'It's Not Safe For Anyone': Restaurant Employees Say Bosses Forbid Face Masks

[TexasTowelie]

“We are scared.”

The story started with a tip submitted through our news tip form – but by Sunday evening, we heard from many now-former and current employees of Hillstone Restaurant Group’s Dallas locations, who said they are not allowed to wear masks while working as a company policy.

The California-based hospitality group owns Hillstone, the Honor Bar, and R + D Kitchen in Dallas, and Houston’s in Addison, and has apparently made it a company policy to not allow the face coverings, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

“It is true. We’re not allowing masks,” the R+D Kitchen manager we spoke to Friday night, who identified herself as Emily, said.

When asked if she was worried for her safety, or had heard any waitstaff expressing worry, she said, “We stand behind our decision. Thank you for your curiosity, but we stand behind this, and we’re doing the best we know.”

Read more: https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2020/05/03/its-not-safe-for-anyone-restaurant-employees-say-bosses-forbid-face-masks/

[Newest Reality]

1. It makes you wonder...

It makes you wonder how much they adhere to sanitation and other guidelines that are required for restaurants. Maybe that's a bother, too?

I wouldn't eat at place with lax standards during a pandemic. A sneeze on my sandwich? A cough on my meal? Yikes! Try our new Vector Special. I hope people in that area will avoid that group of sleaze depots.

[Maraya1969]

2. A lot of food preparers wear face masks as a regular precaution and these

yokels are refusing them? I wouldn't eat there.

Put me in a place where everyone is covered up and I feel rather safe. Being around people without face masks makes me nervous and I would really not want to be around anyone handling my food like that - at least now.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. It's about strangling unemployment for benefit of big chains

[MarcA]

4. Let them know how you feel on Facebook and by phone. n/t

[BComplex]

5. What in the hell kind of idiot is going to go to a restaurant where the wait staff are spreading

germs from one table to the next? The waitstaff have more brains than the stupid managers and owners!

[LizBeth]

6. The point is, they are not doing the best they know. When my work calls, I am going to tell them I

am wearing a face mask. I do not know how they will feel. I am at front desk, dealing directly with customers and about less than three feet space between us. Even stepping back and leaning in is not keeping me at the right distance to have them fill out a form, that I have to explain.