The five second rule.?

god i'm glad i'm not your date..

Well, the "five second rule" isn't actually a rule in the first place. As soon as something touches a surface, be it the floor or evern a countertop, thousands of bacteria move their way onto this "something". It doesn't really matter how long the "something" is sitting there, unless it surpasses about 20 minutes. So really, it doesn't matter. Lots of swanky restaurants drop food every once in a while; no one's a perfect server. They can't afford to use up the time making a new meal, so they just wipe off the food and serve it to you. If you saw them drop it, you could request a new meal, of course! But the food falling on the floor won't make you sick, unless you're weak stomached or the food well into a pile of nuclear waste or something equally disgusting. And when dining, no, it is not acceptable to drink wine off a table with a straw. Just wipe it up. DO NOT squeeze the remains of the wine from the napkin in to your mouth ;)

Two rules of thumb for "swanky" restaurants:

1. Don't eat off the floor.

2. Don't use a straw.

BTW, there is no such thing as a 5-second rule. Bacteria and germs are instantaneously passed to an object when contact is made.

The instant it touches the floor, it's history.

As for demanding an entire meal be remade for you... You probably should let the waiter/waitress know, but it isn't really reasonable to expect them to have to pay for your own accident.

I think you're being silly about the wine and straw. Yes, it's funny.

The 5 second rule is not a real rule. It doesn't take 5 seconds for germs to get on food. So yes, demand it to be re-made. And that is nasty. You should clean up the wine.

Moist things do not follow the 5 second rule.

And no, unless it is a very fancy straw designed especially for wine. I believe they only sell those in Paris though.

in missouri, it's the eight second rule. having worked in restaurants, i have to say it's worked well to get ya'lls food out on time. the next time you guys complain about the service taking too long, remember that.

oh- yeah, you can suck your spilt wine off the table with a straw. but only if you're drinking vodka.

you can apply the 5 sec (or 10 sec if ya gotta) to any food you still want to eat, regardless of where the floor is.. you are the one eating it so you decide.......

sucking wine off a table with a straw is creative, loud and not very effective, get a refill:)

if you drop your food the rule applys however if you drop it in a restaurant you should create an allmighty fuss and insist you cannot possibly eat dirty food.lol. and yes depending on how drunk you are it is acceptable to suck pretty much anything off the table with a straw.

From your question it would seem that you are in great need of etiquette training far beyond what you've asked.

Not in my house baby, you will catch botulism or something, lmao.