If the germs are flying around anyway, you'll come into contact with them even if your toothbrush is kept hidden. What about opening your mouth to yawn or breathing in or out right after you flush? AND the germs will get on the toilet paper, facial tissue, fancy-schmancy shell-shaped soaps, and everything else.
I'm one of the paper towel crowd because SO MANY people don't wash their hands. It's amazing to me. I'm happy to say that my kids, 8 & 11, need no prompting from me (and haven't for some time now), to wash their hands. They will even tell me about someone who didn't wash their hands, both when we're in a restroom together, and when someone at school(or when I'm not with them), doesn't. And they're not weird - it's just that it's been the normal routine since they were little; they don't know any different.
This is the one area that I just get grossed out over - why don't adults know to wash their hands?! I'm not paranoid and agree that we need germs to build our immune systems. We can't avoid them completely anyway. Think about your kids at school and all those little hands on everything. That could really bother someone if they thought about it too much.
What shocked me last year was being in the restroom of a fast food restaurant last year. A woman had her two children in the next stall. As they were leaving I heard her say "don't touch that!" - and sure enough they left without even flushing the toilet! That is going too far. I simply reached into the stall and flushed it with my shoe!!!
Forget about your home bowl, that's an easy fix, close the lid. Think about the public restrooms, the ones with the high powered flushing action. They usually don't have covered lids, they just have the U shaped lid so there's no way to cover it. Imagine the germs that fly out of those things with every flush. Not a pretty picture. I like the newer ones with the sensors that flush automatically after you've left the stall. Give's you time to clear outta there. x:D
I was given an education by a fellow gentleman co-worker when we (the women in the office) brought up the lack of hand washing after facility use by men. His take is as follows and I quote.
"Why should men have to wash their hands after using the bathroom, it's just like touching your arm."
I quickly advised him that he can touch his arm any time he wants but don't touch any food we both might eat until AFTER I have, don't touch my desk or any thing on it, don't use my pens and especially don't use my phone!!
I own a restaurant and the men's room is rarely out of paper towels or soap thus they don't wash.....the women's room is out of both constantly. And yes my employees wash after and also when they return to the kitchen. It is required.
Men just don't wash!
The men in my family do - because an arm is an arm and a butt is a butt, and other parts are private, but never mistaken for or treated as an arm!
The gross part is at my work (my day job) we have a two bathrooms one lableed mens and the other ladies. They are single room and single toilets.
I have seen some of the owners use the ladies room when the men's room is occupied! I now only use the ladies room when Absolutely necessary. The other issue is the reading materials taken in the bathroom with them.
Everyone knows here that if I give them an applications for review, a memo or a paper to read it is a copy and I have the original and I dont' want their copy back - because chances are they've been in the bathroom!
A friend of mine has a theory that the next great plague will be spread through contact with hand rails in the subways, escalators, building staricases, etc.
Count me as one of the group that uses the paper towels I just used to dry my hands to open the door. Especially during the cold and flu season.
Just a few thoughts: I like the public places that have installed the automatic flushers, tap water and air dryers, no need to touch anything (but the soap dispenser). Also, why don't bathroom doors open OUT so that you don't have to worry about the paper towel thing? Shouldn't that be a safety code? If there was a fire, you would want easy access out, not in. I haven't heard that people will rush to the bathroom in case of emergency (well, not that type of emergency). And why doesn't evey place have the paper protectors? You can get some real thigh muscles if you practice "hover time" at every public restroom. Also, my husband taught my boys to use their elbows or foot to flush.
So, did your boys learn to use that trick at home too? Doors do not open 'out' for obvious safety reasons. You'd have a broken nose every day of the week if they did. It's rare that an interior door opens 'out', except perhaps a closet.
I am lucky if I can get the boys to flush at home, somehow they always forget.
Too bad we can't have Star Trek like doors that open as you step up to it. Hey, maybe we just need wider hallways and lines painted on them for a "no walking zone", then you can have the doors open out. Okay, too much thought on this one, nevermind.
I love the automatic flusher and water, they have them at my gym. But I do have to use the little pushy-thing to get the papertowel out. But I can usually avoid doing that because I have my gym towel with me.
As for the paper toilet seat covers, that requires, I believe, an advanced degree in paper vs. gravity theory since in almost every case the weight of the part you punch out causes the whole thing to collapse into the bowl. Much easier to use toilet paper or work those quads and hover!
