Not so & common sense at the ship buffet

[iancal]

We occasionally go to the buffet...especially on formal nights. And once in a while if we miss breakfast. We always try for something that is served to us vs something sitting in the steam tray or behind the sneeze glass-both where people just help themselves.

 

But our reaction is invariably the same. I would say that about 50 percent of the time we come away saying we will not go back...but we do.

 

Last time it was some old darling pawing the bread rolls. Why is beyond me. Perhaps she wanted the biggest one or the softest one. Another time it was the cookies. Before that it taking plates and then putting them back on the pile after their hands had been all over the plate.

 

It amazes us how thoughtless people are. DW tends to notice it more because of her background in health sciences.

Then she points it out to me and I get full chapter and verse about how dangerous this can be-especially for older people whose immune systems might not be as good as they were.

Edited September 3, 2014 by iancal

[shirleygallegos60]

I was born and raised in the farming industry. I lived and worked at two different ranches one 5000 head hog ranch the other a HUGE dairy. If you knew what was in milk or your pork before it ever got to the restaurant you would not take a bite of anything. (I won't type them here because you would literally barf on your smartphone)

I guess that's the true meaning of ignorance is bliss!!

I use a napkin when picking up serving utensils and I always try to pick from the back of the tray so that people haven't handled it from the front. Even then I'm sure that I wouldn't want to know what went on before I got there.

The best thing that we can all do is good old soap and water hand washing frequently!

[swedish weave]

I firmly believe that exposure to the undesirable elements in our lives helps our bodies to develop immunities to some of these things.

 

Exposure coupled with common sense cleanliness and hand washing is better for us than total avoidance.

[iancal]

No issue. You are most welcome to take the items that we passed on.....the plate that someone else placed back in the pile, or the bread roll that the old darling fondled, or the chocolate chip cookies than the gentleman pawed through.

 

We are in excellent health but the very last thing we want is to be sick on vacation. So we are careful in the buffet, we avoid public restrooms on the ship, we avoid touching the handrails etc, we never eat finger food with our fingers, and we wash our hands often throughout the day. We believe these simple precautions are far better than tempting fate or relying solely on the few squirts of hand sanitizer that we often get when entering a dining area.

[wieslaw]

[quote=shirleygallegos60;43982537

..........

I guess that's the true meaning of ignorance is bliss!! ........

........ Even then I'm sure that I wouldn't want to know what went on before I got there.

 

Hi, I think there is a lot of truth in what you have written.

I / we take some precautions with food ( and other things) but sometimes it is better not to know ...... if I / we knew evry thing about the piece of fruit. the meat, fish ...... I would have to make a choice: eat it or go hungry.

 

Like this person had to do:

 

The fellow got some soup in the soup kitchen that served many hungry people. He put the bowl with the soup on a table but had to go to the restroom ..... he did not want someone else to get his soup, so he wrote a note: " I spit in it"

and left the note next to the bowl.

 

He came back, looks at the note and " I spat in too" was on the note.

[Beachdude]

Maybe there is too much information out there. I understand the 5 second rule for dropping something on the floor could really be extended to 30 seconds. But that isn't published for fear of the people who would wait 31 seconds.

 

Burt

Edited September 3, 2014 by Beachdude

[sail7seas]

No issue. You are most welcome to take the items that we passed on.....the plate that someone else placed back in the pile, or the bread roll that the old darling fondled, or the chocolate chip cookies than the gentleman pawed through.

 

We are in excellent health but the very last thing we want is to be sick on vacation. So we are careful in the buffet, we avoid public restrooms on the ship, we avoid touching the handrails etc, we never eat finger food with our fingers, and we wash our hands often throughout the day. We believe these simple precautions are far better than tempting fate or relying solely on the few squirts of hand sanitizer that we often get when entering a dining area.

