Fork Dropped In Filthy Street, Food Delivered Anyway

[sylviex]

I have noted the wiping of utensils with tissue, but can't see what good it would do without use of very hot to boiling water and/or disinfectant.

My utensils are washed with cold/warm water. Temperature depends on how sunny it is outside. I am yet to die or even be sick from eating with my bacteria riddled forks. Sure boiling water kills bacteria but is it really necessary? I don't think so and i am sure that everyone else in Issan that washes their dishes in cold water agrees with me. I don't think i have ever seen or heard of anyone in my area with food poisoning. In fact the last time i heard of it was in the UK and people there always was with hot water.

Thats a good point I felt a bit guilty reading the 50 degree temperature post because I am like you. Why would you be sick from not killing the bacteria which you didn't eat and are now gone down the plug-hole?

The bacteria (et al) are in the water you are washing & rinsing with.

Also, must remember that local populations develop immunities we foreigners lack.

Edited February 27, 2008 by sylviex

[Kilgore Trout]

I worked my way thru uni in the states with food service jobs and if the above offends you you'd be horrified as to what really goes on. I worked in upscale places too. If I were you I'd never eat out again, then again you can think about the conditions of the slaughterhouse where your meat came from. Maybe you should just resign to grow and kill your own food for the rest of your life. Good luck.

[nidge]

The bacteria (et al) are in the water you are washing & rinsing with.

Also, must remember that local populations develop immunities we foreigners lack.

No we don't lack them, not all of us anyway, otherwise we would be sick wouldn't we.

I base my ideas on facts. I was my utensils/clothes/house with cold water. I do not get sick, i do not get diarrhoea, in fact i have never been so healthy. Hey, i even drink rain water and the 10 baht 5 gallon bottles of water. If this myth that hot water is necessary to clean things i would have been seriously ill or dead a long long time ago.

[JetsetBkk]

OK, I had a teeny tiny moral dilemma yesterday on the filthy streets in front of the filthy beaches of Pattaya (or rather, Jomtien).

I witnessed a young woman delivering a plate of fried prawns walking on the way to a beach customer, most likely a farang based on the demographics of that beach area, and she dropped the fork on the filthy street. Now, this caught my attention. What would she do? Would she do the right thing and go back to the restaurant to get a clean fork? Of course not! Without any pause she swooped up the infected utensil and continued on her merry way to the happy, unsuspecting, customers.

Now we know she did the wrong thing. I did nothing. How wrong was that? Would you do differently? I must say if this was my home country I would have either confronted the waiter and/or warned the eaters. But here I did nothing ... Its just healthier to mind your own business here, don't you think, but I won't think about fried shrimp the same for awhile.

Best not to say anything about a dirty fork - you never know how upset some people will get....

[gunnyd]

All you need to do is watch a new episodes of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC, and them you will realize that a dropped fprk is the least of your worries when eating out. But I doubt they show it on BBC Entertainment/Prime in BKK. Gordon spits out obscenities every other word. The show would end up one long beep.

[TheDon]

I hate to admit, I dropped a drumstick on the floor once and ate it.

Anyways this story is nothing compared to what we used to do in KFC. When we worked there we used to thrown chicken around, hit it with broom sticks and there was always chicken dropping on the floor.

In Bexley Sydney, one boy was caught putting his pooh in the chocolate sundae machine, hahahaha

[nidge]

In Bexley Sydney, one boy was caught putting his pooh in the chocolate sundae machine, hahahaha

One very good reason never to eat sweetcorn ice cream

[Tony Clifton]

I bet she had picked her nose and then stuck her fingers in the fork tray.

Cancels everything out.

Bon appetit!

[Lemmy]

She obviously dropped it in dog sh*t otherwise there wouldn't be all this kaffufal...

She dropped it in dog sh*t then as she was picking it up she uncontrollably vomited

over the king prawns then handed it over to the unsuspecting customer!

[PadThaiGuy]

Eating a dead animal with a dirty fork. Yuk.

[mistresserika]

Eating a dead animal with a dirty fork. Yuk.

[NaiGreg]

OK, I had a teeny tiny moral dilemma yesterday on the filthy streets in front of the filthy beaches of Pattaya (or rather, Jomtien).

Use the spoon!

[lomatopo]

OK, I had a teeny tiny moral dilemma yesterday on the filthy streets in front of the filthy beaches of Pattaya (or rather, Jomtien).

This is actually an interesting dilemma, but of course not a moral one. It's not like your decision, one way or the other, will result in personal harm or death. Nor is this topic anywhere close to being as inane, insignificant, idiotic, imbecilic or immature as the average TV thread.

Obviously, if the dish were destined for you, and you witnessed the fork touchdown, you would respectfully request a new fork (and rest assured, you'd get the same one that got dropped, with or without additional bodily fluids). Why wouldn't we do the same for a fellow diner? Hence, the dilemma (choice of two options, one or both of which are troubling).

I recently ordered a sandwich in a relatively upscale Pub in Bangkok. I watched as the rookie waiter delivered my order to a distant table/customer. Said customer handled the sandwich (aka: bread in hand), with lit cigarette in hand (minor point), inspected it then pointed out to the waiter that it wasn't his order. Waiter then, after consulting management, delivered sandwich to me. I respectfully declined said sandwich, spoke with the floor manager to make sure she understood my issue, and exited the establishment paying only for a soft drink which was consumed.

In the OP's situation, I probably wouldn't do/say anything unless I knew the target diner, or they were seated nearby and I could remedy the situation with little problem, fanfare or loss of face (for the serving wench).

BTW, agree that the fork was far from the "weakest link" in the sanitary food-chain described. Target diner probably got the trots from the 'gamey' shrimp, rather than the fork, and Hep A from just about any Thai working in the restaurant.