A look into the lives of CSU's Current Environmental Health Interns
On my own!
Hello! It's been awhile since I've given an update, but nothing huge has happened...
I've completed all the training to do inspections on my own, so my days are now spent on the road doing inspections. Most of the retail food establishments on my list are FAR away, so I've been driving a lot. Luckily, I've been able to use a county truck most of the time. One day I had to do inspections up north, and ended up driving for a couple hours in Wyoming. That was a long day! It was interesting though. The people in the small towns that I visited were really nice, and I got to see some wind farms and lots and lots of grasslands. I thought I even saw a tornado, but I'm not too sure. All this driving is making me realize how huge Weld county is. I'm amazed that all 900+ food establishments can be inspected multiple times every year.
Working on my own was pretty scary at first. I didn't feel that I had the authority to tell people what they need to do to correct a violation. In general people are understanding, but I've come across a few that have a hard time respecting me, whether it's because of my age or their opinion of the health department. It's hard to have the motivation to do a thorough inspection when you feel like the second you leave, things are going to be done incorrectly again because the employees just don't care about following the food code. I've been thinking a lot lately about whether restaurant inspections actually make a difference. Whenever I go to restaurants and outdoor events, I see violations all the time (I can't stop inspecting now!). Do these places get away with having violations because they do things correctly only during an inspection (only 2 times a year) and ignore the rules the other 363 days of the year? I was thinking a lot about that the past weekend and didn't come up with an answer. However, this morning gave me a little more optimism. There was a formal hearing in front of the county commissioners for a well known restaurant that had been having the same violations for a few years. They've been fined multiple times and were still doing things incorrectly. I think that the hearing finally made the employees realize how serious things can be. Not only could they be shut down, but they could have a serious foodborne illness outbreak. Unfortunately it took them this long to realize that. But at least the message got out, and maybe things will change, at least for them.
On a more positive note, I've learned quite a few things from this internship. I'm better at confronting people. I still hate to do it, but now I know that I can do it if required. That has really helped my confidence at doing inspections. I've learned how to make my personality work in this job. Sometimes all it takes is a cheerful "how's your day going so far?" at the beginning of an inspection to make things less hostile.
I've completed all the training to do inspections on my own, so my days are now spent on the road doing inspections. Most of the retail food establishments on my list are FAR away, so I've been driving a lot. Luckily, I've been able to use a county truck most of the time. One day I had to do inspections up north, and ended up driving for a couple hours in Wyoming. That was a long day! It was interesting though. The people in the small towns that I visited were really nice, and I got to see some wind farms and lots and lots of grasslands. I thought I even saw a tornado, but I'm not too sure. All this driving is making me realize how huge Weld county is. I'm amazed that all 900+ food establishments can be inspected multiple times every year.
Working on my own was pretty scary at first. I didn't feel that I had the authority to tell people what they need to do to correct a violation. In general people are understanding, but I've come across a few that have a hard time respecting me, whether it's because of my age or their opinion of the health department. It's hard to have the motivation to do a thorough inspection when you feel like the second you leave, things are going to be done incorrectly again because the employees just don't care about following the food code. I've been thinking a lot lately about whether restaurant inspections actually make a difference. Whenever I go to restaurants and outdoor events, I see violations all the time (I can't stop inspecting now!). Do these places get away with having violations because they do things correctly only during an inspection (only 2 times a year) and ignore the rules the other 363 days of the year? I was thinking a lot about that the past weekend and didn't come up with an answer. However, this morning gave me a little more optimism. There was a formal hearing in front of the county commissioners for a well known restaurant that had been having the same violations for a few years. They've been fined multiple times and were still doing things incorrectly. I think that the hearing finally made the employees realize how serious things can be. Not only could they be shut down, but they could have a serious foodborne illness outbreak. Unfortunately it took them this long to realize that. But at least the message got out, and maybe things will change, at least for them.
On a more positive note, I've learned quite a few things from this internship. I'm better at confronting people. I still hate to do it, but now I know that I can do it if required. That has really helped my confidence at doing inspections. I've learned how to make my personality work in this job. Sometimes all it takes is a cheerful "how's your day going so far?" at the beginning of an inspection to make things less hostile.
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