Judge — February 11, 1911 — page 24: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This comic strip by "Zim" satirizes early 20th-century restaurant hygiene and class attitudes. The top panel shows a man complaining to a grocer about finding a hair in soup, claiming it must be his own since he only had five hairs when entering the restaurant. The grocer dismisses the complaint, suggesting the hair belongs to "a lady"—implying female customers or staff are responsible. The humor targets both poor sanitation standards in restaurants and the era's casual sexism. The joke also plays on the diner's vanity: he's embarrassed about his baldness, yet uses it as an excuse. The strip mocks how restaurant owners deflected blame for unsanitary conditions onto female patrons or workers rather than acknowledging their own failures. This reflects genuine concerns about restaurant safety in that period, when food hygiene regulations were minimal.