Funny aside - I was in an aerobics class and the instructor was trying to teach us the proper form to do a squat. Several women had problems with it and kept bending too much at the knee and over the ankle. So she said "Squat like your peeing in a public toilet" and, voila, everyone assumed the perfect position!
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-26-03 AT 10:32AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Rad's talking about public toilets Marc. One can only assume that the toilets in our homes are sittable - provided the seat is down!
I haven't had time to feed my Forum addiction in the past two weeks, and am enjoying catching up today!
I have YET to decide that I'm SO far behind that I need to do paperwork while using the facilities, and would be scared of any of you who felt that was a good idea. Stay fifteen minutes later instead, for crying out loud!
Countless times, I've overheard a male employee use the restroom while on his CELLPHONE. (I had a unisex restroom in my office that everyone would use. It was the only one with an adult-sized potty. We are in a preschool, remember...) Then he skips the handwashing. The whole thing just grosses me out.
>I have YET to decide that I'm SO far behind that >I need to do paperwork while using the >facilities, and would be scared of any of you >who felt that was a good idea.
HRQ, you've obviously never worked with lawyers. Remember, there is no such thing as non-billable hours. x;-)
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-01-03 AT 02:00PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Are you saying you think potty-time-paperwork is a good idea? Then I AM scared of you! x:D
And in a nod to Don D's post about "the woman at the top", I'll add that I probably looked just like her when I read about the "potty time paperwork" concept...
No, not at all. I think it's crazy. And frankly, I did kind of do a double-take the first time I saw a lawyer take a client file into the can with him. x;-)
I'd wait outside the bathroom door, armed with Lysol, and spray the file when he walked out. (I have nothing better to do, you know) AND maybe require all file-handling staff to wear gloves, since some folks can't separate bathroom time and what should be considered non-bathroom activities. x:D
Again, I have to say "eeeeewwwwwwwwwwww".
And I'm glad to hear you aren't a potty-time-paperwork proponent, Parabeagle. x;-)
Hey guys. Stop worrying about what's flying around after you flush - havde you ever considered how much splash you make when peeing standing up? Yep, it's horrendous. And, have you ever seen how rapidly green stuff starts growing on the floor around a toilet men have been using while standing? I'm not kidding. If men had to clean up their own messes, we'd all sit to use the toilet, and, put the lid down to flush! Besides, that spray is getting all over your lower trousers and your shoes (Pauley did an episode of the Sopranoes about tying your shoes and using the john). The whole thing is disgusting and it could mostly be avoided by just sitting to pee! Have a nice day!
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-01-03 AT 03:18PM (CST)[/font][br][br]My momma always told me frankness was one of the seven deadly sins. x:D I cannot let post #37 by hbailey_haynal go. She said:
"When I started at our company six months ago, the first day of orientation included a training session in EHS. The training coordinator said something that day that has stuck with me ever since and has altered my behavior in certain instances......she stated that Hepititis and HIV germs can remain alive and virulent outside the body for a number of hours. You go to the grocery store and grab a cart and wheel it into the store and go about your shopping. A small paper cut is on one of your hands. The possibility exists that a person pushing that very same cart through the store an hour before you was infected with Hepititis or HIV. Scary thought, huh? I now carry a liquid hand sanitizer in my purse, in the car, at the office."
Her EHS trainer is telling her that she could get HIV from a shopping cart. That goes against everything I've heard and tell ee's when I train them. I'm I missing something?
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-01-03 AT 03:21PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Don,
Is he suggesting you use some sort of politically correct double speech? What a bunch of doo-doo! Or is it pasture pies? What else would be acceptable?
I gotta learn to behave! It's like the teacher used to tell me, "Sally said you pushed her too high in the swing". Or, "It has come to my attention that the paper airplanes behind my desk are identical to the ones you make Mr." And both went in my permanent record. I gotta do better!
Be careful Shadowfax, some of us guys are living on our own and keep a cleaner place than a many ladies do - I can attest to that - boy can I ever. Guys sitting to pee -ppplease. And Don, our mentor Don - the man with great HR wisdom - the heck with James response - you may do to James shoes whatever "moves" you, from a standing position.
Smace - I totally missed THAT post. Good Lord, are we going totally crazy here? AIDS from a shopping cart? Where was that teacher from...the John Birch Society? Or simply a throwback to the '80s when the disease first presented itself to our society and scared everyone spitless with its death sentence?
