Local Residential Eatery Fails Surprise Inspection

By Grace E. Spoon/Tucson Occasional Examiner

One residential home with a non-commercial kitchen failed its summer inspection, racking up numerous citations.

What the inspector saw: During an unannounced visit, an inspector noticed dishes — in the clean dish rack — with dried food debris; witnessed a teenage employee take a swig out of a plastic juice cup and then deposit it in the clean dish area; food chunks left in the sink; pink, plastic dishwashing gloves filled with water, making them nasty and slimy for the maternal supervisor who wanted to use them; a chubby white dog licking dishes being loaded into a dishwasher — another teenage employee claimed this counted as the prewash cycle — and overall surly attitudes by all three teenage employees, which isn’t really fineable but definitely should be.

History: Previous inspections — under the mature, former mom-and-pop owner/operators who offloaded the kitchen cleaning chores in the slow, school-free summer — always resulted in A-plus ratings. The last visit in April earned the kitchen the inspectors’ highest honor, the Clean Plate award.

Follow-up: When an inspector pointed out the multiple violations, one teenage employee groaned loudly and replied, “What do you expect? You’re not paying me.”