One Dunkin’ employee posed a question on r/DunkinDonuts, “If it hits the floor it’s trash.. right?” They explained in a comment that they just started working at Dunkin’ three weeks ago and a box of lids was tipped over by another employee. This led to OP being told to wash the soiled lids because throwing them out would be too expensive. OP was hesitant about this but said that luckily their shift had ended, so they did not have to wash the lids.
Fellow Redditors sided with OP, saying that disposable items should be thrown away if they fall on the floor. “Plastic stuff like that gets thrown out but if you drop a dish like a stir spoon or tray[,] we wash it because it’s a dish that can get washed,” one user commented. Another user wrote, “Pretty sure it’s a health code violation to use disposable//single-serve items from off the floor because of [c]ross-contamination.”
Another user pointed out that the foodservice industry has different guidelines to follow. “…[I]f a cup hit the floor at my house I’d have no issue picking it up and drinking out of it. But in a restaurant setting, you absolutely can’t do that. We are held to a higher standard,” they wrote. It seems the only ones torn on this rule are restaurant operators that don’t want to take a loss on the wasted product.
