Letstun survey-Washing your hands

I'm talking about those real nasty crowded bar bathrooms where the urinal is surrounded by a moat of urine. They are more like a latrine than a bathroom. I stand back 3 feet and fire away so my shoes dont get wet. Then there is the guy puking or even peeing in the sink because the line is so long.

This is the only time i don't wash my hands after peeing. HOw can your hands get clean in a sink full of urine?

Anyone ever hear that George Carlin skit about the 5 important places to wash or something like that? Funny stuff right there. I have a very strong immune system, and I attribute that to my ability to avoid shitting and pissing on my hands, and my inability to worry about germs and scum.

I must say though, I'm also astounded by the number of people who shit and piss on their own hands while going to the bathroom. I propose:

If you shit and piss all over your hands when you use the bathroom, please wash your hands.

If you manage to avoid shitting and pissing on your hands and actually make all your waste enter the toilet untouched, then you can skip washing your hands, because your hands are not full of piss and shit.

p.s. It is okay to wash your hands often, there are other things besides piss and shit that can get on your hands, I think it is important to wash your hands regularly, but washing your hands solely because you piss and shit on them every time you use the bathroom is a little OCD in my opinion.

George Carlin wrote:

washing your hands solely because you piss and shit on them every time you use the bathroom is a little OCD in my opinion.

not in mine.

in fact, that seems like a pretty good reason to wash them.

Wayne Campbell wrote:

This is the only time i don't wash my hands after peeing. HOw can your hands get clean in a sink full of urine?

According to some slobs on this post, urine is sterile. So, go crazy wash your hands in the piss!

In my heart I knew letsrun posters should not be touched.

Turns out I was right.

Doug Axelrod Fan Club wrote:

I wash my hands after urinating or defecating. Not necessarily because my hands get dirty from discharging waste from my body, but because one should wash his or her hands regularly, and I use the bathroom regularly, so it's a good checkpoint.

UsedToBeKnowItAll wrote:

And I don't really care one way or the other. If people don't want to wash their hands, no big deal. I do, but probably more out of habit than anything else. It's just something that I don't think about.

these are the two most sensible posts by the pro-washing crowd i've seen on this whole thread. i, too, would wash my hands in the restroom because it's a good checkpoint, but i wash my hands frequently at other times during the day, so there's no reason to waste the (little) time or (little) water.

i'm not against the practice of washing one's hands after using the restroom; i'm just against people trying to convince the sanitary non-restroom-washers that they're doing something wrong. i say "sanitary non-restroom-washers" because there are DEFINITELY unsanitary ones, and i hope they wash their hands, but it's entirely possible to do your business in there without contaminating your hands. in my mind, i would rather not clean up a mess i can simply avoid in the first place.

if there's even a shred of a doubt that i've avoided messing my hands, then i wash them. that doesn't happen very often. i also wash them when there's someone else in the restroom. it's not out of shame that i do this; more like out of pity. i am aware that there are some borderline-OCD people out there who freak out about every little contaminant, real or imagined, and that they would obsess over seeing that behavior in their workplace. it's like not saying "G*d-dammit" in front of christians: it doesn't ACTUALLY have any negative repercussions, but it bothers them, so i don't do it.

Howie Mandell wrote:

According to some slobs on this post, urine is sterile. So, go crazy wash your hands in the piss!

Not just according to some slobs. Urine is sterile when it exits the body.

UsedToBeKnowItAll wrote:

Not just according to some slobs. Urine is sterile when it exits the body.

just to further clarify: in the absence of any kind of bladder or urinary tract infection, urine is sterile as it leaves the body. as it briefly contacts skin upon exiting the urethra, if a male has any bacterial STDs (such as chlamydia), the urine will pick them up. also, uncircumcised males must take care when urinating or bacteria can spread from the smegma or any other gross crap hanging out beneath the foreskin.

oh gross, i hate being reminded of foreskin. why anyone doesn't have their son circumcised i'll never know. that should be considered child abuse.

After pissing I wash my dick in the face bowl where you wash your hands. Thatway no urin gets on my undies allowing me to waer them for 2 wks straight or longer.

