“We offered free sikhye, and they brought over the bowls they’d been eating from” ... Restaurant owner’s hygiene concerns [What do you think?]

[Financial News] A restaurant owner who provides customers with free sikhye said they were troubled by the unhygienic behavior of some patrons. Many customers, they said, scoop sikhye with a communal ladle into the bowls they had been eating from, then put the ladle back into the sikhye container.
On the 16th, a post sharing a business owner's concerns was published on the online community for self-employed business owners, “Apeunikka Sajangida,” under the title “Customers Using Sikhye Unhygienically.”
A, who wrote the post, said customers are allowed to help themselves to sikhye at the restaurant. They also said they had prepared separate cups for customers who wanted more.
A explained, “At our restaurant, customers can help themselves to sikhye,” adding, “We even stocked disposable paper cups so they could have more.”
However, some customers did not use the disposable cups and instead brought over the bowls they had used while eating. According to A, some customers used the communal ladle to scoop sikhye into the same bowls they had eaten from. The owner's concern is that if the ladle touches a used bowl in the process, it could contaminate the sikhye other customers will drink.
A said they had also seen customers put the ladle back into the sikhye container after it had touched a bowl they had used. “I saw them leave that ladle sitting in the sikhye,” they said, asking other self-employed business owners for their opinions: “That contaminates all the sikhye. Am I being too sensitive?”
A said they were also unsure how to handle the situation because quite a few customers behaved similarly. “Maybe it’s because we have a lot of elderly customers, but so many people do this,” A said. “If I take the ladle out after seeing it happen, it feels like a half-hearted response. Should I just leave it?”
Other self-employed business owners who saw the post suggested serving sikhye in a way that did not require a ladle. One user explained that there are machines, like slushie machines, that dispense drinks from a spout instead of requiring people to scoop them with a ladle, and suggested using one so customers could pour their own sikhye.


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