While
I may be a slob, I'm not as much of a slob as to hand someone his or her drink
while holding the top half of the glass. Isn't that akin to handling the tines
of someone's fork, or scooping ice into a glass with your fingers? Yes? Well,
it may be happening more than you know.
I've
been doing some hi-tech, undercover work of late that has required me to hang
out at two highbrow joints in two different cities on consecutive nights. Tipsy
as I may have been at the time I was distressed by the rampant disregard for
public's health. Scratching. Picking. Touching. Rubbing. It all gets a little
too much to watch.
Bartenders
and servers are in ideal positions to get people sick. It can happen in a split
second, or flick of the wrist. These days media is having a field day with
stories about bacteria and viruses. The public--your public--is becoming
hyper-sensitized to our friend the germ.
Riddle
me this. Could a sanitary gaffe provoke one of your guests to go postal on
Timmy the busser? Could a lipstick-stained glass be the last straw that drives
someone to madness? Stranger things have happened, my friends.
If
you agree that there's altogether too much potential for violence in our lives,
then please join with me in calling for an end to "Publican Slovenliness."
Let's not get noisy about the crusade...bad for business. Perhaps a quiet, yet
passionate appeal to our fellow trench warriors to accept the following four
directives as inviolate (even for the Beverage Goddess and me):
•
Glassware -- Never make a drink without first scrutinizing
the glass. Is it clean and intact? Also, washing glassware entails more than getting
glasses clean, they must be sanitized.
•
Ice -- Ice is a food substance and
needs to treated as such, which means touching the stuff is strictly verboten. It also means that a scoop handle
shouldn't come in contact with the ice.
•
Date/Rotate -- Juices, garnishes
and drink mixes have shelf lives that should not be exceeded. Perishable items
are problematic from a food safety perspective.
•
Finger Management -- Always keep
your fingers clean. Wash them frequently, far more often than you may deem necessary.
If you keep your fingers washed, you'll probably quite accidentally get the
entirety of your hands clean.
In
a perfect world, the Beverage Goddess would be exempt, but not so.
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