# What are your unsanitary habits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366 "2010-09-28T17:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/1 "2010-09-28T17:10:46Z")
I’m ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I do things that are…questionable. In other words, sometimes I’m just not that clean. I sincerely hope I’m not alone. My habits have yet to contribute to anyone in my household, myself included, getting sick, but here are a few. There are more, but I’m shy. - I don’t really care if my daughter eats a Cheerio off the floor. Obviously, I’m not going to toss them on the floor and leave them there for her to have as a snack, but if she finds one, I don’t really care if she eats it as long as it’s not petrified and nothing disgusting has been on the floor. - Sometimes when I’m cooking meat and need to spice it, instead of washing my hands for the fifth time, I’ll wipe them off on a clean towel and grab the spice bottle, use it and put it back. - If there are nothing but crumbs on a plate and they’re dry, I’ve been known to dust if off and put it back for re-use. So…confess your cleanliness transgressions here. I’d hate to think I’m the only lazy, dirty slob on the Dope! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/2 "2010-09-28T18:04:27Z")
I’m much less crazy about cross-contamination when I’m cooking for just my husband and me, as we don’t have any food allergies. So I’ll use the same knife to cut the casserole as the veggies. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/3 "2010-09-28T18:05:45Z")
I drink from the milk jug. I pretend I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/4 "2010-09-28T18:14:12Z")
I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. The 3 second rule, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/5 "2010-09-28T18:15:49Z")
I pee in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/6 "2010-09-28T18:21:21Z")
I freely taste straight from the stirring-spoon when I’m cooking for myself. I’m a terrible dish washer. I tend to use the same plate/cooking pots multiple times in a day, and a bit of whatever left over from the last meal doesn’t bug me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/7 "2010-09-28T18:21:49Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > I’m ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I do things that are…questionable. In other words, sometimes I’m just not that clean. I sincerely hope I’m not alone. > > My habits have yet to contribute to anyone in my household, myself included, getting sick, but here are a few. There are more, but I’m shy. > > - I don’t really care if my daughter eats a Cheerio off the floor. Obviously, I’m not going to toss them on the floor and leave them there for her to have as a snack, but if she finds one, I don’t really care if she eats it as long as it’s not petrified and nothing disgusting has been on the floor. > > - Sometimes when I’m cooking meat and need to spice it, instead of washing my hands for the fifth time, I’ll wipe them off on a clean towel and grab the spice bottle, use it and put it back. > > - If there are nothing but crumbs on a plate and they’re dry, I’ve been known to dust if off and put it back for re-use. > > So…confess your cleanliness transgressions here. I’d hate to think I’m the only lazy, dirty slob on the Dope! Most of those don’t bother me…I’ve done them myself. But I have an issue with the raw meat and spice bottle thing. The problem is that if you get anything (E-coli, salmonella etc) on the spice bottle you could make the next person who uses it sick. Either because they handled the bottle and then handled already cooked or not-going-to-be cooked food OR because they touched the bottle (expecting it to be clean) and then didn’t wash their hands afterwords. What you did is referred to in the food safety industry “cross contamination.” Cross contamination is a Big Deal and IMHO one of the easier things to prevent in food safety. I always cringe when I watch cooking shows. You’ll see the host handling raw chicken, grabbing salt out of a small bowl, turning the sink on and off, touching this and that. I feel bad for the crew that has to come through and clean everything after the show. I also wish they would point out that if you’re going to have a small bowl of salt to grab pinches out of to season the raw meat, plan on tossing the leftover salt when you’re done. In fact, this is a better idea then to be constantly grabbing the bottle to get more. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/8 "2010-09-28T18:21:58Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. The 3 second rule, ya know? I extend the rule to 10 seconds; metric is my excuse. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/9 "2010-09-28T18:24:52Z")
I think the OP said too much. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/10 "2010-09-28T18:29:41Z")
Having the world’s filthiest kitchen and allowing the birds in there, where they stashed something under the stove burner, which led to a fire, which my sister put out with her hand while I ran around looking for the extiguisher. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/11 "2010-09-28T19:05:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > > > I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. The 3 second rule, ya know? > > I extend the rule to 10 seconds; metric is my excuse. If it’s been on the floor for 10 seconds, chances are the dogs have already eaten it… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/12 "2010-09-28T19:10:10Z")
I grill a lot, probably 5 times a week. Maybe about once a month I’ll get in there and clean all the flavor bars and grilling surfaces but the rest of the time I just allow the heat from bringing it up to cooking temp to kill all the baddies. Watching those shows where the chef starts off with a perfectly clean and oiled grill everytime seems like a great “best practices” but if I had to do that everytime I probably wouldn’t grill nearly as much and that’d be a shame. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/13 "2010-09-28T19:21:58Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > I extend the rule to 10 seconds; metric is my excuse. > > If it’s been on the floor for 10 seconds, chances are the dogs have already eaten it… heh. We have 3 dogs. One of the things they are taught is that they cannot eat anything without first sitting, and then being told, “OK, eat”. They are 95% perfect with this. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/14 "2010-09-28T19:28:13Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I grill a lot, probably 5 times a week. Maybe about once a month I’ll get in there and clean all the flavor bars and grilling surfaces but the rest of the time I just allow the heat from bringing it up to cooking temp to kill all the baddies. > > Watching those shows where the chef starts off with a perfectly clean and oiled grill everytime seems like a great “best practices” but if I had to do that everytime I probably wouldn’t grill nearly as much and that’d be a shame. Me, too. 500 degrees of sanitation. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/15 "2010-09-28T19:29:12Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. The 3 second rule, ya know? Me too! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/16 "2010-09-28T19:33:35Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. Okay, who does this… and then licks it clean? ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/17 "2010-09-28T19:56:57Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > > [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > > > I eat stuff that has fallen on the floor. > > Okay, who does this… and then licks it clean? My baby does this sometimes. She’ll find a Cheerio and eat it, then I’ll turn around and she’s face down on the floor with her tongue out like she wants to make sure she got the last crumb. I pick her up if I catch her in the act, but I can’t hold her all the time if I’m in the kitchen, since I’m usually trying to cook and run herd on my son, too. Her floor-licking habit is by turns horrifying and funny. At first I had no idea what she was doing because I caught her just as she was finishing, so it looked like she was doing a pushup. Then my four-year old son imitated her because he thought it was so funny and I realized what they were up to. Thankfully, the floor is relatively clean. Recently they’ve moved on to other ways of entertaining each other, such as one screaming, then the other laughing and imitating it. I kind of miss the floor licking. **runner pat** , I think you’re right. I not only run at the keyboard, I overshare. That meat comment has already gotten me in trouble. I think I’m going to disinfect my spice bottles tonight. And **lieu** , I rarely clean and oil my grill rack. A quick scrubbing with a wire brush before grilling, then some pre-heating seems to work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/18 "2010-09-28T19:58:07Z")
Sometimes I let the dog pre rinse the dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/19 "2010-09-28T20:13:03Z")
I kiss my dog and my cats. Usually on the nose, but sometimes their slimy little lips get in the way. There’s no doubt the cats have been licking their asses, and the dog does things that are even worse, but they’re so darn cute! My immune system is apparently a match for whatever we’ve shared so far. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/20 "2010-09-28T20:41:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I pee in the shower. This. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366.md?page=2)