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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 1987)
Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, June 16, 1987 Opinion But sir, the fly’s keeping the maggot company Patty Last summer I “ landed my first real job. I worked as a waitress in a Pascavage restaurant that s Guest Columnist one of a large chain across the country. Since I’d never worked in a restaurant, I was trained fora week bef ore I was allowed to serve food to the guests. And during my training I experienced a horrible awakening. Good health is valuable to me, and I suspect health is a major concern for others, too. Everyone has a right to know what really goes on behind the swinging kitchen doors of his favorite restaurant. And many think they do know. But they don’t. I was appalled at what I saw, but I was even more shocked that this was happening in a popular and respectable restaurant — or what I thought was a respectable restaurant. I’ll admit I’m no health expert, but I do recognize blatant disregard for basic sanitation requirements when I see them. From the outside the restaurant seemed innocent enough, but the kitchen area and some of the employees were disgustingly unsanitary. In five days, I was neither asked nor reminded to wash my hands bef ore I began to work. And it was obvious that none of the other employees were encouraged to wash their hands, either. food to their poor unsuspecting customers without washing the hair spray and makeup residue from their hands. A hand sink was mounted in the alley — the area where salads are made and the food is received f rom the kitchen — but that was only for appearance. The counters and walls were coated with cof fee and tea stains. Cabinets and shelves were covered with chunks of petrified salad dressing that had been hardening for weeks — maybe months. restaurant as long as the ten seconilj was followed — put it hark<>nlhi|)| in ten seconds. And the floors could have passed for a c ity dumping site. By Ra The salad bar also was a disgusting spectacle. Carelessness mixed the lettuce with the cole slaw. The Italian dressing was filled with cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. And the French dressing was contaminated with blue cheese, cottage cheese, and something that looked like rancid guacamole. Some! hiii lilies that And if the servers werehungryn just saw something appeli/inf'.thci snatch a roll or some french fries ft paying customer’s plate without thinking twice. After watching t hese giotes(|ue Leif is (low pi ocecdures on a weekday, I kneMKalimen couldn’t possibly stomach thestmit | of San M environment on a busy Fridayor hsoil, an< Saturday night when the messwasirf’T 011 ^ w limes greater. So 1 quit myjobandlH 1 < i ‘ 1,11 eating at restaurants until thdinn "kJi" 1 knew the servers wouldn’t eat that junk, so I couldn’t understand why they were serving it to customers. memories lef t my head. j- a u> m , ^ I he health department isrespo "[P*' die I for enforc ing public health standa f When they were in a hurry at the salad bar, the servers would grab for lettuce with their bare hands — the same dirty hands mentioned earlier they were too lazy to take live ext ra seconds to use the tongs. hut out sanitarians c an’t l)ccvcrwM lsl * >l V-’ at onc e. Our personal healthisouij^ s |] llvest j t responsibility! aion pmje. Sim ran indi\ idual ( an’t realiMi H smu lv ' c hange an employee's careltssalliJ? 1 ' 1 7 id «> < or a restaurant s unsanitary I would almost expect to see health violations in a greasy fast-food joint, but not in a restaurant where the average entree costs more than $ 10. Some of the women would arrive early and spend 15 minutes primping in the mirrors. 1 didn’t see one person use that sink the entire week. But perhaps the most serious violations occurred in the window where the food is transferred from the cooks to the* servers. The servers dress and arrange all the food with their hands. They’d brush their hair, reapply their makeup, and then prepare and serve Not only were the employees unsanitary, but the entire alley looked like it had just been wrecked by kambo. If a server dropped a baked potato or a scoop of butter onto the floor, it was still considered serviceable at this ICMIIIC i Hot the/ proceedures. he ( an at IraM Hk |g n ( s lv v AWARE of potential healthh;i/itiilI and < hoose restaurants carelully. “In beiwet I assume since everything was j||' ns . s,| y ! ' happening behind < losed dooistlic '' employees thought what themsti l( wii.n it didn’t know w < Hildu't hin t lhem-.join ilu mu in this case it just might. ■Iready I Patty Pascavage is a journulismr aled away and guest columnist /or The Battaimple it at khu Ihiid h Sex in Moscow — ain't it great? As I read the reports of the sex- for-secrets scandal involving Marine guards at our embassy in Moscow and Russian beauties, I kept wondering why I hadn’t seen any women in Russia to write home about when I was there. Lewis Grizzard I met a female conductor on a train. She could have pulled it. I met a tour guide who had fat ankles and hairy calves. She could curdle borscht. The only woman I saw who had even the remotest chance of gett ing secrets out of me was a performer at a Moscow nightspot.She came on stage in a Russian bikini (tank top and knee- length