What Day Are We On?

Day 234
Originally uploaded by Fergus Randall

What: Plastic knife, fork, spoon and napkin, wrapped in yet more plastic.
Origin: Take out food.
How long kept: 0 Days.
Why kept: See confession.
Destination:  The Indian Restaurant that tried to foist it on me.

Confession: This item, along with the ubiquotous I ♥ NY plastic bag, did not even leave the restaurant.  I went by to pick up my dinner, and before leaving the restaurant I stripped the inner bag out of the plastic bag, and handed it, along with the tablewear, back to the woman at the cash register.

Rant:  In a residential neighborhood, why do NYC restaurants persist in delivering plasticware?   Yes, I've met the odd bachelor who does not own tableware.   Other than these pathetic attempts to curry favor with the fairer gender, for the most part, we do have the wherewithal to eat a takeout meal without plasticware.

I can't imagine a household that doesn't have at least one of these useless sets in a drawer, thinking that They Might Be Useful.

There well are over 700,000 households in Manhattan. Even only half of us had one set in a drawer -- and at some point during the course of this project, I did toss 5 or 6 when I decided to repurpose my kitchen "junk" drawer, which now holds kitchen towels and napkins.   Imagine the mess it would make if we were all to decide to pitch them on the same day.   Aargh.

It would not cost the restaurant a cent to ask if we needed them.  In fact, they would save money.   And we'd think that they were "green."

Confession, cont:  The rest of the meal was contained in several plastic containers.   Most are #5 and can be recycled at Whole Foods.   I promise, I won't keep them -- this project has freed me from the thought that plastic takeout containers Might Be Useful.   I Won't Need Them.

Gratitude:  To flickr participant Fergus Randall for his visually arresting Day 234, used under Creative Commons License. I neglected to snap a photo of the far less aesthetically pleasing offending items before handing them back to the good people at the restaurant. When I searched flickr, I found that Fergus has a beautiful photostream called Project 365. Thanks, Fergus!