# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/21 "2010-09-28T20:46:24Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > 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. Knowing what dogs can get into, I’ve never understood why people let them lick their faces. Much worse than eating off the floor or dirty dishes, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/22 "2010-09-28T20:58:20Z")
If I eat really greasy food with my hands, I wipe my fingers on my hair. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/23 "2010-09-28T20:59:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > 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. 95% perfect with chicken? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Nene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@El\_Nene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Nene)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/24 "2010-09-28T21:16:53Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > 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. Me too. I’ve gotten some pretty good flavor combos this way. Unfortunately, they can never be reproduced. I do the same with one glass that I like to drink from. It gets washed once a week tops. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/25 "2010-09-28T21:55:56Z")
I have eated more than one raw hot dog. My Father, bless his germophobe soul, would have screamed. ---
**Author:** ![Tortuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Tortuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tortuga)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/26 "2010-09-28T22:08:46Z")
Oops, I do pretty much all these with the exception of drinking from the milk carton and I wash my water glasses more often. I pick my nose. I used to have a dog that liked to eat boogers and would actually try to go in to your nose after them and I just haven’t broken the habit since he passed away. I picked up a dead mouse and threw it away without gloves on and when I came back into the house from the garden I forgot to wash my hands before I sat back at the computer. I remembered pretty quickly, but still. I imagine my phone is even filthier than my computer though. Sometimes I forget to wash my hands right away after coming in from feeding the chickens and gathering eggs. I don’t flush the toilet when I get up in the middle of the night to pee. It seems wasteful and noisy as my husband is a light sleeper when I’m not next to him in bed (it’s the weirdest thing) plus we run off solar power and have a well so flushing sometimes triggers the pressure pump. We let our dogs sleep in bed and allow them up on the furniture. As to the grill: somewhere I saw a tip about using an onion half on a barbecue fork to clean the hot grill, before and after. I haven’t tried it myself but it has to be more pleasant than using crumpled tinfoil, I hate that sound. And the grease that builds up on barbecue brushes grosses me out and is a pain to clean. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/27 "2010-09-28T22:18:35Z")
According to the [USDA,](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/hot_dogs/index.asp) eating raw hot dogs is not the most dangerous thing you can do, since they are cooked/smoked already. You can apparently still get _Listeria monocytogenes_ (Listeriosis) from them, though. I have various degrees of unsanitariness, but I do try to be scrupulous with raw meats and cooking. My cats aren’t allowed anywhere where I prepare food or eat, which, funnily enough, doesn’t extend to the dining room table because we never eat there. **Tortuga:** If it’s brown, flush it down. If it’s yellow, let it mellow. 🙂 We could save an awful lot of water in the world by following that rule. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/28 "2010-09-28T22:22:15Z")
I touch my face a lot. I don’t worry too much about pre-rinsing dishes. I insist on using Cascade Complete detergent, which advertises that you don’t have to pre-rinse. I might stick a dish under running water before putting it in the dishwasher, but it has to be pretty dire for me to do any scrubbing. I hate scrubbing dishes, and I’ll soak instead if at all possible. I wash my hands pretty much only if I’ve touched something gross or used the bathroom, or am about to touch uncooked food (I try to keep contact between my hands and uncooked food to a bare minimum, since I’m squeamish). My counters are rather cluttered, and don’t get wiped down unless something gets spilled. OTOH, I never put uncooked food directly on the counter- it’s always in a dish or on a cutting board. I don’t care if there’s cat hair around, unless someone who’s allergic to cats is coming over. And even then, I only worry about the furniture that they’re likely to come into contact with. The cats’ tower in the dining room is covered in cat hair, and I feel no particular need to do anything about it since people don’t generally touch it. I vacuum or mop when the floor becomes crunchy or adhesive, or when something gets spilled. Otherwise, those things