# Uh… shouldn’t you wash your hands or something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 25, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353 "2007-06-25T17:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/41 "2007-06-26T19:42:53Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] When did money become a deadly toxin. [/QUOTE] Wait a minute… they’re right. Absolutely right. Money is a deadly, deadly toxin. It’s so terrible that for your safety, you should all give whatever money you have to me for disposal immediately. **MUAHAHAHAHA**. I am genius. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/42 "2007-06-26T19:45:17Z")
See, this is why fighting ignorance is taking longer than we thought. You guys ever read [this](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html) one ? > [@SDSTAFF Jill](#): > > Most bugs don’t tend to live on cool, hard surfaces. Reading the whole thing there is a small risk but the facts indicate you’re gonna die from the fat in burger, (which you paid for) not the mucus of the spotty teenager working in the fast food joint. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/43 "2007-06-26T19:49:07Z")
> [@](#): > > DtC responded; _The answer to the OP’s question is no, it isn’t necessary to wash your hands after touching money. There are medications which can help you with your phobias._ I just accessed the [www.nih.gov](http://www.nih.gov) (National Institute of Health) and searched their site for “food handlers wash hands” That produced 38 hits that seem to think it is more reasonable to wash hands than to become (potentially) infected. To each his own. Thanks for your response. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/44 "2007-06-26T20:02:27Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I had a guy pull his leather wallet out of his back pocket and pull out a soaking wet ten dollar bill–I asked him if maybe he fell in the pool or something? Nope, just sweat, he replies. I swallowed my suddenly buoyant gorge, smiled weakly and lay the bill on the counter behind me to dry off. That happened at my work just yesterday! Yick. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/45 "2007-06-26T20:11:46Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] Wait a minute… they’re right. Absolutely right. Money is a deadly, deadly toxin. It’s so terrible that for your safety, you should all give whatever money you have to me for disposal immediately. **MUAHAHAHAHA**. I am genius. [/QUOTE] Why do you think people like to use a debit card? No filthy money, that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/46 "2007-06-26T21:17:24Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] So no one here has ever _given_ a fast food worker at the drive through money, received change back, then ate the burger in the car? [/QUOTE] Yeah, exactly. We expect absolute sterility from food-service workers, and then hygiene goes out the window the moment the food passes from their immaculate hands to our grubby own. Imagine, I eat lunch every day while using my keyboard, which reputedly is the Typhoid Mary of the cubicle! I was actually startled the other day to see a food-service worker – in an immigrant-staffed, hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint – wash her hands after handling money. She was obviously up on the guidelines. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/47 "2007-06-26T21:52:50Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] My statement is about the person that has the sore throat, is coughing, and is losing their voice, or has the nastiest flue. [/QUOTE] It’s not like management has time to go inspect the fireplaces of every employee. They have to take some chances. At our McDonald’s, the drive-through cashier is pretty much a moneychanger only. Although at slow times, I’ve seen them putting Happy Meals together. At Burger King, anything goes! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/48 "2007-06-26T22:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Yeah, exactly. We expect absolute sterility from food-service workers, and then hygiene goes out the window the moment the food passes from their immaculate hands to our grubby own. Imagine, I eat lunch every day while using my keyboard, which reputedly is the Typhoid Mary of the cubicle! I was actually startled the other day to see a food-service worker – in an immigrant-staffed, hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint – wash her hands after handling money. She was obviously up on the guidelines. [/QUOTE] I have to say that my old boss was such a pig, that nobody would touch his keyboard. This is a guy that sucks spittle between his teeth in client meatings, and dribbled food and spit onto the keyboard. The computer is doing something strange. Guess what. The keyboard has a stuck key. gigi and the rest. I said I don’t use the line of a sick cashier, I didn’t say send everyone home. I happy if you wish to be served by them as my line will be shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/49 "2007-06-27T02:14:59Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] Hell, I’m sucking on a fistful of change collected from random pox-ridden strangers right now. Y’all are being too paranoid! 😛 [/QUOTE] Pfeh! Amateur! I lick doorknobs and handrails on the subway. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/50 "2007-06-27T02:59:47Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] When did people become so germaphobic? … [/QUOTE] When we ran out of everything else to fear? Same thing applies to so many parts of our daily lives that are ridiculous when compared to the past. I’d be more afraid of the hypothetical Super Germ that results when too much soap is used, rather than using the soap at all. ---
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/51 "2007-06-27T05:39:50Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] I don’t go to those places. In fact, I just passed up one place today. It used to be my favorite place until I saw the guy taking the money handling the food. One hopes that there would be more than one person in a food service establishment. _But if there aren’t, they can at least use gloves._ [/QUOTE] If they’re handling money and food with gloves on, they’re still transferring germs. My fast food experience has led me to believe that gloves are not necessarily as good a protector from germs as you might hope. Workers seem more likely to wash their hands when they get greasy/dirty if they’re not wearing gloves. But with gloves on, they seem to think it creates a magical anti-germ force field. They don’t change them nearly as much as they should. There is a benefit, though, because it is a reminder… you’re less likely to touch your face with greasy gloves, and handling money is near impossible, so I suppose there are less germs from those obvious places. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/52 "2007-06-27T06:07:26Z")
