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. Lath letter must
must include the < lassi/icnlion, address and lelcjihone nnniher r</ the writei.
*
plan
tSchooPSi^
Bells
Ringing;
(S>W HOU-STDN fW
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