Should "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" apply to infants?

If the kids feet are touching places where food could reasonably be (ie the table and counter) then they should have foot coverings. If they’re in a seat or are otherwise obviously not going to put their feet there it should be allowed.

It gets tricky with people in a wheelchair. What if part of your leg is amputated? Do you need to have shoes for that? Because if you have no feet then you’re probably not wearing shoes.

The customer did right by putting socks on the kid. I would deem that acceptable. The manager was just being a power hungry dick.

That’s just rediculious. If I were still eating fast food I would boycott Burger King for that.

Sounds like the manager is being a dick. I mean come on, the kid was only 6 months old! I would accept socks. I don’t think the “no shirt, no shoes, no service” shouldn’t apply to infants. Now if the kid is walking around, I think they should wear shoes and shirts.

It seems excessive, but what do people think when you are dealing with someone who is only able to be employed by Burger King?

Fast food workers get fired at the drop of a hat. They are paid to follow the rules not to think.

As a former fast food manager, I can theorize as to what happened here. After long hours of getting bitched at by irate customers because their food took an extra 10 seconds longer than they expected, or wasn’t hot enough, or had too much or too little onions, or any of the various other things that fast food customers paying $5 for a meal bitch to minimum-wage employees about, the guy lost it. He felt the need to assert himself, to go on a bit of a power trip to make up for being shoved down by so many people on a fairly constant basis, and this was the opportunity.

I’m not saying he actually had any of this conscious thought, of course. It’s just what happens. There’s only so much you can take from customers yelling and complaining at you, most of which is not your fault, almost all of which isn’t worth complaining about in the first place. Eventually, you just get so bitter that you need to feel more important again. Not more important than you are, but as important as every other human being on the planet. Dealing with FF customers all day makes you feel meek and impotent. He tried to reassert himself, and took on an equally stupid and pointless rule, and went too far.

Was his reaction justfied? No. Do I understand it? Absolutely. In my time in FF, I had customers yell at me, try to steal $100 from me, throw an apple pie in my face, refuse to move until I served her breakfast (at 11:30am), order me to clean his kid’s feces accident out of the playtubes, break open the salt shakers to dump them all over the tables, etc. FF workers – including management – don’t get paid enough to deal with all that every day and give Service With A Smile in return.

@MrItty you brought back so many joyful experiences I’ve had in my fast food days…I was a crew trainer at a Mcdonalds while in high school.. *sigh

Imagine if, every shift, you had a minimum of 2 birthday parties to host where the parents were worse-behaved and whinged more than the children. Yes, I was a “Customer Coordinator” at McDonald’s for 2 years in high school. My job was to put up with the stuff that the manager on duty didn’t want to put up with from customers. Never again.

But of course, I would have accepted socks on an infant. The fuss that manager made was just silly.

Congrats, it’s one instance of a tee-d off minimum wage paid frustrated manager making a wrong call. This isn’t new and really shouldn’t be news considering the other problems going on now, but news is as it is.

MrItty describes it perfectly and truthfully.

Then again, sometimes you get a dick boss who yells at you for not yelling at the customer like this (they’ll sugar coat it of course), so sometimes it’s easier to simply play by the book and let upper management deal with the shitstorm. It’s not like there’s much of a career being a manager at McDick’s, nor is there a lack of fast food places to work at.

I walked into Burger King one night after one of my son’s baseball games. When I saw one of the people who worked there sitting on the counter I decided we didn’t need to eat there and could have cereal for supper! If they let people’s butts sit on the counter where food is served, then what the heck are they doing that I can’t see? Before I left, I told the manager, who was talking to the butt sitter, that perhaps people shouldn’t sit on the counter.

@autumn43 are you talking about the food-prep counter in the kitchen, or the cash register counter? If the latter, I’m not seeing the issue. Food doesn’t go there. Ever. What’s the issue with some guy’s pants material coming into contact with a counter on which wrapped food is placed on a tray or in a bag?

Off topic. I went to a Subway where they make your sandwiches in front of you. The lady that asked to take my order got into a coughing fit, coughing in her bare hand, then scratched her armpit. I got a bag of chips.

The shoe thing might be a health department violation. Not saying the manager didn’t over react, but if he just had a bad health department visit it may have influenced his reaction.

I would have told him to go fuck himself – and shoved food into the garbage – would that make yet another terrible customer? sure, but my child comes first

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I think you missed the part where it was a church group. eh he.

No, that’s ridiculous.

@MrItty – the counter where the trays of food are placed with the food on them. Do you sit on your table at home? Like there couldn’t be nasty germs on their asses from either pants being on the floor while going to the bathroom, or from wiping their hands on their pants after picking noses? – I realize those are probably extremes – but I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff and I really don’t want to be served food from a place – on a tray or in a bag – where someone just had their butt on. Never mind if they had farted there….and it just made me think if they are allowed to do that out in the open, what are they doing behind the scenes. It just isn’t sanitary, IMHO.

@autumn43 we can agree to disagree on this one. The food is wrapped. The wrapped food is on a tray or in a bag. The bag or tray is on the counter. The idea of “butt germs” going through the employee’s pants, onto the counter, from the counter, onto the tray / inside the bag, through the wrapping, to the food, is, my opinion, slight at best.

But even if I were to accept that proposition, do you have equal problems with the employee’s – or customer’s – hands being on the counter? If not, why not? Surely, if the potential problem is a pick of the nose that gets wiped on the pants, and then from the pants to the counter, then the direct hands-to-counter transfer would be much less sanitary, no?

@MrItty – I said those were extremes – and the money is the dirtiest thing out there. However, the thought of someone’s BUTT on the counter is what disgusted me. And we always do agree to disagree with our opinions.

You didn’t answer. Do you sit on your table at home?

It’s too high to do that comfortably. And I have chairs and couches that are much more comfortable. Would I sit on the table if it was the only flat surface around? I dunno. Maybe.

@autumn43 Thank you for that visual.

@Chyna – I gave you a little lurve for your visual.

Lmao, that is fucking retarded.

It wasn’t the manager, it was a lowly counter service worker. The chain has stepped in and given them a huge welcome. The whole thing was an embarrassing misinterpretation of the policy.

The first time I flew home to visit the folks, my Mom met me at the airport with a coat for me and shoes and socks for my baby, since she knew I didn’t wear them in Southern California, and I would be sorely in need there in Denver. It’s a good thing, because she she was absolutely correct.

I would have said what @Simone_De_Beauvoir said.
My kid didn’t wear shoes until he was over a year old, it’s actually not good for their forming feet. I would be furious, and throw a fit.

Who doesn’t love a naked baby!?! :)

But, what the crap? If the kid doesn’t walk, I don’t see the problem. I can guarantee those cute baby toes have far fewer germs than my hands after pressing the soda fountain button. Regarding the question about an adult person in a wheelchair- that’s a little more gross to me, because babies don’t make BO, adults do. That includes foot odor.

That is just stupid! It’s a baby for God’s sake! What six month old baby actually leaves booties/shoes on??