Ever since the pandemic began, we have continued to eat food from restaurants once or twice a week…but not at restaurants. We order takeout or delivery to eat at home.
Restaurants package takeout food in a variety of ways, and one of my favorites–for environmental reasons–is to use a big brown paper bag. However, there’s a catch: Most restaurants staple the bags shut.
Enter one of my irrational paranoias: If I tear open a stapled paper bag, the staples could go flying anywhere. Into the food, into a glass of water, into the carpet, etc. I’ve never accidentally eaten a staple, but I’m very much hoping to avoid that.
So it is with great care and trepidation that I open stapled paper bags, trying to ensure the staples remain attached to the bags. This actually creates a secondary hazard–scraping against an exposed staple while reaching into the bag–but I’d rather have that than a staple in my mouth or into my foot.
I’d prefer that restaurants simply stop stapling bags shut, though I doubt that will happen, as it’s a little faster than tape and discourages tampering.
Do you share this fear? Have you ever had a staple spring loose from a bag and end up somewhere unpleasant?
I like to disarm and dispose of the bag outside before it enters the house. Mostly to prevent germs but also for my cat. If they have strong handles I have a weird fear that I’ll find my cat has strangled himself via bag handle…so I don’t take any chances. I did find metal in my onion tanglers once though that appeared to be from a scrub brush.
One time a staple flew off and we looked for and found it. Most of the time, the food is in their own containers, so it isn’t likely to fall into the food. And most of the time the staple stays put after pulling apart the bag opening.
You’re probably more likely to get something in your food like a nail. Or chewed gum. Or diarrhea-causing bacteria. And if the restaurant doesn’t close the bag – you might get a hungry delivery driver (I knew one who did snack on the fries). And tape is plastic.
My “phobia” is microbes – but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable fear. I challenge myself regularly to not wash my hands after handling my dog full well knowing I can get parasites or ringworm or at least E. Coli infection. But I have to have faith in my immune system and I’m fortunate to have it so I’m going to use it.
That’s a great point that there are more probably things to be afraid of. 🙂