 

 

 

That's pretty routine way of taking care of ourselves for many of us. Nothing you've written is particularly unusual or extreme. :) I pretty much live similar at home. When I come back into my house from anywhere, first thing I do is put my handbag on the floor and wash my hands. I won't put the purse on a counter as I have no idea how filthy the grocery market shelf was where I placed it pull out my wallet. :eek:

 

You won't often find hand gel or sanitizer in those grocery bags I bring home. You will find plain 'ole bars of soap. :)

 

[dsrdsrdsr]

I agree with virtually everyone on here. Eating is dangerous. Quite apart from the anecdotal stories - and we all know them - about people who used to eat and are now dead, there is actual proof in that when people are sick, what the throw up is actual unused food. If they hadn't eaten the food, they wouldn't have thrown it up.

 

I have solved the problem about fresh fruit being handled, though. I make sure that, for example, when buying strawberries, I only buy them from suppliers who will give me a signed guarantee that the picker washed his hands between picking each strawberry. And then I make sure I follow the guidelines by washing each strawberry for 20 seconds with hot water and soap before eating it. (Actually, I'm starting to wonder why people rave about strawberries. They don't taste nice to me.)

[Cuizer2]

I agree with virtually everyone on here. Eating is dangerous. Quite apart from the anecdotal stories - and we all know them - about people who used to eat and are now dead, there is actual proof in that when people are sick, what the throw up is actual unused food. If they hadn't eaten the food, they wouldn't have thrown it up.

 

I have solved the problem about fresh fruit being handled, though. I make sure that, for example, when buying strawberries, I only buy them from suppliers who will give me a signed guarantee that the picker washed his hands between picking each strawberry. And then I make sure I follow the guidelines by washing each strawberry for 20 seconds with hot water and soap before eating it. (Actually, I'm starting to wonder why people rave about strawberries. They don't taste nice to me.)

 

I think you are right. Eating is far too dangerous. I think I write my congresswomen and ask them to draft a law against eating.

[luddite]

I agree with virtually everyone on here. Eating is dangerous. Quite apart from the anecdotal stories - and we all know them - about people who used to eat and are now dead, there is actual proof in that when people are sick, what the throw up is actual unused food. If they hadn't eaten the food, they wouldn't have thrown it up.

 

I have solved the problem about fresh fruit being handled, though. I make sure that, for example, when buying strawberries, I only buy them from suppliers who will give me a signed guarantee that the picker washed his hands between picking each strawberry. And then I make sure I follow the guidelines by washing each strawberry for 20 seconds with hot water and soap before eating it. (Actually, I'm starting to wonder why people rave about strawberries. They don't taste nice to me.)

 

On a side note: everyone who ever died drank water.

[dancinman66]

I agree with virtually everyone on here. Eating is dangerous. Quite apart from the anecdotal stories - and we all know them - about people who used to eat and are now dead, there is actual proof in that when people are sick, what the throw up is actual unused food. If they hadn't eaten the food, they wouldn't have thrown it up.

 

 

 

I have solved the problem about fresh fruit being handled, though. I make sure that, for example, when buying strawberries, I only buy them from suppliers who will give me a signed guarantee that the picker washed his hands between picking each strawberry. And then I make sure I follow the guidelines by washing each strawberry for 20 seconds with hot water and soap before eating it. (Actually, I'm starting to wonder why people rave about strawberries. They don't taste nice to me.)

 

 

What a hoot

Love it :)

 

 

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[A2Mich]

Oh dear heaven, please DO NOT use the words "people" and "common sense" in the same thought. Unfortunately, a large number of people have absolutely no common sense whatsoever. On the upside, that also means that there is a huge number of future Darwin award nominees and winners. Like I read on Facebook, I think we should remove all warning labels from products and let the problem sort itself out..........:)

[browneyedgirlnb]

Oh dear heaven, please DO NOT use the words "people" and "common sense" in the same thought. Unfortunately, a large number of people have absolutely no common sense whatsoever. On the upside, that also means that there is a huge number of future Darwin award nominees and winners. Like I read on Facebook, I think we should remove all warning labels from products and let the problem sort itself out..........:)

^^^ like!^^^

 

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[SteveH2508]

On a side note: everyone who ever died drank water.

 

Let's make water safer to drink: let's boil it with nutritious stuff like barley; flavour it with a disinfectant (hops perhaps?) and ferment it to produce some alcohol to cleanse it.

