The Iceman Cometh   

    What is it with motel/hotel ice buckets and the plastic liners that come with them. By including a plastic liner for their ice bucket the hotel immediately puts the idea into your head that the ice bucket is not sanitary. Right or wrong I’ve never questioned the fact that the ice bucket is filled with germs and any ice that touches the inside of the bucket should not be used for normal human consumption. I don’t, however, let this fact keep me from using ice that has been in contact with the bucket. My theory is that a few germs keeps the body on its toes, so to speak. But that’s another subject. Like I said, “normal human.” 
     And then there is the question of how sanitary the plastic liner is. It was probably made in some third-world disease-ridden environment by a manufacturer who was the low bidder for plastic ice bucket liners. He lowers his costs by hiring little kids, paying them very little, and offering them no sanitary amenities whatsoever. But I digress again. 
    The problem is that about ninety-nine percent of the time the plastic liner is not large enough to fit over the edge of the ice bucket, which is about the only way it can be filled. Either the hotel management does not have a clue as to how big their buckets are, or they’re just too cheap to buy a larger liner. 
    The result of this conundrum is that when you go to dump some ice in the bucket the ice just crushes the bag to the bottom of the bucket making it worthless. 
    So, what does the hotel expect their guests to do? Try to hold only the bag under the ice-machine spout, them put the filled bag in the bucket? Well, good luck with that.     Or maybe the impossible scenario they present us with is to discourage us from using their ice in the first place. Yet another misguided money saving idea. 
    So, what’s the solution? How about carrying your own ice-bucket liners, say like a Ziplock freezer bag. You’re welcome.