Eddie’s restaurant pet peeves: things that stick in a restaurant

Adeline loves eating, a lot and often, both at home and out. It usually goes well, but sometimes it doesn’t. In the series Eddie’s restaurant pet peeves you can read about the latter. This time: things that stick in a restaurant.

This afternoon I picked up the pepper mill at a restaurant and I swear, the thing almost wouldn’t let go of me. It’s not as if there were no signs, because the label actually tells you enough. The logo of the four-season pepper was already a little ridged and stained here and there. And people, that’s just absolutely disgusting.

The verdict: ‘dirty’

I dare say I’m genetically predisposed when it comes to sticky jars and tubes in the hospitality industry. My mother used to shudder at them, and I inherited that horror. If there was a jar of pepper or salt on the table, she subjected it to a thorough inspection. The verdict ‘dirty’ promised little good, because then the kitchen really had to go to extraordinary lengths to make up for it.

After a few years in the hospitality industry, I now know that the kitchen can do very little about this, apart from having all the shakers removed from the tables. I would do the latter.

Polishing glasses and carrying on with the shakers

That genetic predisposition went so far that, during my time in hospitality, I cleaned the pepper and salt shakers several times a week. Lighting the candles at four in the afternoon, polishing the ashtrays with metal polish (yes, I come from that era, good-god-it-was-dirty), polishing the glasses and carrying on with the shakers. Somehow, my manager thought that was a waste of my time, but I mainly saw lots of guests who no longer got stuck to the shakers on the table. A joy to behold.

One person even praised the non-sticky mills; that was a real feast of recognition.

A sticky spectacle

You simply don’t want to stick to tables or shakers. It’s quite simple. Besides shakers, the bottle of olive oil or the honey are often culprits too. Last week, for example, I got honey with my tea. At first I was purely delighted, because I got a bottle and I love bottles. That means you can take plenty.

Until I picked up the bottle and gave the silicone casing a good squeeze. It was one big sticky spectacle, from my pinky to my thumb and immediately on to my palm. I find that disgusting, disgusting. Of course I know honey is sticky, but surely I don’t need to be reminded of that by the outside of a package? That’s more or less the whole point and purpose of the packaging.

So, now you can never pick up a pepper or salt mill again without checking whether your predecessor’s food remnants are still clinging to it. You’re welcome.

Also read:

• Why some people shouldn’t be allowed to use a self-checkout
• When your waiter turns out to be a bummer
• The most disgusting restaurant dining scene ever