Keep Your Hands to Yourself is part of the Gold Medal Trip Report.
By now you should be familiar with my next book, The Etiquette of Things. Things You Didn’t Know Were Things. Here’s another installment. It comes from the Grand Hyatt Barcelona happy hour, a perk for those with club lounge access.
Despite my complaints about the Grand Hyatt BCN, I did enjoy the happy hour. Who can complain about bottomless cava and tapas? This story has nothing to do with the Hyatt and everything to do with a guest of the Hyatt.
While loading my plate with all the goodies, I stopped to take this photo.
What a cool container of potato chips I thought. I used the tongs to take a few chips. I put the tongs down, and almost immediately a man dipped his entire hand into the jar and loaded his plate with chips. He did it directly in front of me with no shame.
I was revolted but decided not to confront this gross individual. Instead, I went back to my table and ate the other tapas. On his way out, the man walked by the chips again, dipped his hand in again, and left with a handful.
I hope somehow he comes across this book and learns the lesson: keep your dirty hands to yourself!
Oh, the communal chip bowl.
Those tongs have likely been touched without cleaning by at least 10 people. And they are a poor utensil for collecting frgile tiems like chips. When I am confronted with the communal chip bowl, I reach in with care not to touch anything I am not taking and I walk away believing that I have been considerate of others.
I don’t agree with your strategy.
Was the guy American? I’d thought we had relinquished the worst tourist mantle to the Russians and the Chinese.