Now The Gloves Are Off!

We have to wear gloves when preparing food. Occasionally, Muslim or Jewish people come in so we have to take our gloves off, wash our hands, and put new gloves on because our hands have come into contact with pork.

A customer comes in and explicitly states:

Customer: “I’m a Muslim, so I can’t eat any pork. I’ll have the number six.”

As per the usual procedure, I take my gloves off, wash my hands, and put new gloves on — all of which she observes me doing — and start making her sandwich. She stands over the counter, watching me every step of the way, and so, upon finishing, I wrap the sandwich up and go to hand it to her.

Customer: “Wait a minute… Did you change gloves before you made this for me?”

Me: “Yes, you’ve been watching since you came into the store.”

Customer: “Sorry, but could you remake this? I’m just not sure if you actually washed your hands and changed gloves.”

I’m pretty annoyed, but of course, I oblige to remake her sandwich. This time, I make absolutely certain that she watches me wash my hands and change gloves so she can’t say otherwise. I make her sandwich again and go to hand it to her.

Customer: “Wait, did you wash and sanitize the table before making this one? There could have been bacon or ham on that table, and I don’t want to risk eating that.”

I am now making her a THIRD sandwich, after washing and sanitizing the table and, of course, washing my hands and changing gloves again. There’s no possible way she could have an issue now. I make the sandwich again, and this time, there appear to be no problems — how could there be? — and she sits down to eat her food.

Bear in mind that there have been other customers in the store and calling for delivery, making things extremely hectic for me and my two coworkers in the store.

The customer comes back up to the front a few minutes later.

Customer: “What kind of sandwich is this?”

Me: “That’s a number six: the roast beef and cheese.”

Customer: “Oh, I wanted turkey.”