Henderson, party-of-five, has departed and the table is properly cleared. The dishes are designated to their cleaning stations and linens have landed in the hamper for proper cleaning. Methodically, you follow the necessary steps in redressing the table for Davis, party-of-four.
You redress the table in fresh linens, napkins folded precisely and not a wrinkle to be found. The spacing of the dinner plates and silverware is uncanny and not a centimeter off-kilter. Your last and final touch is to deliver the drinking glasses. Reaching for the sparkly-clean drinking glasses, you carry a few in each hand. “We don’t want to make Davis, party-of-4 wait any longer,” you think. The drinking glasses are lined up to complete the ensemble, and the Davis’ are seated. Perfect execution, right?
- Keep glasses clean by proper carrying technique
Wrong. One minor detail in this report of ‘crime’ is that in saving time and carrying more than a few drinking glasses, you, server, eliminated every ounce of cleanliness with the smudge of your fingerprints. When touching the inside and rim of a glass, not only are you dirtying the glass with visual smudges, but with germs from your very own hands.
As many times as you wash your hands in the course of a shift, you still cannot account for everything that you touch in-between. When touching the glasses, you have contaminated the drinking area, making it unclean for your guests.
Fellow severs, don’t incriminate yourself while sticking your guilty hands in glassware. Instead, take the extra time to handle glassware by the stem, or delivering to the table by carrying on a tray. Using rubber gloves is a plus, too.