Wendy's......What does sanitary mean to you?

There's a new Wendy's in downtown Brooklyn, New York. It's located at 217 Livingston Street. From the exterior it looks like it might be a tiny little offshoot of what we've come to know as Wendy's. However, upon entering I found that it's quite spacious, with a new operational style and since it was new, quite clean. Or least it appeared to be.

I happened upon this Wendy's about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was so new that they were still painting the outside of the establishment. I was a bit hungry at the time and figured I'd just get a quick burger. Having not had a Wendy's burger in a while I found myself actually looking forward to it.

I found the ordering process interesting. It was new to me. Your order from the people at the little kiosks and then approach the counter to pay and get your food. A time-saver? No. They still prepare to order so if you order (approximately)10 feet earlier does it only take those 10 steps for them to have your order prepared. No. Well, why then?

Okay, so that didn't really bother me. I just found it interesting. But bothered I was and this is why. As I approached the counter and was started paying for my food I noticed a young woman behind the counter showing 'something' to a co-worker on her cell phone. She was wearing gloves so her hands should have been clean but.......who knows where that phone had been? And why is it with her at her work station anyway? So I commented to the woman who had taken my payment, a more senior worker who was obviously her superior, about the cell phone that this young woman was holding which had been who knows where. She looked for a moment and then assured me that the young woman was not touching any food.

Okay, so if she's not working with the food, then why is she behind the counter (I asked myself)? I was going to ask the woman assisting me about this since I was uncomfortable with this young woman being back there and handling what appeared to be an unsanitary object when .......wouldn't you just know it....the young woman a sandwich from a co-worker and walked it to the counter to give to a patron. And wouldn't you know it the elder woman was looking right at her as this occurred. Not handling food, huh (paper or not)?

So, how do you handle this?

The elder woman looked at me and I at her. No words need be spoken. She knew exactly what I was thinking......."bite your words". She then instructed the young woman to change her gloves. Now it is just ironic that this all occurred in an overwhelmingly affirming display of why I feel that people who work in food service should not be allowed to bring personal items into the work area. Needless to say, I won't be going back to THAT Wendy's.