We’d say that ignorance is bliss when it comes to uncomfortable truths, but at the end of the day, knowing the harsh reality is better than staying naive, surrounded by illusions. If you’re a fan of dining out, you might be shocked by how low the hygiene standards are in some places.
TikToker @hazel_gm, who has plenty of experience working as a server in many different restaurants, went viral after spilling the tea about “the ugly truth” about the industry. Some of the things she shed light on might make you think about what the situation is like in your own local restaurants. Scroll down for the full story. Bored Panda reached out to Hazel for a friendly chat about her viral video, the restaurant industry, as well as her passion for creating videos. You'll find our full interview with the content creator below! And if you enjoyed her video, be sure to follow her on TikTok.
Restaurant staff don't always maintain the high standards that they should. One employee spilled the beans about the entire industry in a TikTok video
Image credits: Nick Karvounis (not the actual photo)
"Here's what you need to know about restaurants from someone who worked in multiple restaurants"
Image credits: hazel_gm
"The kitchen is not clean, it is not up to your standards, and it is not as clean as you would like it to be"
"I'm sorry, but that's just the truth. Your server has not washed her hands for the entire shift. If you're lucky, she washed her hands when she came in the building. But it's like a 50/50 chance that that happened. Unless your server was me. If your server was me, you had the cleanest person in the building. Okay, I guarantee you. And I'm not saying that to be braggy. I'm just saying it because it's the truth. They used to make fun of me because of how much I washed my hands."
Image credits: Clay Banks (not the actual photo)
"Like the dishwasher once told me like, you come back here a lot and wash your hands. Like, what's going on? And I was just like, that's just what I do. See, when I have other people's food on my hands, I go wash them. I don't want to be walking around with like, mashed potatoes on my hands. So yeah, I'm gonna wash them. I've watched servers clear a dirty table, turn right around, and make you your salad with their bare hands. Yeah, I've seen it a lot, believe it or not."
"And you know, that's the risk you take when you go to a restaurant"
Image credits: Louis Hansel (not the actual photo)
"The ice is not as clean as you would like it to be. That ice is pretty nasty"
"The reason why is that no one cleans the containers that the ice is in. Usually, we're transporting ice from the icemaker to the drink machine. So whatever container we're using probably hasn't been cleaned in years. Same thing with the ice chest. Yeah, we just keep dumping new ice in there. No one's like draining the entire thing and then wiping it down. No one does that. Like, sometimes I did, just to be like, a good person. But like, even I didn't do it as much as I should have. Because it's just too much work. It's too hard."
Image credits: Jan Antonin Kolar (not the actual photo)
"Different restaurants have different ways of cleaning their tables"
"If it's corporate-run, they probably have like, a sanitation station. So like, it's a bucket of pre-mixed sanitizing liquid that you then dip your rag in, you go to the table and you wipe it down. But let me tell you, no one is changing out those buckets as often as they should be. Yeah, I watched servers who have an ice-cold bucket of sanitizing solution from like, this morning. And it's now evening. And they've got food particles floating in there and no one's changing it. No one is. I don't know why.
I was. My sanitizing bucket was always fresh and hot. Just so you know. The first thing I did, I come onto the floor, and check the bucket. And sure enough, it's disgusting. So I go change that out, get some fresh cleaner in there. Okay. And then I go and wipe down my tables so that they're actually clean. Other restaurants literally just like spray on a disinfectant and you wipe it down. But like, no one lets that sit long enough for it to actually be disinfecting. If you just spray and wipe, you've pretty much-done nothing except, like, get the actual crumbs off of the table."
Image credits: lasse bergqvist (not the actual photo)
"And last but not least, nighttime cooks are better than daytime cooks. I don't know why. Is it some unknown phenomenon? Perhaps?"
"Maybe it's just because we know we're going to be busier at night than we are during the day. So we want to have a better cook on for the night time. Who knows. But when it comes to restaurant staff, you want to go in the evening, okay? That's when you're going to have the best servers, that's when you're going to have the best dishwasher. That's when you're going to have the best cook.
See, because the people the people that are working until like, midnight, and then like, sleeping through the day, you know how like, they're all a little bit messed up? They're all like, alcoholics and they all like, smoke, like a chimney. For some reason, though, they make the best restaurant staff. So if you're going to eat at a restaurant, do it at night, don't do it during the day, you're just going to have a better cook, you're going to have a better server. They're like, they've already drunk their Red Bull for the day. They're ready to go. For some reason, the night cooks will always be better than the day cooks. And that is everything you wish you didn't know about restaurants."
Image credits: Bimo Luki
Hazel’s 4-minute video got over 51.5k views (and counting) on TikTok at the time of writing. A lot of the video-sharing platform’s users could relate to the server’s experiences because they themselves have worked in the restaurant business before. And if we’re being very honest, it hurts us to learn how low the hygiene standards are in so many places.
