Question:
I recently started working in the kitchen at a TGI Friday's restaurant.
Unfortunately, the only shoes I have that fit the uniform standard are my
best pair, which I would also like to wear when I'm not at work. The
problem is, even after scubbing them thoroughly, a strong odor of stale food
remains in them. I wash my boots with leather soap weekly, but the soap
does not remove the odor. How can I get rid of this smell?
Answer:
The moment you wore those boots into work, you ruined them for anything but
wearing to work. The leather sopped up the grease and grime from the floor.
And if the soles are a gum-like (soft rubber) product, that's where the
smell is being held. Resign yourself to purchasing another pair of boots for
outside-of-work wear.
Keep one pair for work, and only use them only for work. Put your
clothes in a special area or closet away from other clothing. Your
clothes, skin, and hair will take on the smell of the restaurant's
grease trap. I worked at a McDonalds back in the early 70's and to
this day I have not eaten any of that food.
My hope was to buy some clogs designed speifically for kitchen wear and
return the boots to casual use. Is there no solution whatsoever to the odor
problem? If not, it looks like I will have to buy both kitchen shoes and
casual shoes, and toss a pair of $100 boots after just two months. If I
stop wearing the boots in the kitchen, will the odor eventually air out? Is
there no method that would deoderize the boots even if I no longer wear them
to work? I planned to get new kitchen shoes soon anyway, so it seems a
great shame to have ruined a pair of nice boots having only temporarily used
for work in the first place.
So why did you wear boots that you paid $100 for to work in a greasy
kitchen??
You could try putting them in the sun for an afternoon, but I don't hold
much hope for
that solution, either. I'm afraid you've ruined them.
