How could I possibly resist this thread of conversation??? I have simply decided NOT be afraid of public restrooms. But in assuming this brave stance, I haven’t let all caution fly to wind. But I sit when I can, unless some other woman has already marked her territory by standing (out of fear of sitting, I am sure - I should add) then I too, am forced to sit, if no other stalls are available. I don’t touch the handle, because I KNOW 90% of most women, flush with thier feet, and I wouldn’t want to soil my daintly little fingers, so I use a bit of toilet paper to push handle.
To women who do you use your feet to flush; I suggest you think about this; how are you steadying yourself when you raise that leg? You’re probably touching the wall, or a the same bar, in the very same place 100’s of other women have touched - after urinating and wiping with those same hands. Kinda makes the using the foot to flush out of fear of some one else’s germs, seem a bit foolish… And that’s why I stopped the “foot flushing” all together.
But, in being honest with myself, short of donning plastic gloves before pulling the door to enter the restroom, and discarding them after you have left the restroom, you are bound to come into contact with other peoples’ germs. It’s unavoidable.
And it is actually through EXPOSURE to germs, anti-bodies, or allergens, that we build immunity. All you mothers out there know that have children just beginning school, know that they are little magnents for germs, which they bring right back to you, so you both get sick! But after a couple of years in the school invironment, they build thier tolerances, and get sick less and less.
It is my contention that most of us can build sufficient immunity to common restroom germs, to be able to drop our fear about germs, al long as we don’t actually wallow in the cesspool.
Most of the posts seem fairly self-centered. “Why should I wash my hands?” Do it for others. Think about it. Wouldn’t you rather everyone else washed their hands just in case?
A couple of posts in this thread have mentioned washing with hot water. Many public restrooms, in a misguided effort to save money, do not have hot water. Do any of our more hygiene-aware Dopers know what the relative effectiveness of cold water is?
Those automatic flushing toilets solve the flushing problem.
And automatic sinks and hand dyers so the one does not have to touch the handles. A lot of restrooms in larger buildings just have a “L” shaped enterence so that one does not have to touch the door handle on the way out.
However I have only been in a few restrooms like this.
I’ve been using the public toilets at school for 12 years. In that type of setting, half of the girls with no idea about themselves and almost all of them with no respect for the other girls who had to use the bathroom, you learn some tricks of the trade. Simply because of the scumminess of my Junior High and High Schools, I always flush with my foot. I am very careful to wash my hands, though, because our school is cheap and buys wide toilet paper for napkin use in the cafeteria and napkin dispensers for toilet paper in the bathrooms. With 40 tiny sheets, it’s impossible to be clean and do things without being “contaminated.”
I don’t mean to belittle the argument or come across as obsessive compulsive, but, when you think about it, the washing of the hands argument is small potatoes. Even money has fecal matter, traces of crack, other various drugs and God knows what all on it. If you go shopping, use the bathroom and don’t wash your hands, who really cares? In about four seconds, you’re going to get to the check-out counter with your purchases, open your wallet and molest your hands anyway.
Point is, do it as a precaution. You can only protect yourself from so much. If you don’t want to be precautious, don’t! Don’t do it! Open the door with your foot and be on your merry way! But don’t pick on those of us who do wash or they might expose your lack of hand washing to that certain someone you’ve been pining for. Humans are creatures of habit. If you want to wash, wash, and if you don’t?
Don’t! It’s an ingenious concept. I should be president.
Hmmm…women are advised to go “commando” at night for hygiene purposes…interesting question.
My high school also had the “napkin dispenser” toilet paper. They switched to it my senior year, and it was so popular that someone lit one of the damn things on fire! It was just about useless for its intended purpose. Also, our high school rarely filled the soap dispensers. And, yet, I had perfect attendance three out of four years there. I think it was because bathroom breaks were so limited and regulated that it was easier to hold it until you got home!
Thing is, I think that washing your hands after using the bathroom helps other people more than it helps you. You are used to your own germs, so they aren’t likely to make you sick. However, they may sicken someone else that you, say, shake hands with, or make a sandwich for! Stop being selfish and wash your hands.
I’ve never seen the MN state park things, but at Yellowstone Park as a kid, some of the bathrooms had a sort of female urinal…I think you were supposed to straddle it and squat somehow. Thing is, if you are wearing pants or shorts (who wears a dress when hiking, camping, etc.?) then using the thing would have taken a bit more undressing than it was really worth, IMO. But, you didn’t have to touch the toilet at all.
