Real-Life Communication
You are a health inspector. You are inspecting a restaurant for
the third time.
The refrigerator and freezer thermometers are still
missing, despite your repeated warnings and reminders. This puts the customers'
health at risk, since the staff can't tell if the food is at the correct temperature
to ward off bacteria. Plus, the "soup du jour" is only lukewarm.
They
were careless, ignorant of your warnings and reports, and just plain lazy.
You recommend the restaurant be closed.
You must write a letter explaining
your decision. A copy will be given to your boss, and a copy will be given
to the owner.
Make sure to include the following points when writing
your letter:
- They were given three verbal warnings, three written warnings and two
fines. The owner acknowledged this and promised to fix the reported problems.
- A week was given between each visit, which should have been plenty of
time to purchase thermometers.
- Hot food should be at 140 F or higher, and cold food should be 40 F or
lower. It was not.
"They need to be able to communicate with a variety of people, with
a variety of backgrounds -- a variety of ethnic backgrounds, a variety of
language backgrounds and educational backgrounds," says health inspector Gordon
Stewart. "And so inspectors need to... build a rapport with those individuals
and then provide them with some education."