[QUOTE=Wisp00] If they’re handling money and food with gloves on, they’re still transferring germs. [/QUOTE] I completely agree with you there. It’s supposed to work like this–you take off gloves to handle cash. And you do this for a while. After the while is up, you wash your hands, put gloves back on and then touch food. My local Togo’s does a pretty good job of this, although my sandwich today tasted like yuck! (totally unrelated to food handling, I think) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/53 "2007-06-27T16:38:53Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] The answer to the OP’s question is no, it isn’t necessary to wash your hands after touching money. There are medications which can help you with your phobias. [/QUOTE] Coming to terms with the tiny critters living at the base of my eyelashes is much tougher. I saw a commercial for toilet cleaner talking about the 3.2 million bacteria living in the toilet bowl. First, I don’t tend to touch inside the toilet bowl. And I flush with the lid down to prevent that fecal spray across the whole bathroom and out in to the hall. Second, there are probably that many bacteria on my skin right now! :eek: > [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > gigi and the rest. I said I don’t use the line of a sick cashier, I didn’t say send everyone home. I happy if you wish to be served by them as my line will be shorter. I think I am exempt from this; I was just making a stupid jokes about flues. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/54 "2007-06-27T16:50:56Z")
From: The Secret Life of the Dollar By Carol X. Vinzant, > [@](#): > > In 2001 Dr. Peter Ender of Wright Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center showed that 87 peercent of bills he collected from a local high school food stand were contaminated with germs that could make the weak sick and that 7 percent carried germs that could make anyone sick. Only 6 percent were clean. Later studies showed 94 percent of singles carried bacteria. > **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](https://www.aol.com/)** > > Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more. If feel less paranoid now. At least I’m partially right. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/55 "2007-06-27T17:09:48Z")
[QUOTE=Morgenstern] From: The Secret Life of the Dollar By Carol X. Vinzant, > **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](https://www.aol.com/)** > > Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more. If feel less paranoid now. At least I’m partially right. [/QUOTE] Yebbut, I’ll bet those germs weren’t present in _quantities_ that would make people sick. The way I see it, what makes food dangerous is when it is left to incubate bacteria up to dangerous levels. That’s why we store the kind of food that germs like to live on in the fridge. If someone with less-than-spotless hygiene passes me a sandwich in their grubby paw, so what? Are those bacteria going to suddenly multiply to dangerous levels in the five minutes it takes me to eat it? No they are not, and in any case the instant you take any food out of the oven, fridge, whatever, millions of bacteria are going to land on it from all angles. There’s a reason we have stomach acid, and immune systems. As my grandfather used to tell me if I spotted a bit of dirt on picnic food, “You’ll eat a bushel before you die, son.” ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/56 "2007-06-27T17:12:22Z")
Am I the only one who thinks “bring on the germs, they’re just making my immune system stronger”? I really don’t worry about touching other people’s keyboards or mice (I do desktop support so I do this all the time) I don’t worry about putting the lid down on the toilet when I flush. I wouldn’t think twice if someone handled money and then made my food or if someone handled money then put tomatoes on my pizza, heck, I probably wouldn’t notice. I am not one of those people who won’t touch the bathroom door handle because that’s where all the germs are. (But I always wash my hands after using the bathroom.) I’ve always consoled myself with the thought that these dozens of little encounters with germs each day are just keeping my immune system on its toes. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s how I see it. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/57 "2007-06-27T18:13:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Later studies showed 94 percent of singles carried bacteria. I’d be worried about the 6% of singles that don’t carry bacteria. What’s on them that kills all life? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/58 "2007-06-27T18:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] When we ran out of everything else to fear? [/QUOTE] This is my view. There will always be threats of various kinds: infectious agents, top predators, enemy nations full of angry warriors, and so on. These threats can always be at least loosely ranked according to relative danger. Therefore, there will always be a #1 threat. Eliminate the #1 threat, or more commonly mitigate it so it falls to a lower ranking, and #2 moves up to become the new #1. Problem is, just because it’s #1 in the relative ranking doesn’t mean it demands the same attention or fear as any of the previous top-ranked threats. It’s as if we managed to kill all the saber-toothed tigers and other big cats, all the dangerous canines from dire wolves on down, all the crocodilians and constrictors, all the polar and grizzly bears, and everything else with teeth and claws that occasionally decides to take a bite out of a guy, and we’re left pointing at the badgers and raccoons with the same terror we once reserved for man-eating tigers. It’s an understandable artifact of our biological history, the result of the hard-wired protection systems in our lizard brains short-circuiting our more-recently-evolved rational thinking systems. But that doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/59 "2007-06-27T18:27:31Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] Am I the only one who thinks “bring on the germs, they’re just making my immune system stronger”? I really don’t worry about touching other people’s keyboards or mice (I do desktop support so I do this all the time) I don’t worry about putting the lid down on the toilet when I flush. I wouldn’t think twice if someone handled money and then made my food or if someone handled money then put tomatoes on my pizza, heck, I probably wouldn’t notice. I am not one of those people who won’t touch the bathroom door handle because that’s where all the germs are. (But I always wash my hands after using the bathroom.) I’ve always consoled myself with the thought that these dozens of little encounters with germs each day are just keeping my immune system on its toes. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s how I see it. [/QUOTE] Somewhere, a tear just rolled down the cheek of a marketing droid for the Germ-O-Zap Sanitary Hand Blitzer[sup]TM[/sup] corporation. You _will_ become paranoid, like the rest of the good western consumers… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353/60 "2007-06-27T19:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] My local Togo’s does a pretty good job of this, although my sandwich today tasted like yuck! (totally unrelated to food handling, I think) [/QUOTE] Was it particularly chewy and did it remind you of five white, limp and flat chicken fingers? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-shouldn-t-you-wash-your-hands-or-something/409353.md?page=4)