h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"You can wash and dry your hands as well as you like, but you still have to use the door handle on your way out." [Icy North]

If everyone does it that way, there should be fewer germs on that door handle than there were *before* washing. But if anyone did not wash their hands, then germs will get on the handle and you'll likely be exposed to them. Is it the end of the world if that happens? Rarely. I'm reading a book called "10% Human," which says that the human body's cells are outnumbered ten to one by resident microbes. Germs were, are, and will always be everywhere you go, and yet you've survived and maybe even benefitted by their presence. I'd like to encourage people not to get sick with worry over germs that might be on surfaces that they touch. The immune system does a pretty good job of keeping you safe, even if you don't use antibacterial soap or shower fifteen times a day.

But if that dirty doorknob still worries you, take a piece of paper towel and wrap it around the door handle as you exit, so your hand doesn't touch the handle.

http://i.imgur.com/J6FvRdG.jpg

That's fine as far as it goes, but if the rest room you're in doesn't have a foot-operated latch, you won't be able to make use of it.

Well, yeah... I've never actually seen one out in the wild, just on the interwebs. I've only come across maybe two places that had Dyson hand dryers as well.

I'm just not very germ-phobic. Some of the hand washing habits of my coworkers I find very wasteful. One fellow turns on the water, washes his hands, waves out two large paper towels while the water is still running, dries his hands while the water is still running, waves out yet another full size sheet, uses THAT to turn off the water finally and open the door.

I'm much less worried about the men's room than touching money. Filthy lucre is much more filthy than most people realize and I'm not even that bothered by that. I wash my hands thoroughly several times a day (with NON antibacterial soap) and that's fine with me.

I'm not especially germ-phobic either

Of course you could remove one of your shoe laces, wrap it around the knob and open the door without touching it
But then you would have to...



F S

Usually you can pull your sleeve down to touch a handle that is iffy. As someone recently pointed out, the keyboards on ATMs must be pretty yukky, and - this I heard from a hotel cleaner - the worst thing you can touch with bare hands is a TV remote control in a hotel room.



We have smileys for "wash your hands":

Clap for bacon:
http://www.blogto.com/upload/2008/02/20080226_bacon.jpg

>>the worst thing you can touch with bare hands is a TV remote control in a hotel room.

Visitors think it odd that I cover our TV remote with clingfilm.

So do I.

You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die. (However, since a peck is a 2 gallon barrel, I'd rather not eat it all at once).

PP.

You'll eat a fair amount of spiders, too.

On the remote chance that someone here still believes that myth about swallowing spiders in your sleep...

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.asp

That "statistic" was made up as an experiment to show the silly things that people will believe just because they read it on the internet.

Thanks for setting us straight about that -- unless the spider lobby was behind the revision.

However, face mites are very real: A31267884

They seem to be everywhere -- deep-forest soil, bedding, your garden, why not people's face?

A peck is HOW MUCH?! I thought it was about a pinch.

What was Peter Piper going to *do* with it all?

Mol

I fancy a Peck of beer tonight

As one who is addicted to pickled peppers, I could polish it off in a day or two.