If you hang out here at My Biggest Complaint long enough and read enough of the complaints, you start to look at things in the world differently. At least that’s what has happened to me.
Take for instance my dinner last night. Relatives were in town so we took them to a fantastically expensive seafood buffet.
After I stopped myself from puking the instant I saw someone licking their fingers after loading a plate at the buffet, I immediately thought, “My biggest complaint about licking your fingers…”
I saw the finger licking occur multiple times at the buffet. Someone would load some fancy saucy seafood onto their plate and a little bit of the magic sauce would run to the edge of the plate and get on the finger of the person loading from the trough. It happens to you all the time in your kitchen where you might do a quick little lick o’ the digits instead of wiping off your hands on a cloth because it’s your kitchen. It’s not a restaurant where literally hundreds of people share the buffet utensils every minute.
I think “party foul” should be extended to the buffet. These finger lickin’ offenders should be called out and/or pointed out to the management. “Hey, Mr. Manager guy, that big fat dude just licked his fingers and then grabbed the shrimp tongs.” Or maybe just a polite “Excuse me finger lickin’ ma’am, I’ve got some sauce on my fingers too, could you lick mine for me because I can’t possibly wait until I get back to the table to wipe off my hands with a napkin either.”
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Completely agree, this pratice is disgusting, and shows a complete lack of regard for others, or a lack of training in the manner arts, or both. Usually when I go to buffets I avoid finger-food, or eat it with utensils, because I never know how many other people have imparted their bacteria unto my hands. And knowing how many people don’t even properly or at all wash their hands when they are supposed to, I don’t even have to see a finger-licker to enact the self-preservation module.
Jay Gilly on September 16th, 2007 at 2:04 pm | Link
Buffet in general is unsanitary. Whether there’s finger-licking or not, there are bodily fluids and human debris constantly transferring to your food. You don’t know where these people come from or what their hygienic routine is. You also can’t be certain how long the food has been sitting out there and how many people will have handled it before it enters your mouth.
Think of all the things that a human hand encounters on a daily basis. It wipes your ass, picks your nose, handles your cock in the bathroom. It touches dozens of doorknobs each day, touches other peoples’ hands. Gropes a lover, cleans dirty diapers, pets animals, handles money, holds the rail on a subway car, etc. Are you getting the picture? Buffet was dirty way before anyone ever licked their finger.
A popular Chinese Buffet near my mother’s home was investigated after health inspectors discovered traces of feces and semen in the food.
I hope you enjoyed that buffet, even though it’s “all you can eat human waste”.
This is a problem with restaurants in general. But you can’t even buy raw lettuce any more without it being contaminated with nasty things. Sheesh. When do we get our Star Trek replicators?
Jay Gilly on September 17th, 2007 at 5:09 am | Link
Actually even if you have finger licking it is not going to affect you. The utensils are not capable of supporting bacterial growth. It is a well know fact that bacteria must be given about 4 hours of optimal temperature to replicate enough to cause disease. This means I can come along a deposit my germs upon your buffet food not just to the tongs but to the food itself, so long as this food remain at hold (135F or above) or at cold hold (41F or lower) then bacterial growth will not occur in the food to the point where it will make you sick. So the real risk at the buffet is the temperature control of the food kept on the buffet, and believe me buffets have a very large amount of temperature violations when the local health authority arrives.
Now if your talking about viruses such as Nora virus, this stuff is so contagious if some in the buffet is infect your going to get it from the door handle before you even get into the restaurant.
But now that you mention it the licking the fingers is not a very appetizing activity to view.
Mark on September 17th, 2007 at 3:40 pm | Link
Hang on a minute, Mark… so if I go wipe my ass with my hand and return to the buffet for some delicious crab legs and happen to coat the tongs with feces, that’s not a problem? E. Coli has shut many a restaurant down. Granted, the complaint is about licking your fingers at a buffet and I’m talking about feces, but some people have pretty dirty mouths.
Yes you are correct, in the fact that it introduces bacteria into the food likley the dose introduced is not sufficent to get you sick unless and untill the food harboring the bacteria laden feces is “incubated” for about 4 hours, in a temperature range of about 42F to 135F. and close to 100F is a prime incubation temp for most bacteria. Now of course you must look at what bacteria, the dose leve required for creating illness in “most” people, and the gerenral physical condition of the person ingesting the feces laden food. If the feces on the tongs were really a huge problem do you think any restraunt owner would have buffets or if they did would they stay open long?
And as for E. Coli, normally is found in the gut of most living creatures and is non-pathogenic. on the other hand the E. Coli that is closing establishments is E. coli O157:H7. Another interesting thing about E. Coli. since it comes from the gut it is used to gage the level of fecal contamination in water and other things, as fecal contamination is a prime source of introduction of pathogenic organisms.
Food served is not sterile by any means it is simply reduced in the numbers of bacteria by cooking to have a dose level which is likely to not make you ill. These bacteria over time give proper growing conditions repopulate.
Yep just cuz were talking about fingers the point is where have those fingers been?
My point is still a disgusting behavoir the real health threat comes from how the venu if holding the food and assuring the temperatures of the foods are such that it reduces the rate at which bacteria grow!
Mark on September 19th, 2007 at 1:20 pm | Link
Mark you lick your fingers at the buffet, don’t you.
Eric on January 9th, 2008 at 1:18 pm | Link
Actually Eric, I normally avoid buffets because most buffets do not properly hot thier foods at adequate temperatures increasing the likely hood of food bourne illness not to mention chewy put feces on the tongs (lol) As well as most buffets food really sucks.
mark on January 31st, 2008 at 10:01 am | Link
I’m writing a public speaking pet peeve essay thing. Yeah, and finger-lickers are my pet peeve.
erika evans on March 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 am | Link
What can we do about cashiers licking their fingers and ringing up groceries? My local Walmart just about every cashier in their licks their fingers. It takes me longer to search the registers and find a cashier that is not checking out customers and licking her fingers, than it does for me to fill my basket. Cashiers actually get an attitude if they are asked not to lick their fingers while checking me out. One cashier actually called a man crazy because he asked her not to lick her fingers while checking him out because it is germy, unsanitary and nasty. What can be done about finger lickers, it makes me sick in my stomach and I have actually left my cart of groceries in the store because I have seen the cashier lick her fingers and see saliva on her hand. I try to explain it to my mother in this way, would she let a cashier spit in her hand. To me it is the same thing, they lick their fingers, touch your loose produce and vegetables after touching money all day, foods, cash register, going to the bathroom. Germs are accumulating all day I know, but to watch someone put saliva on their finger and then touch my food that I will have to put in my refrigerator, freezer, cabinets. My daughter will not touch the bags once she sees a cashier lick their finger. I have to put on a glove and wipe my items off before I can put them away. I would not leave the restroom and see an employee leaving the restroom without washing their hand, then go behind a food counter and fix my food. The same rules should apply with cashiers licking their fingers. One manager said that they cannot provide the wax stuff for the cashiers, a cup of water to wet the tips of their fingers would be fine with me. Anything besides saliva
Samantha on August 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm | Link