Brain Top Off!

It’s a classic series of jokes – “waiter, waiter – there’s a fly in my soup…”. It wasn’t funny, however, for Andrea Svensson, to whom it actually happened in an expensive restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden. Svensson was on a date with her long term boyfriend and fiancé who had splashed out on a romantic evening – but the night took a wrong turn when her starter was served with the floating insect. I nearly put the horrible thing in my mouth before my fiance saw it and stopped me,” said Ms Svensson, 27. “It was revolting.” Angry, the pair straight away called over the waiter with their complaint. Now this waiter then proceeded to do the worst thing possible for customer service – thinking they were joking, he laughed off the complaint and walked away! “You might think it’s hilarious, but at the time we weren’t laughing.” said David Tomas, Andrea’s boyfriend. “We expect better standards of hygiene from a restaurant this expensive. To be honest I just got more annoyed when he laughed it off as a joke.” The couple eventually had to call the restaurant manager, who saw the fly and immediately withdrew the dish, offering them a free meal. However the young lovers by this point were far too put off their meal and decided to take their business elsewhere.

Joking aside, any restaurant knows how big a health and safety nightmare this situation could be. The hot summer weather naturally attracts insects, especially in a food preparation area, and installing a low cost insect killer is an absolute must in any commercial kitchen. However this establishment, not being used to hot weather due to the normally chilly Swedish climate, was not equipped with one. “It’s a warning to us that we need to do something about it,” said the head chef later. “This has never happened here before and we need to make sure it never does.”. “We do take hygiene very seriously in our kitchens, and actually have an air filter already to trap airborne viruses, as well as air conditioners throughout the restaurant.” In a way it’s a blessing for other restaurants, who should really take this opportunity to learn the lessons here. Just one of these fly in soup incidents is enough to ruin a reputation. Then of course there’s the even bigger danger of a visit from the health inspector, who has the power to shut down a restaurant for incidents like these.

A young British woman working in an office in London was seriously injured recently when her hair was trapped by the blades of a desk fan, causing lacerations to her scalp and severe blood loss. Emily Hutnyk, 24, an administrative assistant at a major telecommunications firm in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was trying to cope with the recent heatwave in the UK . Thermometers in the captial city rose to as high as 35 Centigrade (95 F) on July 1st, which meant if you worked in an office in London the conditions could become rather unbearable. Just like many other office workers, Miss Hutnyk put a small fan on her desktop in order to stay cool while trying to work. Since desk fans are notoriously inneficient at cooling in very high temperatures, she repeatedly moved the appliance closer to her face. Tragically, her long hair suddenly got pulled in between the fan grilles and trapped in the blades with horrific consequences. Within seconds a large quantity of the young lady’s hair was torn from her scalp, along with a skin from her scalp. “I hardly remember it to be honest”, admitted Miss Hutnyk when interviewed later, “I think I passed out within seconds – it was my poor colleagues who had to watch it happen. The others in the office later said there was blood everywhere – they were more traumatised than me I think.” Colleagues immediately called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital where doctors stitched her scalp and treated her for blood loss and shock. Doctors are said to be considering hair implants to repair the damaged scalp once the wound has healed fully.

A spokesperson from the company said: “This was a tragic accident and we take full responsibility for not providing proper cooling facilities in the office. We will be fitting each office with overhead ceiling fans and banning the use of desk fans to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.” Office and general workers trade union GMB scoffed at this response from the company, calling it “far short of the mark”. “Essentially the cause of these kinds of problems is that our workplaces in the UK are simply not set up to deal with hot weather – and to be honest a ceiling fan is not enough. We are demanding that every office in the UK be fitted with full air conditioning both to help people concentrate on their work and ensure this kind of tragedy never happens again.” The union is advising Ms Hutnyk to consider taking legal action against the company for breach of health and safety regulations.

Everybody knows the “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” jokes. But it was no joke for Andrea Svensson when she tried to tuck into her French onion soup at a prestigious restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden. The young lady was out for a romantic dinner with her fiancé but the evening took a sour turn when she actually found a dead fly floating in her $30 starter. I nearly put the horrible thing in my mouth before my fiance saw it and stopped me,” said Ms Svensson, 27. “It was revolting.” The couple, outraged, immediately called the waiter over to complain. To make matters worse, the waiter who came to see them actually took it as a joke and walked away, grinning knowingly! “You might think it’s hilarious, but at the time we weren’t laughing.” said David Tomas, Andrea’s boyfriend. “It was a real breach of good hygiene and put both of us off our meal. To be honest I just got more annoyed when he laughed it off as a joke.” The couple eventually had to call the restaurant manager, who saw the fly and immediately withdrew the dish, offering them a free meal. It was too little too late for the couple, however, who couldn’t bear to stick around and sample the main course.

Ignoring the jokes, this is a hygiene situation that any restaurant owner knows should be taken seriously. The hot summer weather naturally attracts insects, especially in a food preparation area, and installing a low cost fly killer is an absolute must in any commercial kitchen. However this establishment, not being used to hot weather due to the normally chilly Swedish climate, was not equipped with one. “It’s the first time it has happened, but we know we must do something about it,” commented the head chef. “We do take hygiene very seriously in our kitchens, and actually have an air filter already to trap airborne viruses, as well as air conditioners throughout the restaurant.” In a way it’s a blessing for other restaurants, who should really take this opportunity to learn the lessons here. Just one of these fly in soup incidents is enough to ruin a reputation. Then of course there’s the even bigger danger of a visit from the health inspector, who has the power to shut down a restaurant for incidents like these.

An office worker in London, England was taken to hospital after her hair was caught in the blades of a desk fan, causing lacerations to her scalp and severe blood loss. Emily Hutnyk, 24, an administrative assistant at a major telecommunications firm in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was trying to cope with the recent heatwave in the UK . Thermometers in the captial city rose to as high as 35 Centigrade (95 F) on July 1st, which meant if you worked in an office in London the conditions could become rather unbearable. Ms Hutnyk, like thousands of others, placed a cooling fan on her desk to help her cool down whilst working. So hot and humid was it that day that the young lady kept moving the desk fan closer to her face to try and cool down as much as possible. However her long hair, swept around by the wind caused by the fan, swept in between the grilles and got caught in its whirling blades. Only a few seconds later a clump of the victim’s long blonde hair had been caught by the blades and forcefully pulled out of her scalp, together with a significant amount of skin. “It all happened so quickly, “ said Ms Hutnyk later, “it sounds horribly painful but to tell you the truth I passed out pretty quickly and thankfully I didn’t really know much about it. The others in the office later said there was blood everywhere – they were more traumatised than me I think.” An ambulance was called and she was rushed to hospital, where she required 12 stitches on her scalp. Once her head wounds have fully recovered Miss Hutnyk may consider hair implant surgery, as some of the hair that was pulled out may never grow back.

An official from the telecomms firm later called the incident “an unfortunate accident, which we are taking steps to ensure never happens again by reviewing the cooling needs of the office. We will be fitting each office with a ceiling fan and banning the use of desk fans to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.” However a representative from the office workers trade union GMB called this measure unacceptable. “The root cause of such disasters is that we don’t have equipment or laws in place in workplaces to help us cope with hot weather – ceiling fans aren’t enough. We are demanding that every office in the UK be fitted with at least a portable air conditioner both to help people concentrate on their work and ensure this kind of tragedy never happens again.” The advice from union officials to Miss Hutnyk is to sue her employers, as this constitutes a breach of health and safety law.