I just read an article where researchers observed that 90% of women and 75% of men wash their hands after using a public restroom. So I thought I’d bring this one to SDMB and add a couple of questions. Let’s do it like this:
1) Your sex
2) Your age (or decade, if you prefer)
3) Percentage of time you wash your hands after using a public restroom
4) Percentage of time you wash your hands after using a restroom in someone else’s home
5) percentage of time you wash your hands after using a restroom in your own home
Of course, feel free to add your own comments as well. As for me?
Male
30
98%, I’d say. I generally only skip this if I’m absent-minded or in a hurry.
90%. If there’s an absence of towels or I’m not sure what the towels on the rack were last used for, I may hesitate.
60-70%. I seem to think about this far less at home, and I don’t know why.
You left out an important distinction. I would never think of Going Number Two without washing afterwards with soap and water, but with urination it seems far less important (even though Cecil says I should).
So, for peeing only, my answers are (1) Male (2) 37 (3 & 4) Usually but not always, and often with water but not soap, and (5) Seldom, if my hands look and feel clean already.
100% - I generally try not to use public restrooms, but when I must I have a public restroom ritual. I don’t sit on public toilet seats. If they don’t flush automatically, I kung-fu flush. I count to 15 when washing my hands with plenty of soap and the hottest water I can stand. If the water doesn’t turn off automatically, I use my wrist/arm to turn it off. When I need to get a paper towel to dry them I’ll either pull my sleeve down to push the dispenser down (if there is one), or use my elbow. Once my hands are dry I use those paper towels to touch the door handle to open the door, hold the door open with my foot, and then toss the towels in the garbage. Writing it out it seems kind of silly, but it’s all second nature by now, it’s really not a big deal.
95% - Depends on the person/house or the circumstances.
90% - Since I’m generally the cook or in or around the kitchen, the thought of using the restroom and then touching anything in the kitchen grosses me out. I usually don’t wash my hands after using the restroom right before bed time (but again, that depends on the circumstances), or right when I wake up, since I’ll be taking a shower anyway.
Ooh - it would be 100%, except that I always have to get up in the middle of the night, when I’m really not awake, and pee, and I rarely wash my hands then, for fear that the water on my hands might wake me up fully & make it harder to go back to sleep. (Now I feel sheepish - where’s Hal Briston? )
Are YOU the one who pees on the seat? Because if you are, I hate you. I wouldn’t mind sitting on a public toilet if you hadn’t thought you were too good for it and so peed on it instead. Gross!
For hygiene, of course, but I guess you could also say vanity - I’m going to be checking my hair and makeup in the mirror, and I’m standing in front of the sink to do this, so it never occurs to me not to wash my hands.
Percentage of time you wash your hands after using a public restroom - 100%
Percentage of time you wash your hands after using a restroom in someone else’s home - 100%
percentage of time you wash your hands after using a restroom in your own home – 100% after #2, rarely after #1, unless I’m going to be handling food, then it’s 100%
I wash my hands several times a day anyway, because I’m a hand-cream junkie – smooth hands are better when I’m sewing – so I figure I’m covered even if I don’t wash 100% of the time after peeing. It might be an hour later, but they’ll get washed.
3,4, and 5) Considering that I once repaired a damaged force main in the middle of the night while standing knee deep in raw sewage…and I don’t generally piss on my hands…never.
Believe me, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, literally 8 or 9 or younger. I’ve got it down. And even though I don’t sit on the seat, I agree, a wet toilet seat is disgusting. It’s disgusting to just look at.
)