# Do you wash your hands after using an autoflush urinal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-an-autoflush-urinal/428941>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 5, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-an-autoflush-urinal/428941 "2007-12-05T20:12:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-an-autoflush-urinal/428941/81 "2007-12-26T04:17:43Z")

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[QUOTE=Napier]  
also have automatic faucets in the sinks, and I usually can’t activate them  
[/QUOTE]

Are you invisible? Did you sell your soul for donuts?

Now, I can’t activate certain brands of automatic towel dispenser…have a heck of a time with those.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-an-autoflush-urinal/428941/82 "2007-12-26T14:53:44Z")

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\>Are you invisible? Did you sell your soul for donuts?

I have sold my soul for donuts, yes, but I don’t see what that has to do with it.

I don’t know why they don’t see me. I often try sinks that I see other people use, so the sinks work in some sense. It might be because my hands are cooler than most people’s, if the sinks use thermal infrared sensors (which seems plausible but which I don’t know).

I do a lot of work with heat and temperature, including thermal imaging. I’ve noticed that in scenes where several of us are visible, I’m always the one whose hands are near the environmental temperature, whereas other people’s hands generally glow brightly. So I have a hunch that this is the problem, but don’t really know.

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-an-autoflush-urinal/428941/83 "2007-12-26T15:05:28Z")

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[QUOTE=Napier]  
I have sold my soul for donuts, yes, but I don’t see what that has to do with it.  
[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I was conflating two Simpsons episodes. In one, Homer sells his soul for a donut. In the other Bart sells his soul to Milhouse and automatic doors won’t open for him afterward.

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