only happen when our housecleaner comes, every two weeks. There is a mountain of laundry, both mine and his, in our bedroom. There are always some books on the floor next to my side of the bed. There is a pile of toiletries, medicines, etc., beside the toilet in our master bathroom. Some of them are also on the bookshelf just outside the bathroom door. We don’t have a vanity, where am I supposed to put that stuff? The cats aren’t allowed on the counters or the dining room table. But if they do get up there, they just get shooed off. I don’t wipe down the area where they were, or anything like that. I want to wash the glasses more often than Mr. Neville does. He doesn’t like it when I take a glass that he was planning to re-use and put it in the dishwasher. Please tell me that somebody died of leprosy or something from re-using a drinking glass, so I can be right. My mother always told me that uncooked hot dogs weren’t really raw, so it was OK to eat them, if a little weird (I liked raw hot dogs, as a kid). ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/29 "2010-09-28T22:24:16Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > If I eat really greasy food with my hands, I wipe my fingers on my hair. Me too! ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/30 "2010-09-28T22:59:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I pee in the shower. It’s almost an automatic ritual for me; I get in the shower, I usually pee. When in a public shower stall, I pee on my feet to help prevent athlete’s foot. > [@even\_sven](#): > > 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. I also taste straight from the stirring spoon if it’s only for me, my husband or the dogs, and have been known to scrub something in a half-assed way if I am just going to be cooking in it straightaway. I’m also bad about leaving dirty pans on the stove or in the sink for longer than I should. > [@Dogzilla](#): > > Sometimes I let the dog pre rinse the dishes. My dogs know the command “Clean up, aisle floor” and will come running. I let them eat food off the floor when I’m cooking as long as it’s not dangerous for them (i.e. things that make them sick or spicy stuff). ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/31 "2010-09-28T23:06:06Z")
When I go out for a meal and bring leftovers home, if I plan on eating the food later that same day, (even if it won’t be for several hours afterwards) I never put it in the fridge, I just let it sit at room temp. as I think that many foods have better taste and texture if not cooked, then cooled, then reheated again… I don’t eat any meat or poultry products, and I never have had a problem with food poisoning. Of course if it’s something that will be eaten chilled (pasta salad, shrimp cocktail) it goes in the fridge ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/32 "2010-09-28T23:12:21Z")
To the people wiping their hands on their hair: just… why? Even if you don’t have a napkin in your lap while eating (as nature intended), surely it would be preferable to use your jeans or something rather than your hair. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/33 "2010-09-28T23:36:39Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > To the people wiping their hands on their hair: just… why? Even if you don’t have a napkin in your lap while eating (as nature intended), surely it would be preferable to use your jeans or something rather than your hair. Really dry hair, so the grease has benefits. Wiping my hands on my jeans just seems…gross. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/34 "2010-09-29T00:53:33Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > . . . My mother always told me that uncooked hot dogs weren’t really raw, so it was OK to eat them, if a little weird (I liked raw hot dogs, as a kid). Thanks to everyone who submitted this information, but he would have never believed it. Or rather, would never have trusted it. Once something was a major fear and/or something he had been railing about in the past, there was no changing the edict. In a way, it’s kind of cool. I can be completely and totally transgressive just by eating a raw wiener. Or putting my arm out the window of a moving car. Oh, and sorry about the ‘eated’, it was a typo, not LOLspeak. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/35 "2010-09-29T01:15:52Z")
I don’t worry about raw meat contaminating stuff until the package is opened. I figure, if it’s contained in plastic and no juices are dripping out of the package, no raw meat ickies can get out of it. I don’t wash my hands after touching said packages, worry about what I touch in the grocery store or at home after touching them, or worry about them being in the bag with other stuff. Mr. Neville does at least under some circumstances, and we’re arguing about it now. I put some raw meat (wrapped in plastic and not leaking) in the drawer with some pears (that were in their own plastic container). There was contact between the plastic container the pears are in and the plastic around the meat, but no more direct contact than that. He now won’t eat the pears unless they’re cooked. Avoiding cross contamination is all well and good, but I think he’s being neurotic. > [@NetTrekker](#): > > Knowing what dogs can get into, I’ve never understood why people let them lick their faces. Because it means they love us! Seriously, you’ve got to be a lot more likely to catch something nasty from kissing or having oral sex with another human, and people who shudder at the idea of dogs or cats licking their faces do those things. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/36 "2010-09-29T03:47:30Z")
