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Eating your food off your tray in Food Court/Coffee Shop...
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I think the wipes is probably a good idea but the rubber gloves part..... well I'm not completely surprised you get some amazed looksuscate wrote:I continue to be amazed at how really FILTHY most hawker centers seem to be. Whenever I know I'm going to visit one, I bring a baggie of Lysol wipes and rubber gloves, and scrub my table clean. I generally get a look of amazement from whomever happens to be around, but I've seen enough spit-out bones and shells laying directly on the table to last a lifetime.
Given that Singaporeans are (most of the time rightfully) proud of their hawker food culture, I'm just surprised that people don't care enough to try to be neat (or at least some semblance thereof).
Rant over.

Maybe I'm just too squeamish, but I honestly have no desire to touch some of the stuff I've had to wipe off the tables, hence the gloves.
As long as I try to choose "low lard" food options, I've never gotten sick from the hawker meals I've eaten. This isn't a condemnation of the hawker chefs and their food, but rather a commentary on the habits of some of the diners.
As long as I try to choose "low lard" food options, I've never gotten sick from the hawker meals I've eaten. This isn't a condemnation of the hawker chefs and their food, but rather a commentary on the habits of some of the diners.
- Max Headroom
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Ditto on the Dettol wipes before sitting down at a hawker table. Generally, the turn-over of food here is too high to give bugs a chance, so I may not get sick. But I'm not linking cooties, so the table gets a good once-over before I sit down - especially after the cleaning lady has given it her cursory wipe with her cooties atomb bomb rag, haha.
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- sundaymorningstaple
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I've never seen a table that dirty to wipe it and disinfect myself. If it has some food remains on it then I request to have it cleaned or move on to a different place. The tables are often old and worn out but they are not THAT dirty. THAT dirty are the plastic chairs nobody ever bothers to clean except with the customers shorts, skirts and trousers.
Well Lucky You, 9200….maybe you're just living under a lucky cleaning star….I've never been in a place where I've been able to hail a cleaning auntie or uncle to clean my table (they all mysteriously disappear when I arrive)….And really, when they take out their cleaning rag from their dark colored water bucket and proceed to slosh it around on the table, then noooooo….that's not clean (to me)….
To each their own - I choose to eat on a table (and chairs) that I consider to be clean, and I take the extra effort to make them so. To each their own….
To each their own - I choose to eat on a table (and chairs) that I consider to be clean, and I take the extra effort to make them so. To each their own….
- Max Headroom
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- sundaymorningstaple
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I agree with that too, but I am rather not analyzing this kind of situations in terms of some pathogens, more in terms of practicality and personal consequence. Following the wipe the table logic one should also handle properly (gloves, disinfecting liquids) all the contact surfaces in the public space, door knobs, handles, nets terminals, money etc. Bringing your own plates and utensils would seem a must as the ones in the coffee shops are very likely washed in reused water and handled by the same hands as the table cleaning rags. And I am only slightly sarcastic.
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