 

D'ya think it might catch on?:rolleyes:

[GUT2407]

Let's make water safer to drink: let's boil it with nutritious stuff like barley; flavour it with a disinfectant (hops perhaps?) and ferment it to produce some alcohol to cleanse it.

 

D'ya think it might catch on?:rolleyes:

 

 

Nope never catch on.:D

[tip]

I firmly believe that exposure to the undesirable elements in our lives helps our bodies to develop immunities to some of these things.

 

Exposure coupled with common sense cleanliness and hand washing is better for us than total avoidance.

 

Well said. I agree. Some folks take things to the point of an obsession.

[luddite]

Let's make water safer to drink: let's boil it with nutritious stuff like barley; flavour it with a disinfectant (hops perhaps?) and ferment it to produce some alcohol to cleanse it.

 

D'ya think it might catch on?:rolleyes:

 

Well, not in the dry county that I live in.

I quit drinking water. A friend told me that fish wizz in it. i was disturbed. Then...she explained that wizzing wasn't the most disgusting thing they did in the water!:eek:

[Mickeygrl71]

Unfortunately not everyone knows this:mad:

 

On my Oasis cruise this past February a young lady walked up to a very large, fresh (there was only about two spoonfuls gone out of it) bowl of paella with her dirty plate. She proceeded to take a large spoonful and tap the serving spoon twice on her dirty plate!:eek:

 

The server was facing the other way and helping another person. A supervisor was standing nearby but also looking the other way. I proceeded to let the supervisor know about what I had just witnessed and he had the server discard the bowl of paella immediately. What a waste!:(

 

Some people should stay home.:rolleyes:

Yes, God bless him, my DH would go back with his used plate if I did not stop him. No, he was not raised in a barn. This was not something he was taught as a child :-). I agree not everyone knows ALL of the rules of etiquette.

In my opinion this IS the problem. Not that everyone one doesn't know to bring a new plate to the line each time (in fact not everyone does know this rule), but rather that too many people assume that everyone else knows ALL the rules.

[Cuizer2]

That is it. I just takes one person who doesn't know the rules (for whatever reason) and that person has children who then do not learn the rules, and that child has children who then don't know the rules ... and soon you have an entire generation that doesn't know the rules (are they written down somewhere?).

 

This is just like what happens to an expert. An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less until that person knows absolutely everything about nothing.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Cuizer2

[Mickeygrl71]

Actually, there are etiquette schools. We used to offer classes to our new accountants/CPAs.

[Cuizer2]

Actually, there are etiquette schools. We used to offer classes to our new accountants/CPAs.

 

I think it is only fair to point out that not everyone at the buffet acts like a pig ...

 

[GUT2407]

I think it is only fair to point out that not everyone at the buffet acts like a pig ...

 

 

 

And not every pig acts like some people at the buffet.

[shirleygallegos60]

Fair to say that I haven't read this entire post but what I have read I'm really shocked at the amount of "children". present at the buffet not with their parent. I hear a lot of posts about kids who are up there alone doing things they shouldn't do and their parents should be supervising them!!! That seems to be a huge part of the problem. I am NOT down on kids I have four of my own, but when we were in a public area and they needed to be supervised they were supervised!!

[Funster79]

On our last cruise (NCL Epic) there were a few kids at the buffet without their parents who were sticking their fingers in chocolate cakes and licking them and moving on to the next. When you went to get dessert, there was nothing edible as they were all destroyed. We also experienced a child gargling water and then spitting it out between their teeth on the outdoor eating area - in front of their mother I might add - which was nice too.

 

Though it's not just kids to be fair. I have seen my fair share of greedy, unruly trough-like creatures in adult form piling their plates higher than K2 in the buffet and going to sit and eat - then leaving half the mountain cos they'd had enough. Why so greedy? The buffet is open for hours and there's more than enough for everyone. Makes me so cross to see so many greedy people who have no consideration for anyone else.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Funster79

[JimAOk1945]

This thread is very helpful, informative, and humorous! It made my day! :D