I refuse to say all the things I do that are unsanitary because I don’t want to get yelled at. Some of the least horrifying: I don’t use a paper towel to open the door in public restrooms and I don’t hover to pee. ---
**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 29, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/37 "2010-09-29T04:00:27Z")
If I see a bug, I usually try to leave the room for a while to see if it hides before I get a chance to kill it. ---
**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 29, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/38 "2010-09-29T04:04:40Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I don’t worry about raw meat contaminating stuff until the package is opened. I figure, if it’s contained in plastic and no juices are dripping out of the package, no raw meat ickies can get out of it. I don’t wash my hands after touching said packages, worry about what I touch in the grocery store or at home after touching them, or worry about them being in the bag with other stuff. You’re _probably_ safe with that when you buy stuff that comes from the factory already wrapped. Mostly because of things like HAACP and inspections, but also because of they way they are wrapped. Typically it’s wrapped in a tunnel system where someone puts the product on a tray and puts it on a conveyor belt which automates the wrapping process and the inside shouldn’t ever touch the outside. Of course there can always be problems. It’s the stuff that gets wrapped in the store that can be the problem. At my store, when we first started carrying some raw meats that we packaged, I had to explain how to wrap it. See, they thought they were doing a good job. Wash hands, wear gloves etc etc… The problem was, (to make a long story short) the way they were handling the products, raw meat still made it’s way to the outside of the package. I’ve since corrected them and they now do it in such a way that it shouldn’t happen. Personally, I still keep it all separated. Raw meat stays in a bag (even if it’s wrapped) and on the lowest shelf of the fridge so that if it does leak, it doesn’t ruin as many things. Having said that. If the bag with the chicken touched the bag with the pears, I probably wouldn’t be to worked up about it. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/39 "2010-09-29T04:20:22Z")
I let my cats get up on the kitchen counters and any tables as they please. I also let them lick my plate as I am eating from it, and I share my food with them, if they want some. For example, one cat loves yogurt, so I let her lick from my spoon; or I’ll let them drink the milk from my cereal. Most of you will think these things are really gross, but cat people will understand. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366/40 "2010-09-29T04:20:44Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > \ > Mr. Neville does at least under some circumstances, and we’re arguing about it now. I put some raw meat (wrapped in plastic and not leaking) in the drawer with some pears (that were in their own plastic container). There was contact between the plastic container the pears are in and the plastic around the meat, but no more direct contact than that. He now won’t eat the pears unless they’re cooked. Avoiding cross contamination is all well and good, but I think he’s being neurotic.\ If you’re talking meat from the butcher at the grocery store in the saran wrapped packages, yeah, those packages can and do leak. I wouldn’t put them in with my pears. I wouldn’t insist on cooking the pears, though - I’d just give them a good wash. You probably need to learn more about the nasties you can get from raw meat - I read a case study about a guy who cut a contaminated raw pork sausage with a knife, used that same knife to butter some bread and ate it, and died from it. There’s a very good reason that we have developed the safe meat handling practices that we have. From [this site](http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/f/food_poisoning/stats.htm) - > [@](#): > > Although most foodborne infections are undiagnosed and unreported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food. Of these, up to 5,000 die. I’m not saying we should all stop eating everything because of fear, but being properly educated and using good kitchen hygiene is not a bad idea (and that includes not storing raw meat with fruits and vegetables). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-unsanitary-habits/555366.md?page=3)