exercise shorts) and entertained the crowd by t wirling 1 1 hula hoops around her waist for what seemed like an hour-and-a-half. If hula hoops are still going over that big in the Soviet Union, I thought to myself, wait until the Russians are introduced to Slinkies and Mr. Microphones.Let me put it this way: If the women I saw were any indication of the beauty of the entire female population of the Soviet Union, Tammy Faye Bakker could walk down a street in Moscow and dogs wouldn’t growl at her. I recently received a letter begging my pardon about all this, however. I’m not at liberty to disclose the name of the letter’s aut hor for reasons that soon will be obvious, but I can tell you he is from Deep South Georgia and was in Moscow to help plan an agricultural exposition not so long ago. The man writes of walking into his Moscow hotel for the first time and spotting a gaggle of lovely, well-dressed young ladies who he later learned, by direct contact, were prostitutes. I will allow him to describe what later occurred.“I was drinking vodka in my room with this gorgeous Tanya who spoke fluent English and assured me she was a direct descendant of Princess Alexandra. “We began discussing price, and she said I could not pay her in rubles because it was her duty to take only foreign currency in order to help the Russian economy. With foreign currency, she explained, the Soviets could import more foreign goods. “I had purposely left only one traveler’s check in my wallet,” the letter continues. “I pulled it out and told her, ‘I’m just a poor old country boy from South Georgia, and all I’ve got is this one traveler’s check.’ “She started rebuttoning things and then she noticed a book of withdrawal slips from the First National Bank of Babbit, Ga., that was sitting on my night table.“She said, ‘You have more than one traveler’s check. Look at all these,’ “I took a long gulp out of my vodka, smiled sweetly at her and said, ‘Princess, I think me and you are about to do wonders for the Russian economy.’” Copyright 1987, Cowles Syndicate Mail Call Scjenlisls ; e circ ul.iiit yaUlcpth, It iec<>m|>(>Nit d fluids. VA Big brother shouldn't decide EDITOR: This letter regards the column by D.A. Jensen June 10. 1 totally agree with her column about abortion and adoption. I let opinion reduces a worn, to a “baby machine” in order to make a f ew childless couples happy. I>9 ag< I f these couples want children badly enough, all they need to do is look the tens of thousands of non-infant, non-white, non-adorable little playlhiifH in all of the state ward institutions around the country. WASH 1N' teni< Conn T hese couples only want blond-haired, blue-eyed babies, yet they ignimfee, ruled I t he older children who need just as much (if not more) c are and love. otiiake it a inemi|)(” | A woman’s choice to have an abortion is usually not c asual. Most wonw a v<,lt ‘ ‘ don’t say, “Oh, I forgot that cruise to the Caribbean last month, Td I tetter eflB ,, 1 * < ' 1 : an abortion.” Not only is it an emotional strain on a woman, but alsotlisa | )() jj ( strain on her pocket book. pj w . ju S (i t ny mimic ip Abortions are not free — most cost at least $200. Another fact is that Kmiai imipim- p t here is not one abortion clinic in Brazos County, barring private doctorsdtutional lx ar (egilii may consider performing an abortion for a large sum. egitimat He First / I resent Ms. Jensen’s assumption that every woman who has an alrorw jlhree <>t is guilt-ridden. ,le< ' 1,1 s " won narco That may be true of some women, hut she’s neglected to mention that .] usl ‘ce V\ i women who have had children also become depressed at the decision. Not ll!?", , only that, but counselors at these clinics tell the women everythingthereisli'H .| e p eiu |, know about the* procedure and the physical and emotional af ter-eHectsola . n; lte () | S( abortion. These so-called pro-lifers, on the other hand, show peoplecolor m ndment pictures of full-term babies thrown in dumpsters, saying they represent c ' 'ink— i abortion. That is why counselors implore their patients to use birth control, lc P ,ess ' ve d which, by the way, is never 100 percent effective. ’’-v;; H,!'Viced We should trust women to make reasonable and rational decisionsabou!H^.j'^V'V whether or not to have an abortion. Biuuion; It ridiculous to gereralize about abortion, especially when it concerns H ut j on , having or not having a child. We must realize that abortion is a very persona b nuist res and situational decision at all times. And if a woman believes it is morall wrong to have an abortion, it should be between her and God (or her conscience) and not between her and the rest of the nation. Joining 1 Bonnie Harris ’89 WQ Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 wonts in length. The editorial stafj resen'es the right tonlilIflhf p lor style and length, hut will wake every effort to maintain the author \ intent. 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AUSTT pic escape arate plan area, aulh T wo pe vis Count l/niis Bn Rosebom | nor injur caught tlr plane Sun ground n< ■ avis. Wilnes? loied by B circles ov pishing i shoreline water. In the Imday, t gine plan ter the ei came e and erasli area in a division, ij Fa ttest ■trendy I 5 pan. Sn piivate la Ions to area, Dali lar Park inent, sail Martin the crash