[raised_by_foxes]

It's rude if it's a nice establishment, as it conveys your belief that the chopsticks are of low quality. So that's what you're signaling with that. If everyone already knows they are cheap (e.g. disposable), then have at it.

[triceratops]

If a nice establishment has splintery chopsticks maybe they should look in the mirror.

[rtpg]

I go to your house to have food. You give me a fork and knife. I go to your kitchen to wash the fork and knife for good measure.

[vel0city]

You come to my house to have food. I serve the food on obviously unclean dishes. Is that not rude as well? Do you just use the obviously dirty, nasty, used dishes out of not wanting to appear rude?

Do I just use chopsticks that will put splinters in my mouth just to not appear rude?

[rtpg]

In your metaphor the equivalent would be that you see that the chopsticks have splinters and are cleaning it

But everyone I met who does splinter cleanup does it _every time_ even without a cursory inspection. So the metaphor is… maybe more apt that you are cleaning a plate despite not seeing whether it’s clean or not first

[helterskelter]

Probably it's rude to do it automatically with every pair of disposable chopsticks and not just the crappy ones.

[renewiltord]

Why don’t they just serve proper chopsticks then instead of break apart ones? Cheapobashi - serving your customers disposable chopsticks when they’re paying for a good experience.