COLOMBO : The level of oblivion of Sri Lankans to sign boards, instructions and notices is uncanny. While I do understand that Sri Lanka is not the best at labelling or putting up clear notices let alone road signs, we as a community take blindness to another level. If you are not sure of what I am talking about, you are probably blind to these notices too and if you do know what I mean, read on to see how we relate.
A few days ago, I was out holidaying and was enjoying the magnificent spread at the hotel. As per the standard practice, the desserts and cheese were kept in a cool room with automatic doors and due to the current situation, not more than three patrons were permitted at any given time. Further, there were two doors at either end and one was marked as the entrance while the other was marked as the exit. Fairly simple and a great way to keep COVID-19 under control, right? Not with the rebellious and blind Sri Lankans – people were walking in through the exit, they were brushing against people as they scooped out ice cream and pushed tiny ramekins and custard cups on to their plates and simply seemed unable to count.
So there I was, standing outside the entrance (where there was a clear notice saying ‘IN’) awaiting the departure of one of the young patrons from the dessert corner (by the way, children even if they are tiny, do count as people and are not to be ignored when counting the number of people in a room/ restaurant), when a fellow restaurant user just walked in through the exit (when it too had a clear notice saying ‘OUT’)! I was aghast but what was I to do? Poke my head in and tell him that I was in the queue and the maximum number allowed is three? Leave my place in the queue and complain to a waiter? I was on holiday, I decided to laugh it off and observe these ludicrous moves.
We were asked to use a disposable glove each time we headed to the buffet and there were notices to remind people to pick one up – so I did. Once a round of serving was done, there were bins with clear markings and I popped the glove into it. However, there were many who had to be shooed away from the buffet table to the glove holders to wear one and then there were a multitude of others who continued with the glove to the dining table, picked their fork and jabbed it in to their meats and yams without bothering to remove the glove; thus taking the germs they picked up at the buffet table to their own dining table. Blasphemous; the purpose of the gloves was completely defeated.
Then there were the people who kept using the hand without the glove to touch the buffet crockery and cutlery and kept picking slices of bread and hoppers with their bare hands. It was almost as if they had been challenged to keep the glove clean – they were preserving it with gusto.
There were sinks, hand wash and hand dryers in several places of the hotel including the entrance to the restaurant with a reminder to wash our hands before entering. In spite of the hand dryers being firmly affixed to the wall, the poor wait staff had to keep mopping the floor as most people thought the standard way to dry their hands was to wriggle their fingers around and allow the water droplets drip on to the floor. I have a whole article lined up about Sri Lankans washing their hands. Stay tuned for that.
Practically every two metres there are boards in this country reminding people to maintain a safe distance between themselves and others. Alas, this was forgotten at the sight of food at this hotel’s restaurant. The hopper corner and waffle counter had throngs of people and unless intercepted by the wait staff, one was happy to bump shoulders with others when serving from the buffet.
Etiquette has a lot to do with discipline and being full of etiquette is the only way of ensuring that we can co-exist with others in the world without being a nuisance or a problem. If you have any stories that you would like to share about similar observations, please write to me at fullofetiquette@gmail.com.
Till I return with ‘Full of Etiquette’ next week, stay safe!
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Praveeni Jayasekera is the Founder and Editor of fullofetiquette.com; she is a regular advocate on the subject. She is an ACMA, CGMA; holds a BSc. Economics and Management; PG in IT and Diploma in Social Sciences. She is employed full time in the capacity of Chief Operating Officer at CL Synergy (Private) Limited; a Sri Lankan freight forwarding company. She is an ardent fan of the written word and has compiled content for numerous websites for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, corporate profiles and blogs. She has experience in training corporate professionals on customer service and business etiquette. She conducts coaching sessions on etiquette for school children every now and then.
