A few weeks ago Alex Tabarrok asked readers to name their secret fear. Like Alex, I’d find working at a Starbucks pretty scary. But my real fear is that inspections like these will become more common:
“A male worker observed having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar,” the citation, dated Oct. 9, states. Bare-hand contact? How else is a bartender supposed to get a ready-to-eat lime slice into a bottle of Corona for a patron? According to the health department, there are two solutions.
Plastic gloves or tongs.
In other words, every time a bartender in New York City puts a lime slice in that Corona with bare hands, he or she is breaking the law.
Baristas and bartenders currently get off with pretty light attention from regulators (aside from rules about who we can serve alcohol to). My secret fear would be this changing for the worse, and me suddenly having to keep my muddler in a dipwell, handling fruit with tongs, no longer using eggs, leveling espresso with some stainless steel device, and forbidden from inserting speed pourers with my mouth to save precious seconds. OK, kidding about the last one, but the rest aren’t totally implausible.
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, bartender, cocktail consultant, and magician in Portland, Oregon. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in the print or online editions of The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, The Oregonian, and other publications.
