'Us servers scramble': 30+ Restaurant employees share the chaos that ensues when an inspector shows up unannounced

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Dec 5, 2023 7:00 PM EST

Whether you're working in a spotless kitchen or not, hearing that the health inspector has showed up unannounced sends some sort of chills down any service industry worker's back. Maybe it's PTSD from getting pop quizzes in high school, because that's exactly what it feels like. Even if you are sure you are an expert on the topic, something about being put on the spot and quizzed about it at random makes you doubt yourself. So you can image the sort of chaos that ensues with an inspector shows up out of the blue to a restaurant. Managers start to sweat, servers try to stand a little straighter, kitchen staff does the ungraceful dance of making sure everything is how it is supposed to be. Even a slip up of forgetting to date the juice of when it was made can ding you for a lower rating. So below service industry employees share the chaos cause and effect of when an inspector drops in out of nowhere. Buckle up!

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9846543104
    via T.Tseng via Flickr
  • 02
    Posted by u/FlyingSaucer51 2 days ago The health inspectors are here!!! Short What was it like when the health inspectors showed up unannounced? Were you asked to cover, clean, or help delay? I would love to hear (read) your experiences.
    via u/FlyingSaucer51
  • 03
    RosesSpins 2 days ago . I worked at a fast-food seafood restaurant in high school where we called back orders on a microphone (yes, I'm old) we had a certain very odd order to call back when we saw the inspector coming on the lot or in the door. Unfortunately this lead to a young assistant manager jumping up on the fryers to try and wipe off the hood and slipping his foot into the fryer. Most horrific thing I ever saw in thirty years in the business.
    via u/RosesSpins
  • 04
    Later when I was a manager at a Steak and Ale, I learned the value of the "Blue Parrot," leaving some incredibly obvious mistakes so they'd find those and then be more lax about the rest of the inspection. Worked like a charm. We'd literally take the soap out of the hand sink. BTW, if you're getting notice the inspection is coming, someone is on the take.
    via u/RosesSpins
  • 05
    T cheezeball73- 17 hr. ago Where i work there's a dozen or so restaurants in walking distance on the town's main street. The first one to get hit calls all the others to let them know the inspectors are in town.
    via u/cheezeball73
  • 06
    Active-Replacement46 2 days ago I was the manager of a "quick service" restaurant. Our Health Inspector would show up right in the middle of Lunch rush. We never got notice. Wouldn't have mattered if we did. I always just waved him back and told him to look at whatever he wanted. Don't have time to
    via u/Active-Replacement46
  • 07
    wanted. Don't have time to escort him around. Funny thing is he always felt the tile walls in the kitchen. Said if they were dirty the whole kitchen would most likely be a mess as well. We NEVER got below 100.
    via u/Active-Replacement46
  • 08
    chzygorditacrnch. 1 day ago Health inspector shows up and us servers scramble to hide/discard our personal food sitting where we made salads for the customers
    via u/chzygorditacrnch
  • 09
    Tough_Narwhal7293 1 day ago ours always comes through the front door, furthest spot from kitchen. i immediately recognize her even if nobody else does and my job is to calmly get my to the server station and move all of our personal cups to an acceptable place as fast as i possibly can while alerting everyone that she's here. she
    via u/Tough_Narwhal7293
  • 10
    goes to the back of the kitchen and i make sure every single thing is dated in the fridge before she looks there. she's really chill and we always get docked for the same few things but i still turn into lightning mcqueen the moment i see her approaching
    via u/Tough_Narwhal7293
  • 11
    TragicxPeach 1 day ago One time the Health inspector came by on st patricks day, we had a bunch of green dye as the restaurant was using it for a special drink, I was working in the kitchen at this place and for some reason the crew and I decided it would be fun to take the green dye and add it to some of the chicken marinade (just a few peices) idk why we just thought it'd be fun to have some green fried chicken later in the day.
    via u/TragicxPeach
  • 12
    Needless to say as soon as the Man walks in our manager ran to the back and discretely disposed of our green chicken (this was a very clean place and we always had almost perfect remarks on our inspections) it ruined the fun and we were all mad we weren't going to get to have our green chicken after.
    via u/TragicxPeach
  • 13
    Marinlik 1 day ago Back when I was a cook I called the health inspector on my work as it was so bad. Serving shrimp that expired three months prior. Sure it was frozen. But it smelled like rotten seaweed. Cooked meat that stayed in fridges for up to two-three weeks before being served. Black mold growing
    via u/Marinlik
  • 14
    on trays in the fridge. Just lots of nasty stuff. The next place I worked at I checked the health report before I started working there. It's nice to work in a place where I don't have to worry if the health inspector shows up.
    via u/Marinlik
  • 15
    Frosty Ice Princess - 2 days ago Usually just try and clean a lot/be super careful when the health inspector is visiting. Management always freaks out when health inspector is coming for a visit. Sometimes you knew ahead of time, sometimes was a surprise.
