MargateNews.net - http://www.margatenews.net/margatenews/ Original Article URL: http://www.margatenews.net/margatenews/news/articles/article28.asp Smoke in your customers face By Staff Sunday, February 15, 2009 During a recent MargateNews.Net on-the-town survey of area restaurants, we found a common thread. An unhealthy, unattractive habit that restaurateurs might do well to break: employee smoking. Where do employees smoke when there’s a ban on smoking in most public places? Anywhere they can, oftentimes outside a customer entrance or in the back near the dumpster, visible to passersby.   “I wonder if waitresses wash their hands before handling food?” one Margate resident commented on her way into a popular Margate diner, a restaurant with some pretty good food but one where employees relentlessly draw on cigarette’s at the side entrance near the parking lot. You literally HAVE to pass through the smoke first before sitting down for hotcakes and coffee, homemade soup or any one of their delicious, value-packed meals. The ‘smoking waitress’ then comes to our table wreaking like cigarettes. “Did you just have a cigarette?” we asked. She answered, “Oh my god, you can smell it?" Naturally, smoking is a health hazard for the restaurant industry. Although signs are posted everywhere that read “employees must wash their hands,” some do and some don’t, no matter how hard managers try. And a dab of anti-bacterial rub does nothing for disgusting tar and nicotine on the fingertips. If you’re a smoker, you know this.   What’s the solution to this problem? There are a few. First, as an owner or manager, don’t set a bad precedent by smoking with your employees. Second, hire only non-smokers, which are less distracted by their habit and consider their customers without having to smoke a butt first. Is the right to smoke a sensitive topic? It sure is, but one that restaurants really need to get a grip on. Times have changed and the simple fact is most people DON'T smoke. Opinion __________________________________________ Get MargateNews.net on your desktop, laptop or mobile Internet with customizable RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds. Receive all the news, or just some of it, as soon as it’s published! Sign up now. Access the wireless version of this website by visiting http://www.margatenews.net/margatenews/wireless with your WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) Internet-enabled wireless device. __________________________________________ Copyright 2009 Cassius Group Inc.