Tough to keep fast-food outlet virus-free but she’s still lovin’ it, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

Tough to keep fast-food outlet virus-free but she’s still lovin’ it

This article is more than 12 months old

Burger-flippers are usually the busiest folks at McDonald's but it is guest experience leader Mariani Mohammed Surip who now finds herself with barely a spare minute as she tackles virus prevention at the Bendemeer outlet.

Ms Mariani, 40, steps up to wipe down the screens of the self-ordering kiosks with disinfectant each time a customer uses one.

The move may appear excessive to some, but you cannot play it too safe, she said.

"That means that even the space under the tables, the condiments area, and the chairs that customers sit on, must be disinfected after every use," she said.

"Of course, we used to clean the place regularly too, but we do it much more often now."

She also has her temperature taken at the start of each work day and then pastes an "I'm cool" sticker on her uniform jacket to assure customers that she is feeling well.

The mother of six admits that she is "worried" about the coronavirus outbreak the more she reads about it in the news.

McDonald's has shuttered all of its hundreds of stores in China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus outbreak.

But Ms Mariani, whose job is to work the floor and greet customers at the Boon Keng outlet, is putting on a brave face: "I do feel secure at work here. I know we have taken good steps to be clean, so I feel that it is okay to be working."

SHOWER FIRST

After completing her eight-hour shifts, which she does six days a week, Ms Mariani cannot wait to see her kids, who are aged six to 22 - but she waltzes straight past them after stepping in the front door.

"I wash my hands, put my clothes in the laundry, and then take a long shower.

"Only then can I come out and play with my kids. It is important to be extra careful," she said. - THE STRAITS TIMES

FOR MORE, READ THE STRAITS TIMES

coronavirus