FreshBuzz at Subway with stoner Phelps
Subway has figured out that people who partake of marijuana get the munchies.
.jpg)
Kellogg’s, at the height of the Salmonella-in-peanut-thingies outbreak caused by the recklessness of Peanut Corporation of America, dropped Phelps cause of his bong-using ways. For a company that has a talking tiger pushing sugar-coated flakes of corn, hires the Rolling Stones in 1963 to write a jingle about three elves that push rice, and a talking toucan to peddle Froot Loops, such a move seems, uh, narrow-minded.
This picture, below, is from the website, TMZ. Subway says it’s pure coincidence and the FreshBuzz campaign has been around for three years. Subway knows its customers.
VP Biden says dumb things about swine flu
While on the road for several hours yesterday after visiting family, I finally settled on National Public Radio. I hear lots of good stuff on NPR when I’m in the mood for it. Just a few miles from home, I heard a story about some bad risk communication from an uninformed political figure. That’s always fun in my line of work…
According to the NPR story aired yesterday (heard by clicking Listen Now), when asked about the outbreak of swine flu on the Today show, U.S. vice president Joe Biden said he has told his family,
“I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that you’re going to Mexico – it’s that you’re in a confined aircraft and when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.”
Dr. Mark Gendreau, whose research has focused on flying and the spread of diseases, was quoted as saying that a sneeze would only travel about 3 feet. Only people two seats in front or two seats behind a sneezer on an airplane were in danger of contacting infected droplets.
Dr. Gendreau recommended washing hands often and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers to limit the spread of infection.
Biden also told the Today show that, if they had another form of transportation, he does not suggest that his family ride the subway.
In response, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who often rides the subway to work, said,
“I feel perfectly safe on the subway and taking the subway does not present any more risks than anything else.”
The text version of the NPR story now available online states that,
“[T]he vice president's office [later] issued a statement translating Biden-speak into bureaucratese: Biden was merely restating the same advice the Obama administration is giving everyone, to avoid unnecessary travel. The statement also reiterated the now-familiar admonition to cover your face when you cough.”
That’s not what I heard.
No Soap at Subway
Courtlynn’s here and that meant a quick meal at Subway last night on our way home from the airport. The restaurant was fairly deserted and we only saw one male employee working. After we received our order to go, I ducked into the women’s restroom. While washing my hands, I reached for the soap and saw the sign pictured here. I rinsed with water and hoped the friction from the paper towel would be of some benefit. But I’m not serving meals to others and only had to hand Doug his sandwich in the car before eating my half. Proper handwashing requires the proper tools: water, soap, paper towels.
Katie, a.k.a. the woman who lives under our stairs, used to be a sandwich artist at Subway in the Soo. She says they got “into a lot of shit” if they didn’t keep the soap dispensers filled.
Eat fresh. Use soap.
UK Subway worker filmed putting lettuce leaves up his nose in sandwich shop... before putting them back on display
A sandwich bar worker was sacked after footage of him stuffing lettuce leaves up his nose - before he put them back in their serving tray - was posted on YouTube.
Except I can’t find the video, so there’s just this crappy picture (if someone has it, please send along the url).
The Daily Mail reports that Richard Shannon, who also put salad leaves in his mouth before spitting them out, was arrested after a 'disgusted' customer recognised the 22-year-old on the Internet.
Shannon was arrested after the irate woman went to a branch of Subway in Brownhills, West Midlands, and hurled a chair at him, Walsall Magistrates' Court heard today.
The defendant admitted a single charge of contaminating or interfering with goods with intent to cause economic loss, alarm or injury.
He claimed the incident, filmed by a friend on a mobile phone early last year, had been a prank and that the lettuce, which went back into a tray used to make customers' sandwiches, had been discarded.
Technology in the classroom - anything goes
Every year I provide an intro food safety culture/stuff lecture to the veterinary students at Kansas State University. Always a good time in Pat Payne’s class, and the students have usually worked in food service and have stories to tell. This morning, the students even applauded when I trashed Chipotle for advertizing about the hypothetical risks associated with hormones rather than the things that make people barf – E. coli, salmonella, hepatitis A and norovirus.
The students all have computers, wireless access, cell phones, blackberries – there is no way to BS anyone; they are checking in real time.
I put up the slide below that Ben made a few weeks ago, to illustrate where food safety ranks in overall food culture concerns, and a student came up to me after class and said,
“I called the number. They don’t have anything about Phelps anymore. Your slide is out of date.”
Well played, sir.
At least they seemed to get a kick out of my line,
“Subway didn’t drop Phelps cause they know a lot of stoners eat subs.”
Bear visits Subway restaurant in Canada; Stephen Colbert terrified
Tap-dancing rats in restaurants seems so yesterday after a black bear visited a Subway restaurant during the early morning of Sept. 15, 2008, in the north coast town of Kitimat, British Columbia.
Rebecca Branton, who was in the back, told CBC News,
"I was just back there making soup … but I saw the door open and it was a bear. I grabbed my cellphone and ran to the back and locked myself in the bathroom and called my parents.”
The young bear's every move was captured by nine video cameras in the shop, including how it managed to grab the handle of the front door and pull it open.
See for yourself as part of The Colbert Report the other night. The bear bit starts at about 2:30. The zombie piece is hilarious, though, so watch through to the end.
No word on whether a health inspector was called to give the OK on potentially contaminated ingredients.
Sandwich rage: Man calls 911 over garnish error
Witnesses inside the store say Peterson eventually started screaming at everyone inside. When Peterson went outside to call police. Employees closed the store and locked the door to keep him from returning.The man then called police again to complain that the police hadn’t shown up yet.
The man was arrested and at his request the sandwiches were thrown away.