    via u/FrostyIcePrincess
  • 16
    One place I worked at, people would sometimes make food without gloves on. Health inspector was in the building and caught someone making food with no gloves on. That was fun.
    via u/FrostyIcePrincess
  • 17
    FlyingSaucer51 OP 2 days ago No. They never announce. But when the DO show up, sometimes management loses it. Happened to me at the Olive Garden. I was once told to "accidentally" knock over a tea urn so we could keep the inspector out of an area until others cleaned up violations.
    via u/FlyingSaucer51
  • 18
    lowfreq33 2 days ago . Yeah management always freaks out when the health department shows up because they know they've been cutting corners to save on labor. Same whenever some district manager or whoever shows up. How about let us do our jobs properly and there's nothing to worry about.
    via u/lowfreq33
  • 19
    imlosingsleep 1 day ago I have dated some cocktail batches and things as a bartender while they were in the kitchen. Things like lemon juice and sour mix, that we went through quickly so it didn't always get dated. I have never covered up anything untoward. I can recall filling up an extra sanitizer bucket and other things like that. The restaurant I manage now is only open for
    via u/imlosingsleep
  • 20
    dinner, and the inspectors never come at night so they usually either show up when nothing but prep is happening and everything is pretty much perfect, or they show up and we are closed. Then they leave a note that they would like to schedule the next week. We open up for them to come in when no one is there and nothing is happening which is also ideal.
    via u/imlosingsleep
  • 21
    Nimuwa 1 day ago We keep a very tight ship. Kitchen is by far the cleanest I've even had the honor of running food for. That being said, we live on an island and we know who the inspectors are. So as soon as they step into the ferry all our group apps explode warning eachother and other restaurants. Everything being spotless also means they don't bother looking very deep and can do the entire inspection in just 10 min.
    via u/Nimuwa
  • 22
    Lunavixen15 1 day ago We had the health inspector through last week. I knew he was due because he came in on one of my office days, but we don't open for lunch. I said nothing to the boss, perhaps a nasty surprise will make him get his head out of his
    via u/Lunavixen51
  • 23
    I know for a fact we got dinged for no hand soap in the kitchen or paper towels in the kitchen or any of the bathrooms and the roof leak that's been happening for 3 months that they've been too cheap or lazy to fix.
    via u/Lunavixen51
  • 24
    muheegahan 1 day ago . Bartender Ughh. I remember once that I was in the middle of portioning out a batch into store and pours, and we got SLAMMED. OF COURSE, the health inspector walks in, in the thick of things. We got dinged because I had poured the batch into the new container but had not finished putting the lids and date labels on.
    via u/muheegahan
  • 25
    BraskytheSOB. 1 day ago Back in the 80's I got us dinged for lighting a cigarette in the kitchen, wait for it....right in front of the health inspector. Hey, I thought he was a new Sysco guy...and it was the 80's.
    via u/BraskytheSOB
  • 26
    duh_nom_yar. 1 day ago I'm from a county that worked the health department like an organized crime racket. You never let yourself slip, ever. Staying prepared means staying open. Now I live in a county where I have seen an inspection once in over 2 years and when I talk about this subject the words "pay off" always get brought up.
    via u/duh_nom_yar
  • 27
    wowjiffylube 1 day ago Had one arrive in first thing in the morning after Paddy's Day (city centre pub in ireland serving pizza). Stuck his head in the door, saw the detritus of the night before including staff asleep/passed out. Met my eyes, presumably saw the budding panic contained
    via u/wowjuffylube
  • 28
    within, and graciously said he'd defer the inspection to another day. Everything important was in order, we would have passed, but I have never been so grateful to another human being before or since. It meant that I could focus on spending the morning achieving the correct balance of caffeine and alcohol to tame my hangover before tackling the cleanup.
    via u/wowjuffylube
  • 29
    FuqueMePapi · 2 days ago I work in a pretty clean kitchen now and have never gotten below 95 so we never worry when they come in, but in a previous store I've worked at management would have the host send a ticket in with "Health Inspector" as the special request and BoH would scramble.
    via u/FuqueMePapi
  • 30
    cathleen0205 - 1 day ago Everyone had a job to do if the inspector showed up, like checking sanitizer buckets, holding temps and labeling. Someone would check all the personal drinks on the line and make sure they were covered. Under prep tables shelves would get a quick wipe and the loading dock would be checked.
    via u/cathleen0205
  • 31
    YellowSphinx. 14 hr. ago I was by myself and I told them that they had to come back when there was a manager present. She ignored me, wrote down that I was the manager and kept getting in the way. Yes my manager yelled at me when they found out... like I had any control over that...
    via u/YellowSphinx

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service industry story unannounced restaurant inspection dinning server restaurant inspector waiter funny server tipping fine dinning server life health and food inspector dining experiences waitress restaurant work restaurant server service industry funny dinning
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