I’m afraid of three things: snakes, rats and buffets.
Snakes and rats don’t need much of an explanation, but let me continue…
I don’t care if it’s the buffet at the local diner or the one at the Bellagio, they make the top three list of scary things in the book of Sanfilippo.
It’s not the food that fills the steam table or the salad bar loaded with fresh greens, it’s the people that stand in line and partake of the buffet that freak me out.
I’ve seen people take food off buffets with their forks. Put something on a dirty plate and put it back. Touch food with their bare fingers. Scratch themselves then grab the soup ladle. Sneeze, wipe their hands on the pants, then reach for a roll.
I’m gagging just writing about it.
Some people just love buffets. For $9.99 they can stuff themselves silly on Grade D beef, well done chicken, something that resembles fish and still have room for soft serve ice cream from a machine that may not have been sanitized in a while.
On a recent layover, I stopped in the airline’s lounge to catch up on email. After a few beers, I had to answer nature’s call. As I was walking away from the urinal, a man came out of the stall, walked over to the mirror, straightened his shirt and walked out of the restroom.
Soap and water never touched his hands, but as I made my way through the club, I caught him knuckles deep in a bowl of peanuts.
I politely asked the bartender to throw the nuts away.
One of the first things parents teach their children is how to wash their hands. It’s also the first thing adults forget how to do.
Poor hygiene is blamed for the outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships. One passenger who feels he/she doesn’t need to use hot water and a little soap after making wee wee can wreak havoc on vacation goers as we’ve seen during the past few weeks on the Crown Princess from Princess Cruise Line.
When an outbreak of the stomach bug hits a ship, the first thing they do is close down self service buffets. Why? Because they’re the easiest place for germs to be carried from one person to another and a big reason why these bountiful displays of food scare the crap out of me.
Now if we can only stop the germ carrying custom of shaking hands, I’ll be much happier.