Clean dishes
I've mentioned here before over the past year that in this part of China, it is common to perform some sort of cleaning ritual on your own table service before you eat. In some of the fancier Chinese restaurants they might even bring a sterilizer to your table, but normally you just do it yourself with tea or hot water.
Well, in recent months a new business has been taking off. These businesses provide sterilized table service sets to restaurants sealed in plastic. You get it all, your spoon, tea cup, plate, bowl, and sometimes extra saucer, sealed in plastic and your chopsticks in paper.
Of course, this is not a free service. Clean dishes will cost you here, an extra 1 or 1.5 RMB. Despite that this really isn't that much to have clean dishes, people will refuse the wrapped dishes and ask to clean their own, to save the 1 RMB. Or, rather, not be charged the extra 1 RMB. The attitude isn't to save money as much as it is not to have someone else take more of your money than necessary.
Well, in recent months a new business has been taking off. These businesses provide sterilized table service sets to restaurants sealed in plastic. You get it all, your spoon, tea cup, plate, bowl, and sometimes extra saucer, sealed in plastic and your chopsticks in paper.
Of course, this is not a free service. Clean dishes will cost you here, an extra 1 or 1.5 RMB. Despite that this really isn't that much to have clean dishes, people will refuse the wrapped dishes and ask to clean their own, to save the 1 RMB. Or, rather, not be charged the extra 1 RMB. The attitude isn't to save money as much as it is not to have someone else take more of your money than necessary.
Comments
Where i have seen the plastic bag liner used is both at the foot massage place and where I get my pedicures. Both places use the plastic bag liners on the foot baths. Oddly, at the nail place they don't line the things you soak your fingers in for manicures, but I don't get those anyway.
Another interesting (to me) thing I've seen related to food service is that if you get delivery or take-away, most people stab the styrofoam containers with their kuai zi before they throw them away. That is supposedly to prevent them from being pulled from the garbage, wiped clean, and re-used.