Please Go Wash Your Hands

After witnessing both waiters and waitresses handling silverware by the bowl of the spoons, the tines of the forks and the blades of the knives with their bare hands, and serving drinks by holding the top of the glass with all five fingers, I become nauseated. It is a common practice of busboys to wipe off the chairs, seats and tables with the same cloth. My wife has witnessed a busboy wiping the floor and immediately wiping a table without changing cloths.

Recent TV news exposes didn’t surprise me. I have found that our health habits have seriously declined in the past few decades. How many of us wash our hands before we leave the rest room? I have watched many a man use the toilet and walk out of the rest room without washing his hands.

Cleanliness is no longer a priority.

Once upon a time, we were all schooled and conditioned in the concept of cleanliness. We got it in three doses: at home, at school and in the military. Now, we’re lucky to even get it at home. After World War II, every military person who went through basic training knew how to make a bed, clean latrines and do KP. Just about the entire population of veterans could make a bed with hospital corners tight enough to bounce a half dollar two feet high, and most of us were forcibly indoctrinated in hygienic responsibilities in the kitchen and in the living quarters.

But today, I can hardly find a decent hotel where the maid service is competent enough to recognize a hospital corner. Now in all restaurants, I find myself examining the silverware in search of fingerprints in the wrong places. And I refuse to eat strawberries; they can’t be scrubbed.

The problem is in the training of the employees. If the employers don’t know, how can the trainees learn?