Okay guys, I understand some of you keep a neat bathroom. Believe me, through most of my adult life I have lived with a minimum of three males (don't go there - I have three sons) and trust me - it is a major exception.
Comments
This is the one area that I just get grossed out over - why don't adults know to wash their hands?! I'm not paranoid and agree that we need germs to build our immune systems. We can't avoid them completely anyway. Think about your kids at school and all those little hands on everything. That could really bother someone if they thought about it too much.
"Why should men have to wash their hands after using the bathroom, it's just like touching your arm."
I quickly advised him that he can touch his arm any time he wants but don't touch any food we both might eat until AFTER I have, don't touch my desk or any thing on it, don't use my pens and especially don't use my phone!!
Like touching an arm my butt!! PUN INTENDED!
Men just don't wash!
The men in my family do - because an arm is an arm and a butt is a butt, and other parts are private, but never mistaken for or treated as an arm!
The gross part is at my work (my day job) we have a two bathrooms one lableed mens and the other ladies. They are single room and single toilets.
I have seen some of the owners use the ladies room when the men's room is occupied! I now only use the ladies room when Absolutely necessary. The other issue is the reading materials taken in the bathroom with them.
Everyone knows here that if I give them an applications for review, a memo or a paper to read it is a copy and I have the original and I dont' want their copy back - because chances are they've been in the bathroom!
Disgusting!
Count me as one of the group that uses the paper towels I just used to dry my hands to open the door. Especially during the cold and flu season.
Too bad we can't have Star Trek like doors that open as you step up to it. Hey, maybe we just need wider hallways and lines painted on them for a "no walking zone", then you can have the doors open out. Okay, too much thought on this one, nevermind.
As for the paper toilet seat covers, that requires, I believe, an advanced degree in paper vs. gravity theory since in almost every case the weight of the part you punch out causes the whole thing to collapse into the bowl. Much easier to use toilet paper or work those quads and hover!
Funny aside - I was in an aerobics class and the instructor was trying to teach us the proper form to do a squat. Several women had problems with it and kept bending too much at the knee and over the ankle. So she said "Squat like your peeing in a public toilet" and, voila, everyone assumed the perfect position!
It's obvious even around 11:30 a.m. after breaks and everything that not a soul has washed her hands.
Once I leave that bathroom, I return to my desk and use my AVON anti-bacterial hand wash.
It's not O/C . . . it's just a matter of comfort. I'm not a neat freak, but for crying out loud!
I have YET to decide that I'm SO far behind that I need to do paperwork while using the facilities, and would be scared of any of you who felt that was a good idea. Stay fifteen minutes later instead, for crying out loud!
Countless times, I've overheard a male employee use the restroom while on his CELLPHONE. (I had a unisex restroom in my office that everyone would use. It was the only one with an adult-sized potty. We are in a preschool, remember...) Then he skips the handwashing. The whole thing just grosses me out.
>I need to do paperwork while using the
>facilities, and would be scared of any of you
>who felt that was a good idea.
HRQ, you've obviously never worked with lawyers. Remember, there is no such thing as non-billable hours. x;-)
And in a nod to Don D's post about "the woman at the top", I'll add that I probably looked just like her when I read about the "potty time paperwork" concept...
Again, I have to say "eeeeewwwwwwwwwwww".
And I'm glad to hear you aren't a potty-time-paperwork proponent, Parabeagle. x;-)
>x;-)
Wow. I wouldn't want to try and say THAT three times fast, HRQ. x;-)
"When I started at our company six months ago, the first day of orientation included a training session in EHS. The training coordinator said something that day that has stuck with me ever since and has altered my behavior in certain instances......she stated that Hepititis and HIV germs can remain alive and virulent outside the body for a number of hours. You go to the grocery store and grab a cart and wheel it into the store and go about your shopping. A small paper cut is on one of your hands. The possibility exists that a person pushing that very same cart through the store an hour before you was infected with Hepititis or HIV. Scary thought, huh? I now carry a liquid hand sanitizer in my purse, in the car, at the office."
Her EHS trainer is telling her that she could get HIV from a shopping cart. That goes against everything I've heard and tell ee's when I train them. I'm I missing something?
Is he suggesting you use some sort of politically correct double speech? What a bunch of doo-doo! Or is it pasture pies? What else would be acceptable?
Okay guys, I understand some of you keep a neat bathroom. Believe me, through most of my adult life I have lived with a minimum of three males (don't go there - I have three sons) and trust me - it is a major exception.