Pet peeve: floor cleanup while establishment is still open!

This is a huge turn-off for me, and it happened yet again last night at Johnnie's Beef in Arlington Heights. Why do we have to apologize for having to step around people wet mopping the floor 40 minutes before closing time? Why do we have to have the enjoyment of our meals ruined and overwhelmed by the stench of some harsh cleaning fluids, just because the staff wants to begin cleanup an hour before closing time so they can get the hell out of there early? Aren't these eateries open for the benefit of the paying customer? They wouldn't let us in the outdoor patio area to avoid the stench, so we ended up eating our meals in the car. Great. Clearly no point in complaining- there was nobody around who spoke English or seemed to care in the least.

Am I the only one who resents this practice or is annoyed by it? Apparantly, because it's accepted here and many other eateries.
Wouldn't happen if I owned the place!

They never do that in Elmwood Park.

sandman wrote:Aren't these eateries open for the benefit of the paying customer?

I can tell you that when I work as a manager at a certain fast food chain, we cleaned up as early as possible so we could get the hell out of there and go out drinking. We didn't own the restaurant, so what did we care if a few sales were lost by cleaning/closing early. As the manager I think I was only being paid $8.80 / hr, so waiting until closing time and getting a whole $4.40 on my paycheck really wasn't worth it.

As a customer, yes I don't like it when it happens. As a former restaurant employee, however, I can sympathize. It's hot, you get yelled at all shift, customers are rude, and at the end of the day you just want to go home as soon as you can.

The one aspect I enjoy of Johnnies Elmwood Park was the way the place was run sort of military style. I enjoyed watching the employees work on pins and needles. I can't remember his name, but the big fella who ran the register was the best. One time a customer ordered a beef with ketchup, mustard, and raw onion. The look of disgust on his face was priceless.

This style definitely has not carried over to the Arlington Heights location. The AH location is definitely run with a more relaxed style...especially late night.

That would be because they don't have indoor seating at that one, just the picnic tables outside. The Arlington Heights location is set up like any major fastfood chain- tile floors, tables inside, etc.
I assume they're owned by the same peeps, food is the same, etc.

But, you didn't address the issue I raised: are you OK with the smell of harsh cleaning chemicals being used liberally well before closing while you're supposed to be enjoying a meal? Don't mind walking around and on the wet floors and having to feel you're sorry for getting in their way?

sandman wrote:But, you didn't address the issue I raised: are you OK with the smell of harsh cleaning chemicals being used liberally well before closing while you're supposed to be enjoying a meal?

No.

I have come to accept certain things, like the smell of wet mop at fast food places that attempt to meet the middle-American ideal of spit n' polish -- i.e., Johnnie's Arlington Heights, but not Johnnie's Elmwood Park; Chipotle, but not Carniceria Leon.

I will say that the beef at the AH location is very nearly as good as the original. If it's worth eating on the hood of your car in EP, then probably also at AH. That was kind of the point in the original post -- no one complains about the lack of a dining room at the original Johnnie's: it goes without saying, and the beef is worth the inconvenience. Now, if the AH location tacks on an extra charge to pay for the dining room rent and upkeep, I'd be steamed, because you're not getting what you pay for.

JeffB wrote:They never do that in Elmwood Park.

That could be the funniest line I've read all day!

I sympathize with the workers, because when I worked at Link's deli we would start sanitizing the slicers at 10 till closing and then someone would come in with three minutes left and want 5 lbs of corned beef. We would get so mad because we just wanted to go home.

On the other hand......
A few years back the hubby and I were talking of obscure chains that we enjoyed when we traveled. We decided to try and locate a Hardee's and we found one in Crestwood. So we traveled all of the way from the NW side of the city and when I started walking to the washroom I slipped and hit my head on the floor because they had already started mopping up. I was OK but I was soaked and embarrassed. So I see your point as well.

I was at Tom's Carryout in Lyons recently, enjoying their Grecian chicken dinner when some guy unceremoniously sloshed a mop full of ammonia-laden water on the floor next to me. I suddenly realized how it must have been in the trenches in WWI.

Cogito wrote:I was at Tom's Carryout in Lyons recently, enjoying their Grecian chicken dinner when some guy unceremoniously sloshed a mop full of ammonia-laden water on the floor next to me.

