I saw this picture on Reddit and marveled at the obsessive-compulsive thinking that goes into the spoon scoop. My question is whether the drawer of spoon scoops has a scoop scoop itself. I made me wonder what is the most obsessive rule or sign in your work place. I was once at an office where someone put zip lock bags to secure and seal used coffee filters before discarding them.
I particularly like the double sign in case one is lost or damaged.
I am curious about the ability of most people to scoop just one knife, one fork or one spoon from this tangle. Presumably, you avoid touching extra items in the scoop by surgically removing them.
This picture just made me miss the genius of Phil Hartman and his anal-retentive chef even more.
You guys can also thank Nick for the idea “The Anal Retentive Chef was my favorite character on SNL” … so I looked it up.
Glad everyone liked the comedy.
Yep … he left us too soon.
Great Hartmann video Dredd. He left us way too soon.
Dredd – Saved me a bunch of time looking for it on YouTube. That says it all. Thanks!
Does anyone know the name of the gov’t agency where this photo was taken?
P Smith 1, August 14, 2013 at 11:01 am
Poor hygiene and contamination is a real issue …
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It reminds me of a Joseph Stalin quote: “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.”
Just before URLing over to JT Blog, I was reading about a scientific paper which hypothesizes that leaded gasoline caused the mysterious rise in criminal violence in the U.S. –as well as the precipitous decline in criminal violence following the ban of lead from gasoline.
An interesting quote from the article:
(America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead).
The war on germs has at times been misguided and anal retentive too.
Witness the new thingy: fecal transplants from one person to another to restore microbes destroyed by ill-advised anti-biotic use.
Nick & Gene,
Yep, Phil was cool.
Poor hygiene and contamination is a real issue, unlike the fluff talked about in the “article”. It has been shown more than once that ice in fast food restaurants is filthy (supposedly filthier than toilets). And have you ever seen anyone wash their hands before getting a straw from a dispenser?
People think I’m a cheapskate (i.e. “you want more soda”) because I tell a fast food clerk “no ice”. Wrong. It’s to avoid filthy ice, and to avoid the need for a straw. And yes, I do wash my hands before eating out. Don’t you?
If you really want to worry about cross-contamination, try living in countries which have communal eating dishes (e.g. one soup bowl where everyone puts their spoon in it, one platter and people eat with their hands). It shouldn’t surprise that such countries have among the highest rates if hepatitis A and B in their populations.
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/WorldHepDay.htm
Dredd,
You beat me to it. One of my favorite Phil Hartmann skits ever.
Dredd,
Thanks. I think the man simply needed a garbage disposal. He obviously would never be able to compost..
Place one of those scoop machines in the office.
You know, where you control a back-hoe device inside a glass cage.
You control with one or two joy-sticks to put candy, money, or in this case spoons, in the shute … then out it comes.
Obsessive compulsive baby!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4101
The post made me think of those teaser ads we often hear promoting late night news broadcasts.
“The DANGERS to our health lurking in our cutlery drawers and WHAT you can do about them! That plus news and weather…..at 11:00pm.”
OMG, The Anal Retentive Chef was my favorite character on SNL. Folks wax nostalgic, deservedly, for Belushi and Radner. But, Phil Hartmann was IMO, as good as both of them.
What about tongs? Couldn’t they just use tongs? Or better yet, how about one of those arcade setups where you use a mini dredging apparatus to pick up prizes. Coffee breaks just got a whole lot more fun.
There might be something to this….. Are they rich…. They are eccentric…. If they are poor… They must be crazy…… Lets ask Howard Hughes….
So you are the schmuck at work who leaves the damn coffee grounds all over the counter, the floor, the sides of the trash bag, the trash container, the floor on the way out the door….
Put the coffee filters in a plastic bag ,sealed, right where you take it out of the coffee make. Wipe up the ones that you drop with a clean paper towel and then wipe again. Same thing when you get done poopin.
Contrary to popular believe being exposed to germs does not, on average, kill you. If it did none of us would be commenting on this blog. One might even posit that our obsessive cleaning habits and overuse of antibiotics (MRSA anybody?) have resulted in more health problems.
That does not rule out that the concept of a scoop spoon is hilarious. As is the colon cleansing frenzy of the past decade.
indeed, a proper dose of obsessively-compulsive cleanliness beats the altrnative….it’s appearance is also a clue to its necessity….
After noticing how many people are too lazy, to stupid, too gross or too inconsiderate to wash their hands after leaving the rest room, it isn’t surprising that the spoon scoop has made an appearance. And with so many inconsiderate and clueless people working while having flu, colds, and other contagious ailments, the spoon scoop may catch on. Unfortunately, those I mentioned above would still have to touch the spoon scoop!
“My question is whether the drawer of spoon scoops has a scoop scoop itself.”
It does not.
There is a bag of disposable latex gloves hanging on the drawer handle.
This means that the scoop can be used multiple times.
The spoons are disposable. They are removed from their sterile packaging and dumped in the drawer in order to avoid delay when somebody needs a spoon.