We were interested to get Hazel's take on why her TikTok was as popular as it was. According to her, the topic was very relatable. "Nearly everyone eats restaurant food on a regular basis and when I said I was going to tell the 'ugly truth,' I think it's natural that people got curious and continued watching, whether they got grossed out or not," she shared with Bored Panda via email.
"Curiosity always wins. I enjoy sharing my personal experiences and past restaurant videos have received good engagement. If I notice there's a certain topic on my channel that gets engagement, I try to continue to deliver on that topic," she said.
"My advice for anyone new to the industry is to handle the food the way you'd want your own food handled"
Bored Panda was curious how the content creator would motivate restaurant employees to value hygiene more. "You might be able to motivate staff to improve hygiene by offering monetary bonuses for excellent work. However, I think the lack of better hygiene is due to understaffing and, in a few cases, pure laziness. How can an employee constantly glove-up when handling food or wash their hands for 20 seconds if they have the job of two people resting on their shoulders? If they don't have enough support to keep things running smoothly, they will cut corners," Hazel pointed out that changes need to be made on a larger scale at these restaurants.
"And some employees simply don't care. They might have time to wash their hands, but instead, they check their phone. The attitude seems to be: 'Well, I'M not eating the food, so I don't care how it was made' or 'I don't get paid enough to keep everything clean.' And those people are the worst employees to have. My advice for anyone new to the industry is to handle the food the way you'd want your own food handled. Try to keep things as sanitary as you'd want them to be if you were the customer."
Lastly, we wanted to hear about what keeps Hazel passionate about filming videos for TikTok. "I was the kid that put on performances in my family's living room, joined musical theatre, and aced any college projects related to creative writing or presentations. I thrive on entertaining others and as a stay-at-home mom, making TikToks has become a creative outlet and helps me escape the mundane," she told Bored Panda.
The content creator noted that she's only speaking from her own experience as an employee and a customer. "I've seen some very sanitary restaurants but in my opinion, dirty restaurants far outnumber clean ones."
You can watch Hazel's video in full right over here
If the staff think that basic hygiene is a joke, then there’s either an issue with how they were trained, how they’re motivated in the workplace, or what perspective they have on their customers. Ideally, you want to have an employee who’s taken well to being trained, is incentivized to follow proper cleanliness protocols, and deeply cares about the people they serve or cook food for.
On the flip side, workers who don’t give a rat’s behind about hygiene standards can land the entire business into hot water. If the servers never wash their hands and if the kitchen’s a dump, then sooner or later, your customers will get ill.
Not only does that put someone’s life at stake, but it also makes the restaurant vulnerable to getting sued or even shut down if it doesn’t meet food safety standards. And the next thing you know, everyone’s out of a job. In short, ignoring common sense hygiene and safety standards is a very short-sighted way to work that will eventually backfire.
Not only that, it portrays an utter lack of respect for oneself, as well as others. And that’s no way to go through life. Yes, employees ought to have a proper manager who trains and motivates them to do their jobs well, but the other side of the coin is taking personal responsibility for basic things like washing your hands.
It is imperative that the kitchen staff store the ingredients properly. Leaving some food items on the counter for a while might not have any negative effects while doing the same with others would spoil them. That’s because microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, and viruses thrive in some ingredients more than in others, and it comes down to how much moisture they have and how acidic they are.
Staff members need to know how to properly store and utilize different ingredients
So, for instance, nasties thrive in seafood, raw chicken, raw eggs, raw flour, and unpasteurized milk. You have to take extra care when handling and storing these ingredients, otherwise, you’re risking someone’s health and life. Meanwhile, there’s more flexibility if you’re working with items like lemons, pickles, and crackers, which don’t have to be utilized as quickly.
Every establishment likely has its own checklist of all the things that need to be cleaned every single day, every week, and month. And while a little bit of variation is inevitable, what truly matters is that the protocols get followed and that they meet the local food safety standards. The Canadian Institute of Food Safety urges food industry employees to clean the food prep areas and sinks, alongside mopping the floors, storage areas, and walk-in fridges, every single day.
Other common daily hygiene tasks include taking out the trash, cleaning the inside and outside of the garbage cans, and cleaning the appliances: from the grills, fryers, and toasters to the microwaves, coffee makers, and beverage machines.
Meanwhile, the kitchen staff ought to manually clean the floor drains, ovens, deep fryers, and floor mats once a week. And, once a month, the employees should manually clean the walls, ceilings, vent hoods, and behind the hotline, as well as empty the grease traps.
It’s a ton of work and the staff needs to understand why it’s so important to follow through. Good managers will find ways to motivate them to stick to the established protocols to keep the quality of the restaurant’s service top-notch. But a part of being a good leader involves enforcing boundaries, not just setting them. If someone’s playing at being a server or cook without understanding why hygiene is so important, they need to become aware of the consequences of their actions.
The content creator's followers had a lot to say after watching the clip
