This past Sunday, May 10th, my lovely woman & I went into Boston to watch the Red Sox play the Tampa Bay R
ays at Fenway Park. I have to be honest, every time I get set to go into Boston, I dread the people, the noise, whether it’s driving or taking the train, walking or whatever. Part of me doesn’t want to go through it. But when I get there, I’m always glad to be in Fenway Park!
We took the train in from Wollaston, on the way discussing the weather & what we’d eat once we were inside the Park. A Fenway Frank was at the top of the list, of course! I think it wasn’t until the end of the fifth inning when we went to go get some food. Standing in line at one of the hotdog stands, my sweetheart says to me, “Honey, look at the guy in the back, look at what he’s doing.” When I first caught sight of the young guy, in the back of the work area within the stand itself, I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was what I thought I was seeing.
This young guy, standing behind one of the food preparation counters, was taking the foil bags, those which hold your hotdog after it’s placed in the bun; you know those foil bags? One at a time, he’d pick one up, open it & place it on a tray where one of the other employees could take it & throw a hotdog in. Well, in his bright, young mind, he figured he could speed up the process of opening the bags by blowing into them. Yes, that’s right, he was blowing air, with his mouth, into each of the foil bags!
My sweetheart walked over to the side of the stand, calling to another employee. She then explained to them how the guy in the back was blowing into the foil bags as he was opening them. There were at least three other employees working the stand who, when hearing of the bright activity of their teammate, turned & looked at him in amazement. One of the girls asked him clearly, “Were you really doing that?” His response was to hold his hands in an outward gesture, as if to say, “What?”
I called back to him, “You don’t understand, do you?” Once again, he held out his hands to his sides, a look of “what’s the big deal?” on his face. “You’re wearing plastic gloves on your hands and you’re blowing into the bags. Kind of defeats the purpose of germ prevention.” He didn’t understand, and I don’t mean he didn’t understand english. He didn’t understand what the big deal was about blowing into the bags.
It’s commonly known that when you blow onto or into something you are, in essence, spitting onto or into that something. Tiny particles of saliva are leaving your mouth, each filled with little germ passengers, to spread their message of sickness & bacteria to others. This is how viruses & common colds are passed around. This is how the dreaded Human Swine Flu is contracted. It’s unbelievable to me how this young food vendor would even think of doing something as irresponsible as blowing into or onto anything within a food establishment!
Now, I’m not saying this kid is passing around the Swine Flu or any flu for that matter. But he’s not thinking about what he’s doing, and that could be because he’s not being educated properly in how he should handle himself within his job environment. Maybe there should be some stricter regulations on the food vendors within all ballparks, not just at Fenway Park. I love Fenway Park & I love the Red Sox! I love the Fenway Franks & giant pretzels. But I love my health much more, and think that maybe someone should look into this.
~The Pilgrim.
