I dropped one fork at dinner and it traveled under two other tables

The fork slipped from my hand before the appetizers arrived.

It hit the edge of the table, bounced off my shoe and landed on the floor with a bright metallic sound.

Then it kept going.

The restaurant floor had a slight slope, or the fork had unfinished business. It slid beneath the empty chair beside me, crossed the aisle and disappeared under another table.

Four people looked down.

I said, “Sorry,” although nobody had been struck and the fork was no longer within my jurisdiction.

I considered crawling after it. The other table contained a family eating soup. Recovering cutlery from beneath them would require entering their dinner at knee level.

I raised my hand for the server instead.

Before she arrived, a child at the other table spotted the fork. He reached down, picked it up and held it above his head.

“Whose is this?” he announced.

I raised my hand again.

The fork was passed from the child to his father, from his father to a diner in the aisle and finally back toward me. Five people participated in returning a utensil that I could not use anymore.

When it reached my table, I placed it on the edge for the server and explained what happened. She brought a clean fork and removed the traveler without ceremony.

Then the man at the next table dropped a spoon.

It landed beside his chair and stayed there. He picked it up immediately, set it aside and requested another. The entire event lasted four seconds. His utensil had no ambition.

For the rest of the meal, I kept my replacement fork well inside the table boundary. This made cutting food slightly awkward but reduced its access to transportation.

What is the correct etiquette when dropped cutlery travels under another table? Leave it, alert staff and request a clean replacement? Or retrieve it only if it remains easily reachable without entering someone else’s space?