Letstun survey-Washing your hands

When I'm using a public john, I will often wipe my shit on the walls, seat and toilet handle. I think it's funny to leave a little something for the next guy.

i'm not sure what kind of Brave New World you live in, but i don't agree with everything my family and coworkers think. hell, i work with accountants all day! they're the most backwards, misguided people you're likely to meet in a professional setting. i am an atheist libertarian, and in my family are christians, jews, liberals, and conservtives. there are many things to disagree upon. the point is that popular opinion is not always correct. or do you agree that titanic is the best film ever made?

yes, i saw that in your post. i listed them to highlight the absurdity of washing your hands after each questionably "dirty" activity. i do, in fact read and reference the posts to which i reply, as opposed to simply glossing it and picking words or sentences i disagree with and ignoring the context. it would serve you well to do likewise.

yes, the "chill the f*** out" thing IS irony. did you even watch the george carlin video? or was 4m30s too much of an interruption for your rant? irony can be an effective way to make a point. and yes, i was referencing YOUR post when i listed preparing food and visiting sick people, because those are times when it is important to wash your hands... versus bathroom breaks, which are not.

good! perhaps the other germophobes on here should do the same.

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.

dd, good post in many ways, but who needs to test this with their families when we have the hysterics of letsrun? There is no question that there is a very strong social norm for handwashing in the bathroom, or even that it is backed by medical science. The medical community loves to design (over)simple rules to be idiot-proof, however, and then to give the same advice to everyone (e.g., always wash your hands after using the bathroom; never pop a zit). They do this not because it's always the best advice, but because they assume that their patients can't understand the reasons behind the rules that would guide more nuanced decision-making.

I think many people in this thread have good points, but most are oversimplifying/setting up straw men, which doesn't really get us any closer to the truth. When you say "all of the people who don't wash their hands," you seem to be grouping together those who don't wash after a wiz and a shit, and even those who never wash at all. I think that it's obvious that there are very different risks for those three categories -- and I am simply saying that you minimize germ transmission when pissing in a public restroom if you avoid all contact with bathroom knobs and handles. Contact with my own (healthy) penis/urine is an extremely low health risk for me or those I come into contact with. Other than the guy who sweats profusely from his butt to this penis, I don't think anyone has tried to refute that. Am I right?

webby wrote:

Other than the guy who sweats profusely from his butt to this penis, I don't think anyone has tried to refute that.

man, that gave me a good chuckle. poor guy.

oh, and good post, by the way. along the lines of the "never pop a zit" reasoning, i also liken it to speed limits: sure, 80% of people are perfectly safe 15mph over the speed limit, but the unsafe 20% (analogous to the messy wipers) necessitate a stricter limit.

johnny chimpo wrote:

i was reading something a few years back that was shocking. while urine may be sterile, men have some organism on their penis that can get on hands when peeing. it's an organism that, when ingested, can make you very ill. it is rare that it gets ingested, but man, just the idea is nasty. wash your hands!!!

So I guess a little head is out of the question, eh?

webby wrote: Contact with my own (healthy) penis/urine is an extremely low health risk for me or those I come into contact with.

That may be, but I'm still gonna pass on that.

In 1975 Environmental Microbiology Professor Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona published a scientific article describing the little-known phenomenon of bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing. The article depicts a "floor plan of experimental bathroom with location of gauze pads for viral fallout experiments." A lot of virus fell on those gauze pads, Gerba found, and a lot of bacteria too. In fact, significant quantities of microbes floated around the bathroom for at least two hours after each flush.

Everything you touch, including the air, in the men's room is covered with bacteria and viruses that came up out of the toilets after each flush. If there's a lid, close it.

i dont even wash my hands after i jack off. then ill go eat a bologne sandwich and watch man vs wild, like a real man. bitch.

germaphobes get sick more often than nongermaphobes... i guarantee it.

run-bike-run wrote:

i'm not sure what kind of Brave New World you live in, but i don't agree with everything my family and coworkers think. hell, i work with accountants all day! they're the most backwards, misguided people you're likely to meet in a professional setting. i am an atheist libertarian, and in my family are christians, jews, liberals, and conservtives. there are many things to disagree upon. the point is that popular opinion is not always correct. or do you agree that titanic is the best film ever made

Screw your rhetoric, and at your next gathering, announce that you haven't washed your hands after using the bathroom. Geez... how hard is that?

i lick my hands after jerking off... thats how you do it. screw this pussy ass washing your hands with soap and water shit.

xcfgjhsfghf wrote: i dont even wash my hands after i jack off. then ill go eat a bologne sandwich and watch man vs wild, like a real man. bitch.

I'm surprised your curriculum at Oxford leaves you sufficient free time for all this masturbation, luncheon meat, and documentary screening.

~

I only wash my hands when I get shit on them, that is maybe twice a week, more frequently around the holidays- George Carlan

Yeah I work with this one guy and we were talking in the bathroom. I was washing my hands, and he was using th urinal. As I was opening the door and waiting for him to go wash his hands, he b-lines to the door. I ask him if he forgot to wash his hands and he replies...

"I'm clean, I took a shower this morning!"

Needless to say I was puzzled to say the least!!!!

I rarely wash my hands. Usually it comes when I've been outside, running or something all day and I'm going to eat, or before I cook dinner.

But going to the bathroom I never do unless my hands are already dirty. I think there is some truth to the fact that you have to slowly protect yourself from germs. There are bacteria on your skin to protect you from other bacteria, if you continually wash them off, you're going to get sick mroe often. Also, exposing yourself to minor risks allows your body to protect itself more efficiently.

Its no secret that kids get sick much more than adults, and that if you were sick alot as a kid you're probably less sick nowadays. If you know somebody who is always sick, ask their parents how clean/sterile they kept there kids environment, I bet 90% of them say they cleaned obsessively.

Just to mention it, I haven't been seriously sick [something outside of a minor sinus infection or head cold] since my junior year in high school, 4 years ago. When I was a kid I played outside and got dirty, and I was sick constantly, my mom made sure I was clean and healthy, but she never obsessed over it.

Who wipes their bunghole with a bare hand? I thought everyone used t.p. so that the mess would go on that and not their hand.

The guy shaking your hand wrote:

Would you be comfortable knowing you have to shake a hand that had just wiped a messy bunghole a few minutes ago?

run-bike-run wrote:

"hell, i work with accountants all day! they're the most backwards, misguided people you're likely to meet in a professional setting."

I am an accountant, and you sir, are an ass.

I also wash my hands after using the restroom because I was raised to observe proper hygiene habits. So much

for "backwards and misguided."

Make sure you do the interactive:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/03/bathroom.hygiene/index.html