No oral sex unless directly after a shower or bath.

Terminator X wrote:

I now bus tables at a fancy restaurant and am constantly getting shrimp juice, steak sauce, potatoes, ice cream, you name it on my hands and find myself washing my hands alot as well. Strangely at both jobs I don't remember ever seeing other people washing their hands as much. Could be because I obviously am not standing by the sink all day, and am not aware of everytime they wash their hands, but I'm pretty sure lots of people at both places could stand to wash their hands more.

This is why so many people get sick after eating out at restaurants.

Zigmund wrote:

This is ONE POSSIBLE REASON why so many people get sick after eating out at restaurants.

fixed.

ignoring undercooked meat and poultry, as well as spoiled foods (hell, even intentional "additions" by disgruntled staff), is to oversimplify the issue. there are many ways people can get sick from restaurant food, and ONE of them is from food handled by people who neither wipe themselves hygienically NOR wash their hands.

bleeble blabble wrote: i'm just against people trying to convince the sanitary non-restroom-washers that they're doing something wrong.

Oh, I wouldn't say wrong. I would, however, say frigging disgusting and frankly subhuman.

Only after a squat though. I don't think the post-piss wash is nearly as necessary, unless your wee-wee has been spelunking in some dark cave or another and not been washed since. Clean joint and minimal to no handling = not so bad.

Hey all you non-washers, here's a new way to be cleaner and happier:

I hardly ever wash after I go to the bathroom

the only time i do is if I know I got shit or piss on my hand

but if I'm cooking something I always wash my hads before

a few weeks ago I helped at a camp for retarded kids there I made sure I wash my hands before I took a piss

sam w wrote:

i think that makes perfect sense.

you are already in the bathroom, your hands could get dirty with fecal matter etc and you should wash them "once in a while" anyway. that sounds like the perfect time to do it.

i cannot understand the resistance and lengths some people will go to in order to defend NOT washing their hands. the only thing i can come up with is that they are LAZY and need an excuse to justify being lazy.

Sure, I might wash my hand every other bathroom visit or every third - I do drink a lot of water (average 2.5 gal. per day), which is good for a runner. So, the point is: You do not HAVE TO wash your hand after bathroom visit. If it is not dirty, why waste your time?

The same - I can not understand the forceful action and distance you "wash your hand" freak will go to FORCE the idea of wash hands after EVERY bathroom visit. The only thing I can come up with is that you guys are control freaks . This is a free country.

Howie Mandell wrote:

Here's a hypothetical for all those who refuse to wash their hands. What if the bathroom has no doors and those sinks with sensors for automatic soap dispensers and water? Also, automatic paper towel dispensers. Like the kind at airports. Would you wash then because you didn't have to touch faucets or doors?

No,that is not the point. It is a total waste of time if your hand is not dirty / dirtier than before you visit the bathroom - since we have the skill to avoid pee or poop on our hands. For those do not have that skill, Please, wash your hands after using the bathroom.

Fascinating stuff, letsrun never ceases to amaze, and I'm not sure that's good.

My 2 cents, and for full disclosure I'm an infectious disease doctor. For all of the people who think they can piss and poop with no contamination of your hands- you're completely wrong. It may not be from your own skin (but you proably brush against it, and skin in the groin is covered with billions of microbes) but instead come from the toilet paper where the last person touched it as he ripped of his square, or it might be from the stall door, or just from the bathroom door. Regardless, it's pretty certain there are bugs there, and a decent chance that they came from someone elses rectum.

So, should you get rid of them? Your own germs frankly you don't need to worry about too much- you already have those strains of e-coli (and whatever else) in you so getting them back down the hatch is trace amounts your immune system can handle. All the people you interact with during the day might not like it, but hey, screw them. But frankly, we would all do better to not be spreading them between each other. It's not like it's that hard- 15 seconds with plain old soap, don't worry about the antibacterial kind, is what we try to get hospital employees to do. Frankly even 5-10 seconds would be better then nothing.

