# Why use mop water til it looks like crude oil?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-mop-water-til-it-looks-like-crude-oil/677343>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 28, 2013, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-mop-water-til-it-looks-like-crude-oil/677343 "2013-12-28T07:11:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**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:** [December 29, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-mop-water-til-it-looks-like-crude-oil/677343/21 "2013-12-29T14:51:50Z")

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> [@Dag\_Otto](#):
>
> Back when mopping the floor was pretty much my job description I would mop the floor, change the water, and then mop it again. Doesn’t everyone do this?

I have my employees dump (or hose down) water on the floor, put some cleaner on it. Swish it around with the mop. Let it sit for a minute. Then squeegee it to the drain. Then go back and mop it with clean water (with soap). It looks much better that way. When you do it like that the majority of the dirt ends up in the drain and not on the mop head or in the bucket. But they can’t really do that out in the store where the customers are.

I had one employee who spent the last year or two of her time with us on some sort of bizarre power trip making up rules. A few times I’d hear her yelling at employees for using “way too much water on the mop” and telling them to “wring it out more”. I could tell when she was mopping because I could hear the practically dry mop being dragged across the floor. The floor looked just as bad when she mopped as it did when others mopped with filthy water.

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**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-mop-water-til-it-looks-like-crude-oil/677343/22 "2013-12-29T17:36:01Z")

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> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> One thing that irked me when I worked fast food in the past was how grungy the edges and corners always were, and the near-impossibility of cleaning them by any measure short of getting on your hands and knees with a scrub brush.

That’s the normal way of cleaning decks on a submarine - not just in the galley, but in the entire boat. (Waxing is also done on your hands and knees, with a sponge.)

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**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-mop-water-til-it-looks-like-crude-oil/677343/23 "2013-12-30T00:24:31Z")

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> [@Chessic\_Sense](#):
>
> Most likely, you’re underestimating how fast the water gets dirty and overestimating how dirty the water really is. When I was a janitor as a kid, my mop bucket would look cloudy as soon as I stuck a clean mop in it. After doing about 15 sq ft, it looked as you describe. No way I’m changing it every 30 seconds.

Hmm, I like when the water turns dirty after I finish mopping at home. Makes me feel I’m actually doing something. I also like bagless vacuums.

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