My dad is an MD with an MPH (Masters of Public Health). I asked him about hand-washing years ago as a child. His response was basically that, over the course of history, public health measures have saved more lives than medicine. Numbers 1 and 2 on that list (in no particular order) was internal plumbing (so we don’t throw the chamber pot out of the window into the street anymore), and the washing of hands. Unwashed hands and the surfaces they touch are the #1 disease vector for many infectious agents. One experiment done in the '90’s had one person with a cold playing cards with non-infected players and observers. After a period of gestation, everyone who played cards had a cold, and only 1% of the observers did.
While we’re at it-
1)Paper is as much of a barrier to infection as air to most microbes.
2)Anti-bacterial soaps are only marginally more effective than regular soap. What matters is liberal use of soap & water combined with vigorous rubbing. Furthermore, A-B soaps may contribute to anti-bacterial hardiness in bacteria.
Going commando just relocates the germ transfer from your undies to your trousers or skirt. You still have to handle your clothing to some extent in order to get clearance, thus contaminating your hands.
If you’re not willing to lick your hands after you use the toilet, then why are going to walk around without washing your hands? You are going to handle food, or rub your mouth, or touch your eyes, or do other things with those grubby fingers.
Hot water isn’t as important as vigorous rubbing. After all, nobody uses water hot enough to kill anything. (Can you say “scald”?) However, I do prefer there be hot water because it makes the water temp more comfortable. Nothing like washing your hands in ice water to make you enthusiastic about the whole process.
I hate the napkin dispensers for toilet paper. I also hate the old rollers that deploy 3/4 of a rotation and then have a hard stop. “You’re only allowed one square per wipe.” Right.
I also wish public restrooms used higher quality paper. Single ply, scratchy paper is not appreciated.
Eh, Urine is sterile. There is no need to be worried about germs from urine dripping or splashing on you.
On another note, how is it possible to turn off a focet and not get contaminated? After all, you turned on the focet with your dirty hands, washed them, and then turned off the now-dirty focet with your clean hands. Any options besides killing more trees?
Look, you didn’t even read the column this whole thread is commenting on! While not in and of itself a stupid comment, the above statement has already been 100% refuted by the original comment, as well as several times in the thread itself.
Is urine the only thing that comes from your behind?
I can think of at least 3 other things that are definitely NOT sterile. Feces can contain e coli and a host of other nasties and I can’t even imagine the happy fun things living in that middle orifice.
Having been a professional cook for 20 years, I’m an almost obsessive hand-washer. Fact is, most food-borne illnesses are caused by unwashed hands.
When at work in a restaurant, I actually wash my hands twice after I use the restroom. Once in the restroom itself, mostly for the benefit of any customer that might come in while I’m there - I’m sure my customers like to know that I wash my hands. Then I wash them again when I return to the kitchen. I’ve actually had bosses get mad at me because of the amount of paper towels I go through!
Somebody mentioned public restrooms with no hot water. If that restroom is located in a restaurant, at least in Washington state, there had better be hot water! The state health code requires it, and it’s a major infraction if the restaurant lacks hot water in the restroom. Even though the water isn’t hot enough to kill germs, it has another benefit - it rinses the soap residue off your hands better than cold water.
Sombody earlier in the thread made a statement about “immunities to common bacteria” or some such. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way. Bacterial infections occur, not because of a lack of immunity, but either due to 1) a supression of the immune system 2) a new strain of the bacteria, or 3) the bacteria reach a population level beyond our immune system’s ability to cope. For instance, E.Coli is very common. It is one of the little buggers that everyone carries in their system. However, it is responsible for some really nasty ailments. In fact, some infections can occur just by getting a strain of bacteria in a place it isn’t usually found, so it is possible to infect yourself with your own bacteria!
Besides, bacteria aren’t the only thing to worry about in restrooms. Infectious agents such as viruses and prions are also out there, as well as fungal and bacterial toxins. And as if that weren’t enough, recent studies have shown that modern plumbing equipment (toilets & urinals) tend to aerosolize some of their contents on flushing. While keeping the lid down helps, you might note that most public johns don’t have lids. Although this may not be a significant disease vector, why take chances? BTW-this is NOT an excuse for some of you disgusting bastards to refuse to flush!
To prevent retransfer of germs from the faucet back to the hands, I tend to wash the knobs while I’m washing my hands. Duh.
I think the comments about bacterial immunity were not about being immune to bacteria, but bacteria developing immunities to the treatments against them, such as strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Actually, I just skimmed the thread, and it seems that the comments about bacterial immunity in this thread have been a mixed bag. A few have discussed building our immune systems, etc, and others have talked about resistant bacteria.
And, to paraphrase Cato, my favorite Roman Senator of yore: “And besides, WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS!”