People point out that all sorts of other things are equally dirty- and they're right. So when you visit someone who's sick, before you touch your food, etc- wash your hands. We have epidemics of disease going through hospitals, nursing homes, and other places because people don't wash their hands. The people that work there are going out and spreading them to restaurants, stores, their families, all over the place.

If all of the people who don't wash their hands feel so strongly about this that it's the right thing to do- I suggest you try announce your habits at the dinner table with your family and at work- let us know how warmly you're recieved.

dd wrote:

If all of the people who don't wash their hands feel so strongly about this that it's the right thing to do- I suggest you try announce your habits at the dinner table with your family and at work- let us know how warmly you're recieved.

christ almighty! that's the worst goddamn "example" i've ever heard! why don't you go to a room full of christian scientists and tell them what you think about modern medicine? i bet they won't receive that too warmly. just because people (even a LOT of people) believe something is significant doesn't mean it is.

i'll give you a pass because you're an "infectious disease doctor" (nice title, btw) and doctors are paid to overanalyze and overemphasize every possible health threat. any time you touch anything that anyone else has touched, you put yourself at "risk."

your whole post boils down to talking up the dangers of infection in the bathroom, and making the subsequent washing seem too convenient to reasonably dismiss. i could make the exact same arguments for:

1) tying your shoes

2) handling ANY money

3) shaking anyone's hand

4) touching ANY doorknob

5) reading a library book

6) being handed a document at work

all of those pose as much (or, in the case of tying your shoes, MUCH MORE) of a threat of contaminating your hands than a reasonably careful person wiping their ass after a shit. if you were to wash your hands after every time you do any of those things, you would never leave the sink.

here's some advice, which all of you are probably too f***ing germophobic to follow:

-CHILL THE f*** OUT

-wash your hands before and after preparing or eating food

-wash your hands if you ever spend time with a sick person

-avoid wiping your shitty ass with your bare hand or, failing that, wash after you get shit on your hand

-beyond that, wash your hands when you feel like it, but don't expect others to

-oh yeah, CHILL THE f*** OUT! how can you go through life being so afraid of other people's hands? jesus christ, don't you have something better to do than worry about germs all day? god, i hope you don't ever go camping or anything, you might have a panic attack.

Wow, and you want me to chill the f*** out?

Allow me to respond to a few funny things-

"christ almighty! that's the worst goddamn "example" i've ever heard! why don't you go to a room full of christian scientists and tell them what you think about modern medicine? i bet they won't receive that too warmly. just because people (even a LOT of people) believe something is significant doesn't mean it is."

Well, since I said tell your family or your coworkers, I assumed you would be telling people you live with or choose to eat with at work- not sure how that equates with a roomful of christian scientists, unless you choose to live with and eat with poeple who completely disagree with you on everything.

"your whole post boils down to talking up the dangers of infection in the bathroom, and making the subsequent washing seem too convenient to reasonably dismiss. i could make the exact same arguments for:

1) tying your shoes

2) handling ANY money

3) shaking anyone's hand

4) touching ANY doorknob

5) reading a library book

6) being handed a document at work"

-Um check the middle part where I mentioned that lots of things are equally dirty. I didn't think I needed to spell them all out, I thought you could extrapolate. I was wrong.

"here's some advice, which all of you are probably too f***ing germophobic to follow:

-CHILL THE f*** OUT

-wash your hands before and after preparing or eating food

-wash your hands if you ever spend time with a sick person

-avoid wiping your shitty ass with your bare hand or, failing that, wash after you get shit on your hand

-beyond that, wash your hands when you feel like it, but don't expect others to

-oh yeah, CHILL THE f*** OUT! how can you go through life being so afraid of other people's hands? jesus christ, don't you have something better to do than worry about germs all day? god, i hope you don't ever go camping or anything, you might have a panic attack."

First, the irony of writing "chill the f*** out" twice in capitals to make it look like you're yelling is pretty funny. Second, double check the post you're freaking out over- you might notice something about washing hands before preparing food and seeing sick people. Last- I've spent weeks in the backcountry of various wilderness areas, parks, mountains- I managed to not have a panic attack- but thanks for caring.