#044 Casual Restaurant Etiquette

There are certain things that are not appropriate conduct while eating at a casual dining establishment. Some of these things are, but not limited to, the following:

1. hair brushing
2. nose blowing
3. audibly or visibly passing gas (from any orifice)
4. placing food trays on the floor:



I recently ate lunch at a restaurant that was not particularly busy during a weekday, and the man on the right was eating lunch with three women at a 4-person table. Apparently the trays are oversized just enough such that each person could not comfortably fit their tray in front of them all at the same time, so the man resorted to putting the trays on the floor as opposed to walking 6 feet away to the front counter and returning them. These trays do not feature a sheet of paper like most other restaurants have (it may appear that way in the photo, but it is actually a sticker)... that is, at this restaurant there is no barrier between the tray and your food. Therefore, whatever is on the bottom of one tray gets transferred onto the next tray when they're nested/stacked together.

When I think about what is on the bottom of my work boots (which I am required to wear at my job), and when I think about the potential of that combination of grease/oil/metal/dust getting on my tray.... well that just grosses me out. I know the restaurant is required to wipe down these trays, but typically they only have a bucket with some bleach and a rag which they use over and over and over.... *who knows* how often they change that water.

Is it too much to ask for patrons to NOT place food trays on the floor?! I think not.