Badmovies.org Forum

There's a case here in Iowa that's been getting some media attention lately.
Apparently, a gay man was fired from a McDonald's because he is HIV positive.
Check out the article here first...it explains everything:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/27969054.html

I have no problem with him being gay.  That doesn't factor in for me.
But I do admit that I would be a little uncomfortable having an HIV positive person handling my food when I go to a restaurant.
They say that you cannot get HIV that way.  That this guy could not pass it on to others by preparing our food.
But what if he sustained a cut that bled?  Even if it wasn't near the food, it's still a major biohazard.

There's just something unsettling to me about having an HIV positive person prepare my food even though the experts say it's "safe".

I'm curious to know your opinion on this issue.
What do you think?

If ANYONE, HIV positive or not, bleeds into your food, it's probably not too good.  What if they have HIV and don't know it yet, or Hep-C or anything else?

The danger is proper hygiene of the food handler, not whether he has already tested positive for HIV or not.

My opinion, since you asked.

Once the first case of HIV being transmitted though casual food preparation arises I might take note, but until then, I don't care.  Some possibilities are so remote that they're not worth worrying about.  I'm not concerned in the least about the chances of contracting e. coli at a fast food joint, and that's actually happened before.

If someone got cut and bled into food, I would hope that food would be thrown away and not served.  :buggedout:

If it was noticed in the first place. I know during years of being a machinist, I would often see blood and not know where it came from until I was at home in the shower.

In the realm of food prep, so many chances are out there for people to cut themselves.  Blood exposure can be deadly and quite frankly, to me its not worth the fluke chance something bad can happen.  Sure scientists can say now "theres no risk" but we all know how those minds change eventually.   After all, people already are killing themselves enough by slamming in a cholesterol loaded burger into their gullet, why add one more health risk factor?
 

One problem with it is when someone inexplicably (to them) is found to be HIV positive, others always find the reason.

A. "You had unprotected sex"
B. "No I didn't, I used a condom"
A. "Then you used it wrong"
B. "I'm married"
A. "You must have cheated then"
B. "No, Never have"
A. "Then your spouse did"
B. "No, Never"
A. "Well, there's something you did wrong you're not admitting"
B. "No, Nothing"
A. "Then your spouse is hiding something."

Remember when AIDS first came to public light, EVERY guy that was HIV positive was 100% with no argument a homosexual.

That's not true at all. Plenty of heterosexual men contracted AIDS back then and were HIV+.

-Coming back to the food thing, there's probably been times when this has actually been the case with all of us. We buy fast-food or eat a meal at a restaurant and someone has prepared the food who possibly had AIDS, we were totally unaware.

I've worked in hotels and been part of the catering industry and alot of crazy stuff goes on, sometimes other risky events occur and are swept under the carpet. I've got cut millions of times in kitchens and one time I sliced my finger in half and the hotel didn't even have a first-aid kit!!  :buggedout:

Also at one hotel, I was accused of being a heroin addict (which was untrue, as I've never done any drugs ever). I was nearly fired by the manager due to his view on it, never mind the fact I was a great employee. Even after he found out it was a false accusation, he still treated me like some junkie-leper.

I don't have AIDS myself, but it's a touchy subject with me and I've been through some harsh stuff in relation to the disease.

I know that, , but the point I was making was that it was darn near impossible for any straight man to convince people he was straight, , , it was in the beginning accepted as a homosexual only disease. You couldn't convincepeople otherwise. Fast forward 5 years and it's common knowledge.

Gotcha!  :thumbup:

I really wonder if fast food and other restaurant employees shouldn't be wearing gloves when handling any food as I do believe they already do at Subway.

And Taco Bell.  I don't know why but I just don't want to touch this issue with a ten foot pole.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that my fast food (McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc.) or restruant food (Denny's, I HOP, etc.) has been prepared by an HIV positive guy or gal, when it comes to this sort of thing you just have to trust that the people involved are exercising the same care you would preparing food for your family, that they're not dropping food on the floor or spitting in it or doing all the other stuff you can see in a comedy movie. My answer is that it is only a minor concern, not something I worry about to any great extent.

There are a lot of terrible illnesses you could catch from unsanitary food prep, HIV being the least likely.  Worrying about it should mean you stay out of those junk food havens.

The restaurant I work in, it's a mandated rule you have to wear gloves at all times.  Everyone I work with does wear them, too.  But I believe that rule just applies to the prep people, the cooks, and the dish and shake guys.  I don't believe waitresses are required to wear them, as they're handling money, etc. 

As far as the HIV thing goes, it never concerned me come to think of it.  Now it's in the back of my mind, so thanks Ash. :wink:

Kidding.

This ain't 1985.

I would imagine (hope?) most people who are HIV+ and working would be on the new HIV medications - which dramatically reduce the amount of virus present in their systems. Thanks to these medications many of these folks test as 'HIV undetectable', meaning the HIV virus isn't readily detectable in their blood.

This is how HIV+ women can now have HIV- babies.

 I think to get HIV from someone who is being successfully treated you'd just about have to eat their brain.  :tongueout:

On the otherhand, the sharp rise in  cases of Tuberculosis around the U.S. might be something to think about next time you see some fast food worker coughing on your Big Mac.  :teddyr:

The price of those medications makes them available to a small portion of the people that need it. Notice Magic Johnson isn't talked about as being HIV+ anymore? I was speaking with someone at work that said there was some treatment for Hep C that was something like $30,000 a year and took a couple years to complete successfully, , and they said the "good" treatment for HIV costs much more. This was a doctor that was saying it, , but not a REAL doctor, , but rather one that couldn't work anywhere but a prison. They make about the same money as me, they actually make LESS than some of the MAINTENANCE workers. They could have been talking out their rectal cavity.

Interesting persuasive style.  You trashed your own "Appeal to Authority."

I gotta give a karma bump for that...

I don't worry about it. I could worry about it...or about getting in a car accident,getting struck by lightining,being bit by a poisonious spider, carbon monoxide poisoning,having faulty wiring burn down my house,nuculear war, being murdered in my sleep, or any other unforeseen way we all could die. I don't fear death anymore. The shadow of death is everywhere. I try very,VERY hard to try and cope with it,as a person very near and dear to me is dying from Hepatitus as I type. Her liver and kidneys are shutting down....and the doctor has already said her time is limited. I HAVE to try to be upbeat....because if I start going into depression mode, I won't be of any use to her. I want to make her time here left as enjoyable as possible. I think I may be in denial of the reality of the situation as well.

I work at an agency that advocates for people with serious medical problems and I'm pretty familiar with the situation. These drugs are criminally expensive, but are usually covered by health insurance and Medicaid. There are also programs like the Ryan White Foundation to get the medication free or at a greatly reduced cost to uninsured/low income people.

These drug programs also were mind boggling complex at first (10 to 20 pills a day) but now many involve only one or two pills a day.

Unfortunately there are people in the U.S. who don't have access to the drugs, and millions of people over the world who do without mainly because of cost. South Park did a brilliant take on this recently when Cartman gets AIDS and the gang goes to visit Magic Johnson to see how he keeps so healthy. Turns out - the cure for AIDS is to have massive amounts of money!