Incredible! How inconsiderate and stupid can their staff be? This just seems like common sense- people are eating food here! Hello, you complete idiots!

Hello, you complete idiots!

Let's not get overboard here. These are low on the totem pole workers whose managers love to see in constant motion. They are told what to do and want to keep their jobs. If you have a beef, then take it up with the management. The workers are doing what they need to do.

Lighten up, please.

Regards,

PreFlopRaise13 wrote:
This style definitely has not carried over to the Arlington Heights location. The AH location is definitely run with a more relaxed style...especially late night.

Questionable----

I was at AH for lunch today and the tanned, 40-something guy at the register was still yelling out to his order fillers what size bag to use:

"Juicy beef with sweet and a fry, SMALL BAG"
"Juicy beef with hot, combo with sweet, 2 frys, tamale, LARGE BAG"

It got a little un-nerving after a while, however, the counter guy was more pleasant to the customers than anyone I ever encountered in Elmwood Park.

cito wrote:

PreFlopRaise13 wrote:
This style definitely has not carried over to the Arlington Heights location. The AH location is definitely run with a more relaxed style...especially late night.

Questionable----

I was at AH for lunch today and the tanned, 40-something guy at the register was still yelling out to his order fillers what size bag to use:

"Juicy beef with sweet and a fry, SMALL BAG"
"Juicy beef with hot, combo with sweet, 2 frys, tamale, LARGE BAG"

It got a little un-nerving after a while, however, the counter guy was more pleasant to the customers than anyone I ever encountered in Elmwood Park.

Definitely they are very similar operational wise. The atmosphere at AH is more "laid back" than the EP location. At AH I actually see the workers smiling and joking occasionally, which is a good thing. I don't recall that ever happening in EP.

Cathy2 wrote: If you have a beef, then take it up with the management.

Lighten up, please.

Regards,

Ouch- reprimanded by the board policewoman!

Loved the pun about "having a beef" however- you do have a sense of humor and don't take yourself too seriously!

He doesn't have to lighten up - that is his viewpoint. It is a significant complaint and it bears discussion...

sandman wrote:

Cathy2 wrote: If you have a beef, then take it up with the management.

Lighten up, please.

Regards,

Ouch- reprimanded by the board policewoman!

Loved the pun about "having a beef" however- you do have a sense of humor and don't take yourself too seriously!

I responded as a board participant. If it was as a moderator, then it would have been signed, "Cathy2 for the moderators."

Mean spiritedness isn't my cup of tea.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

sandman wrote:Hello, you complete idiots!

Let's not get overboard here. These are low on the totem pole workers whose managers love to see in constant motion. They are told what to do and want to keep their jobs. If you have a beef, then take it up with the management. The workers are doing what they need to do.

Exactly. And the management will probably not do anything either. They don't want to pay the workers to stay another half hour or so and clean up, so they encourage them to get through their checklist while the customers are still there. They may even tell them they have to be done at such and such a time and there is no overtime.

Snark wrote:He doesn't have to lighten up - that is his viewpoint. It is a significant complaint and it bears discussion...

Calling people stupid/idiots most certainly calls for a lighten up. Cathy may not have been suggesting it as a moderator in her post, but I am. Let's lighten up here folks.

Regards,
Gary for the moderators

In regards to Sandman's post: I agree that it is inappropriate to be cleaning up early; I have also had meals ruined by the smell of cleaning chemicals (not necessarily at Johnnie's Beef).

This post brings up an interesting question of what other "things" restaurant workers are instructed to do, which can ruin a dining experience or the ambiance - which is very subjective. For instance, having dined more frequently in Asian restaurants since childhood (Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, etc...) workers are often doing other things from vacuuming, folding silverware/napkin combos, eating their own meals, picking through bean-leaf/soy sprouts/green bean sprouts, making dumplings, etc. at adjacent tables all the while, on occasion, perhaps talking exceedingly loudly or re: inappropriate subjects or lewd experiences. This type of activity can be ambiance-ruining or from some perspectives very charming - I know I've read posts from GWiv who find the bean-leaf sorting interesting, seeing what the staff gets to eat (even more interesting) as well as the post on Crystal Korean mandu making by the owner (I enjoyed those pictures myself) enlightening. Place these activities in an "American" restaurant and you'd hardly be pleased - food prep outside the kitchen, cleaning at peak dining hours with a full dining room (see various Chinatown restaurants) and sex talk at the adjacent table prompting your 3-year old to ask you "What's d_ggy-style, Dad?"

