# Would you pick up a penny off the dirty floor of a public restroom? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986 "2007-04-13T17:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/41 "2007-04-14T18:22:21Z")
Pennies aren’t money. Their only purpose is to avoid the collection of more pennies. Like **Trunk** , I will often throw them away, so I certainly wouldn’t pick one up. The bathroom floor doesn’t make a difference, though. I’m not that squeamish about germs, what with the invention of soap and all. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/42 "2007-04-14T19:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] I won’t pick up a penny in the case of public restrooms, by dead animal, or say wrapped in a condom… [/QUOTE] Sounds like a challenge for Fear Factor! …or the O’Reilly factor, you choose. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/43 "2007-04-15T03:21:40Z")
No, I wouldn’t pick up a penny from the dirty floor of a public restroom. Never have, never will. Probably/definitely irrational of me, but no matter how thoroughly I cleaned it, I’d suspect that I was gonna catch something from it. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/44 "2007-04-15T05:46:41Z")
Uh… not a penny, not from the floor of a bathroom! -Maybe- a quarter, maybe. I have, though, on occasion, picked up coins from the floor. I don’t bother with pennies, though. One of my brothers is a runner (he usually does 5K or 10K); when he goes out running, part of his thing is to look for money. He’s found $5, $10, $20 and even a couple of $50s. Through the years he estimates that he’s picked up around $2K that way. Unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/45 "2007-04-15T07:21:52Z")
[QUOTE=SHAKES] A curious question to all the germaphobes in this thread. Just what kind of sanitary conditions do you think the money that’s in your pocket right now has been through? :dubious: [/QUOTE] I can guarantee that at least some of it has been inside some asscracks. ---
**Author:** ![pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/46 "2007-04-15T14:14:40Z")
When visiting a new pub/bar, a good way to gauge how classy a place it _really_ is in terms of its clientelle is to drop a pound coin in one of the urinals and check back to see how long it stays there for… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/47 "2007-04-15T18:13:00Z")
[QUOTE=pretend my name is witty] When visiting a new pub/bar, a good way to gauge how classy a place it _really_ is in terms of its clientelle is to drop a pound coin in one of the urinals and check back to see how long it stays there for… [/QUOTE] So the _really_ classy places have urinals lined with coins? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2007, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/48 "2007-04-16T06:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=pretend my name is witty] When visiting a new pub/bar, a good way to gauge how classy a place it _really_ is in terms of its clientelle is to drop a pound coin in one of the urinals and check back to see how long it stays there for… [/QUOTE] Drop a £ in Glasgow? Someone would catch it before it hit the floor 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/49 "2007-04-16T22:59:02Z")
By tradition, I do not even pick up coins worth less than € 20 cents that fell from my own hand or pocket, except in shops. I began doing so one day, when I was 20 or so, because, as I was about to pick up some small change that just felt from my hand, I remembered having, not long ago, actively looked for lost change on the pavement because I needed a couple cents more to buy something. I thought that maybe someone else in the same situation would be happy to find it, so I left it where it was. Regarding coins that I didn’t lose myself but just happen to notice lying on the ground, I never pick them up, even an € 2 coin, thinking that probably someone needs it much more than me. Note that even without this “tradition”, I wouldn’t bother picking up one or two cents, it’s already a pain to get rid of the small coins I already have. Let alone “off the dirty floor of a public restroom”. I’m dissapointed to see that there are so many of you “compulsive coin pickers”. You’re probably picking up the coins I leave in the hope they"ll be found by someone who happens to be short of precisely 10/2/5 cents for some reason or another. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986/50 "2007-04-16T23:29:24Z")
I always pick up pennies on the sidewalk. Unless the penny was obviously in contact with something repulsive (e.g. in the middle of a pool of urine) I would pick it up from the floor of a bathroom, wash it and keep it. [QUOTE=Waverly] Would you put a piece of refuse from the floor in your pocket if I paid you a penny? I didn’t think so. [/QUOTE] Heck, I do it for free! If I go into the restroom and there are paper towels on the floor, I’ll pick them up and throw them away before I wash my hands. (again assuming no visible signs of unsanitary filth on them) If I see trash (e.g. empty soda can, old water bottle) in a public park and it’s not too much out of my way, I pick it up and bring it to the nearest trashcan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-pick-up-a-penny-off-the-dirty-floor-of-a-public-restroom/399986.md?page=2)