted ways!!