Anyways, growing up, seeing all these activities seemed normal, or rather OK during one's dining experience... now, less so...

get used to it. I got to fast food a lot and i know that if i am their during either off-peak time and they doing clean up, they will mop right by me and even may even try to mop under my feet, so i let them (that don't happen offten at all). If i am their 40 min before closing time and they are mopping by me, yes they will for sure ask me to lift my feet so they can mop under the table. Yes i can refuse but to me that's just rude so i let them mop

As one person said, they make minimum amount (in a lot of place you can't even live on it) so if you think people will care about the image of customers you're kidding yoru self

vision wrote:As one person said, they make minimum amount (in a lot of place you can't even live on it) so if you think people will care about the image of customers you're kidding yoru self

It is not a matter of caring or not caring, they are doing what they have been told to do by managers.

Regards,

Jay K wrote:In regards to Sandman's post: I agree that it is inappropriate to be cleaning up early; I have also had meals ruined by the smell of cleaning chemicals (not necessarily at Johnnie's Beef).

This post brings up an interesting question of what other "things" restaurant workers are instructed to do, which can ruin a dining experience or the ambiance - which is very subjective. For instance, having dined more frequently in Asian restaurants since childhood (Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, etc...) workers are often doing other things from vacuuming, folding silverware/napkin combos, eating their own meals, picking through bean-leaf/soy sprouts/green bean sprouts, making dumplings, etc. at adjacent tables all the while, on occasion, perhaps talking exceedingly loudly or re: inappropriate subjects or lewd experiences. This type of activity can be ambiance-ruining or from some perspectives very charming - I know I've read posts from GWiv who find the bean-leaf sorting interesting, seeing what the staff gets to eat (even more interesting) as well as the post on Crystal Korean mandu making by the owner (I enjoyed those pictures myself) enlightening. Place these activities in an "American" restaurant and you'd hardly be pleased - food prep outside the kitchen, cleaning at peak dining hours with a full dining room (see various Chinatown restaurants) and sex talk at the adjacent table prompting your 3-year old to ask you "What's d_ggy-style, Dad?"

Anyways, growing up, seeing all these activities seemed normal, or rather OK during one's dining experience... now, less so...

Interesting... I just thought this was something my local Chinese place did. Whenever I have gone for a late lunch, we frequently would see all the waiters sitting at a table and prepping or shelling peas or some other vegetable. If they had an order, they would get up and serve but then go back to the table. I've gone to Indian places and seen people sitting in the dining area and peeling and cutting potatoes. Are these things on the edge of health code violations?

sandman wrote:Incredible! How inconsiderate and stupid can their staff be? This just seems like common sense- people are eating food here! Hello, you complete idiots!

.....Maybe,just maybe they knew exactly what they were doing.

JSM wrote:

sandman wrote:Incredible! How inconsiderate and stupid can their staff be? This just seems like common sense- people are eating food here! Hello, you complete idiots!

.....Maybe,just maybe they knew exactly what they were doing.

Exactly!

This is a peeve of mine, too, and I immediately thought of Johnnie's in AH before I even opened the post to see which restaurant the poster was griping about. It's a consistent problem there.

Johnnie's is open till midnight and evidently the staff wants to be ready to lock the door and go home at 11:55. If management wonders why they don't get as much late-night business as they could, it's because anyone arriving after 10 has to take chairs down from tables (from outside, the joint looks closed) and put up with disinfectant fumes and unenthusiastic service.

Of course, this is the management's fault, because if they wanted to get optimum business, they would not allow the cleanup to start before the place closes, and they would be prepared to pay employees who stay after closing time to do it.

My other peeve is restaurants that not only start cleanup early, but close early when business is slow. I've learned to call ahead, but I shouldn't have to.

On the other hand, of course, what we are doing won't help. We should be writing with our complaint to Johnnie's owners, not here.