You may or may not have heard, by now, that a woman has gone viral for using a fork to scratch her foot whilst on a Carnival cruise ship. What’s more, people who have watched the video closely have noted that she appears to have pretty bad Athlete’s Foot.
The internet is appalled, of course, and Carnival has responded that the fork in question has been removed from its rotation.
My issue is with her doing that in public. And while I’m not excusing her actions, I’d like to make two points. First, if you’ve ever had Athlete’s Foot, you’d know that you’d scratch your foot with a chainsaw if one was available. Second, that fork had been in thousands of mouths before it reached her foot, and yet nobody gets upset at seeing people put flatware in their mouths. And Point 2.5, that fork, and every other fork used on that ship (or on any other ship, or in any other restaurant anywhere in the world) will have been washed in water approaching boiling, then rinsed and sanitized.
So what say you, Dopers? Did Carnival need to retire the fork, just on the optics alone?
And by the way, there’s a very real chance the woman doesn’t even know she’s the “star” of a viral video, since internet access on cruise ships is limited, expensive, and sucky. She’ll find out when she gets home, I’m sure.
Yes. I’ve had athlete’s foot (not recently, fortunately) and it’s agony. I’ve taken my shoe off in public (such as on an airliner) and tried to rub my sock-clad foot against the carpeting or something else to get some relief without being so obvious about it.
As Dave Barry said regarding a persistent itch, what he really wanted was a prescription garden trowel with directions to use it “every 3 seconds, or as necessary”
True story. I had a SIL who would not eat off of any plates at my parents’ house because she once saw their cat eat something off of one of the plates. My SIL would bring her own plate when she visited. The serving dishes and flatware were apparently OK. I’d hate to think what would have happened if I had scratched my foot with a fork in her presence.
We would joke about the fact that “cat spit” is apparently unremovable and impenetrable. The military should use it on their tanks, ships, and fighter jet canopies.
Agreed! The objection is, of course, that this was in public. Kind of like the guy using briefs as a covid mask or the woman drying her thong panties with the air nozzle at her airline seat. Scratch away, trim those toenails, do some manscaping, but do it in private for og’s sake.
The on-board Haz-Mat team picked it up with 10’ tongs, deposited it in a Bio-Hazard bag filled with bleach, then placed the bag and fork in the Waste Disposal Incinerator/Boiler/Cremator. The residue was then pulverized, put in a ziplock bag (freezer strength), attached to a marine rocket flare and jettisoned off the stern.
Still, ick. Personal hygiene means “don’t share!” as many have noted above. It’s not a question of contagion but etiquette and consideration for others.
