Therefore, I Tumblr

How true is this Sandwich Guy incident? Anyone got an email like this?

*--from an IBMer sent to HR last 1.19.2009*

Dear HR,

I shouldn't have brought this up to the management, but I think, with the
current situation I am faced with, this incident compelled me to report this
to you and so I could use some help. I am also writing this to let my fellow
IBMers know about this stomach turning incident which will hopefully open
their eyes before buying or eating somewhere.

On January 5th, between 7:30 to 9 AM. I had a gruesome incident with one of
the stores here in Eastwood. The name of the store is the Sandwich Guy. It
is a small kiosk located here in Eastwood under the tower clock infront of
the 7 eleven store. We used to buy lunch from there and get large orders as
they serve healthy sandwiches, pasta  and drinks. Until that morning, when I
discovered something.

On my way home from work, I decided to grab a sandwich for my breakfast so I
bought a sandwich from this store. As usual, I went to the store and ordered
the country tuna sandwich and a bottle of mineral water. The cashier was
courteous and very accommodating though I sense that she is getting ready
  to go home because it is time to turnover the shift. I notice too that the
number of the crews in the store at that time is more than the usual 3 to 4
employees I usually see.  So they prepared my country tuna. They put on the
spread, grilled the bread, sliced it and wrapped in a paper. Instead of the
cashier presenting the order, One crew from the back took the package and
presented the order to me saying "Here is your Country Tuna Sir! Enjoy!".
Honestly, I was a bit surprised with the unusual greetings but I never
minded it so I responded back with a thank you.

So I went out from the store and walk some steps and rode a cab. Hungry I
was, I munched into the  sandwich which was sliced fairly and savor the tuna
and some green leaves between the warm wheat bread. I consumed the first
half of it but still my appetite still wants to finish everything. And so I
turned on the other side of the sandwich, unwrapped it and started to bit
the next half of the bread. I noticed a colorless, liquefied matter on top
of the veggies. I thought that it was melted cheese or mayonnaise! It
appeared luscious so in the middle of my chomping I slurped it! At that very
moment, I got my self teary eyed, I felt my stomach flipped and ended
throwing up that bite. It was a foul phlegm of a human. Horrible! ulk!

I immediately asked the cab driver to drive me back to Eastwood and so he
did. I entered the store again, this time not nice though still composed as
I don't want them to think that I am a uneducated person. I insistently
asked the question. " Sino ang nagprepare ng sandwich ko?". The crew who I
remembered presented the sandwich to me replied "ano yun sir?! hindi ko po
maalala!". With the looks of him, he cant seem to remember that I just
ordered the sandwich 30 minutes ago. So I helped them through by stating the
obvious that I just ordered the sandwich a few minutes ago. The other lady
was bright enough to remember. She pointed at that crew and said "Yung
country tuna! yung ginawa mo!". So I knew that it was him "Alloys" who
initially presented the order, and the same person who could not remember
the order. This time, I directed the question to him."Plema mo ba tong nasa
sandwich ko?". And there was silence inside the store but no one is brave
enough to answer the question. I repeated the question intensely as I am
frustrated, irritated and angry. All I need is an honest response which I
have failed to get. No one seemed to answer and prove that I was wrong.

The manager butt in and mediated. He explained that there is a  video that
we could see and that everything is captured to check if it really was his
crew who put that phlegm in the bread. He immediately phoned the owner. He
went back to me and said that the video should be ready with in 24 hours as
they need a request for it to be released and processed. Imagine how the
manager handled the situation poorly. He even admitted that the phlegm I
found could be a fault of their commissary as they have also had similar
incidents where they found staple wires and strings on their products. The
days passed and no video was presented up to this day. Please note that *I
did not request to view the store video; they made the offer to show the
video to me to prove their crew member's innocence.*

I gave them the sandwich and the receipt trusting

On January 7th, I was invited by the owner and talked with him and his
lawyer who offered to settle the matter amicably. I was with my brother
during the time of confrontation gladly as I was not prepared to be
intimidated by the lawyer. All I wanted was for them to take responsibility,
bring out the truth and talk to the crew. They have told us that they will
take this issue seriously and that they will revert back with the result of
their investigation and that we will see the video on January 14th. They
offered to have the bread undergo DNA testing which we were surprised to say
if they are willing to do that. They say it will take few months and that
the samples needed to be sent to Australia and Canada. I left the bread and
the receipt on their custody as I am trusting them to resolve the issue and
will adhere on the truth. The crew, Alloys said his apologies infront of us
at the end of the conversation and asked to forgive him of the things he had
done. *We also proved that the store does not have sanitary permit.*

On January 14th, the lawyer called me and my lawyer and told us that the DNA
testing was done and that they have found no evidence of the saliva from
their crews and that I have no basis for my claim. My lawyer who is my
sister-in-law was surprised with the investigation as previously they had
stated that it would take months for the DNA results to come back.
Afterwards she said to schedule another time to meet up. The lawyer
responded back with intimidation questioning matters immaterial to the case.
Some questions were:

a) Is my lawyer capable of handling private matters knowing that she is only
a government employee?
b) Is she really married? (fyi- she just recently got married so the change
name has not been processed yet)

These questions are immaterial to the case and that the intimidation would
not work. More so, I am concerned with how the store is handling the
situation. I am afraid that action should be taken and that attention should
be given for them to respond truthfully and honestly for the welfare of the
consumer. We are a thousand employees here in IBM and there are also other
people who are buying food from their store. If this incident was not
handled properly how much more the management of their crews, and how are
they preparing our food. This poses a big concern and I would like your help
to achieve the result of the investigation and to warn the employees. I
decided not to pursue meetings with them as I do not know if they are
truthful to their words with the harshness of words and intimidation they
are showing opposite of what they said to settle this amicably. I don't
think they are putting action to my complaint.

Further: it would perhaps have been more "acceptable" if I found human hair
on my sandwich, or found the tuna /any of the sandwich ingredients to be
spoiled. There was phlegm spat on my sandwich - that to me is not a matter
of gross negligence, it was a deliberate insult to myself as a paying
customer of their store.

My intention of airing this grievance is not to blackmail the store into
paying me some amount of money; my intention is for them to a) admit to
their mistake and b) put policies/practices in place that will prevent such
an occurrence from happening to some one else in the future.

Hope you would consider this note.

Company Details:

Name: The Sandwich Guy
Owner/Franchisee: Mike Pangan
Lawyer: Atty. Pangan
Store Manager: Ernesto "June' Pangan Jr

Address: Food for Fun City Walk 1 Eastwood City
       E.Rodriguez, Jr. Avenue, Bagumbayan, Libis QC 1110