Wash your feggin hands people

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I've worked on building sites where you get pretty dirty and dusty. Most of the time I didn't bother washing my hands because a little dirt isn't so bad and I never had so much as a bad gut. Dirt in the diet builds a healthy immune system.

Then in the past couple of years it's changed and I've become more of a hand-washer than before. What changed was a story about a study that showed how many bank notes have faecal matter on them. Grimsville!

So now I wash those hands every time. In public toilets it's hard to get out without touching the handles, but I try. It's fair play to wash the hands until you need to use the handle that's been touched by the dozens of scrubbers who don't! It's *almost* self-defeating and there's a lot of money for anyone who can solve the inward versus outward door conundrum (it's a thing).

It won't stop bank notes being coated in particulates of turd and I don't shy away from handling money either. The pace I spend it says otherwise lol. No, the reason for the extra hygiene is so I'm not contributing to the problem. If other people don't mind sharing each other's ass germs, it's okay. Not for me though.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

It's a disorder called Pica

Since they eat stuff off the floor & garbage cans , it could contain these lol

People with pica frequently crave and consume nonfood items such as: dirt clay paint chips plaster chalk cornstarch laundry starch baking soda coffee grounds

Not to suggest any mental impairment :

Pica is most common in people with developmental disabilities, like autism and intellectual disabilities, and in children between the ages of 2 and 3. Pica also may surface in children who've had a brain injury affecting their development.

Source

I find it hard to believe all the DE's ( Dirt Eaters) in this thread claim never to get sick. Yet every DE I know Is suddenly coming up with " I am going "Gluten free". Why? Because they've noticed they are on the toilet all day long.
Gee I wander why???

Hmmm, they ponder.... must be what's in my diet and after thinking about all they ate , they forget the frigging dirt

Here's a tip: wash more, and you will # less

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

The 5-second rule is just a myth for it doesn't take 5 seconds for dirt, toxic and bacteria to stick onto the food.
It probably works for food dropping onto an ant nest where the initial 5 seconds is shell shock for the ants before they come to their senses.

I've got what I think are reasonable standards of hygiene with regard to hand washing, not eating food that's fallen on the floor and avoiding touching 'mucky stuff'.

But, put a big (or small) slobbery (or otherwise) furry creature in front of me and all thoughts of hygiene go out the window.

It goes something like this:

'Oh, aren't you cute' - offers nice clean hands for a sniff and a lick.

'You want your belly rubbed?' - gets down in dirt to rub fat little tummy.

'You like your ears tickled?' - scritches behind (probably) filthy, furry little ear 'oles.

'Gimme a kiss' - allows pristine face to be licked and snuffled all over. A wet, snotty nose in the mouth earns brownie points.

Eventually goes home and has something to eat. Halfway through eating remembers encounter with furry creature. 'Oh crap. I don't think I washed my hands. Ah well, too late now. Anyway it was only little so-and-so, I don't expect s/he was too germy...'

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I do agree that some form of cleanliness should occur, however this modern obsession with keeping remarkably clean is over the top. Anyone that has ever kept insanely clean gets ill very badly, anyone like myself that tends to balance being clean with, ah nevermind this time. Find myself skipping by colds and other problems ive faced.

Heres a video for you and others.

My grocery store gives a free cookie to kids and the other day my 3 year old dropped his on the floor. I frustratedly sighed, looked around for witnesses, and told him to pick it up, fast. And as I fully expected, he continued eating it. I know that the tantrum that would have ensued had I made him throw it in the trash was not worth it. Survival.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

LOL Oh NO the germs are going to get us! Everyone RUN AND HIDE!

Washing hands annoys me, in work (I am a nurse)!i do it all the time for obvious reasons.

However at home not so much fair enough if ur hands have came into visible contact with body fluids or raw meat but otherwise no.....

a reply to: Quantum12

When the baby comes, I will have a box of masks for visitors to put on, and sanitizer to slather themselves in. I'm super paranoid about germs and babies. I know we need to build up immunity, but I don't want anyone breathing on my newborn!

a reply to: Kandinsky

Lol, I work in some bad building sites sometimes, maybe the only water supply is a scabby hose pipe outside, I'll just wipe the end with my hands and fill my drinking bottle with it.

I recently ate a cake using a roofing slate as a plate and a flat steel wall tie as a knife/spoon.
I can't remember the last time I was sick but each to their own I guess.

Must suck to be so obsessive and distressed about such things.

a reply to: grainofsand

I'd eat cake off a slate too with nothing more than a brush of the sleeve. Same with sandwiches and sooty hands from roof spaces.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Haha same here!
I'd love to post a pic of some of our site coffee mugs but I'll be kind to the OP lol.
We also happily share water bottles if its thirsty work ohmygosh can you imagine the danger!!!!

a reply to: violet

OCD is a neurosis. Totally treatable, and in many cases transient.

"Mentally Ill" is more about personality disorders - psychopathology. Untreatable neuro-anomalic behavior patterns and very real brain malfunction like schizophrenia, delusional thinking, borderline, antisocial, intermiitent explosive disorder, etc. are "mental illness." There's a diff.

"Frolicking" in dirt is actually very healthy - soil has ionic properties (proven!) that help neutralized free radicals in your body. Putting your hands and feet on or in soil helps your immune system. This is well known.
Japan has for years been so obsessed with cleanliness that their immune systems have become compromised...they are "too" clean. If you are never exposed to pathogens, you never develop immunity.

Anyway - if you're one of those types who would never walk across a lawn or touch a flower or pick up a stone to admire, then you are missing out on this glorious planet's offerings in a big way. Bigly.

a reply to: grainofsand

Yeah, I think some of us get away with it and others stagger from one medical crisis to another. Count our blessings because being the guy who's always off on sick doesn't bear thinking about.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Hardly any of my mates are ever sick, but we're all self employed so the no money thing makes a difference.

When I was in the Civil Service the sick rates were shocking, I always wondered if that was due to sharing germs in air-con offices...or the full sick pay for up to 6 months lol

a reply to: violet

I haven't been sick in decades. I've worked in giant hotels (in the housekeeping department and also front desk!) being exposed to other people's germs to the tune of tens of thousands of guests. I've been a server and buffet attendant, have bused tables and worked as a dishwasher operator at the student union for a while in college (hey, I just needed a quick job - a Nigerian prince also worked there!)!. I've been around babies all my life, too - hundreds of them. Worked in a health care clinic - sick people coming in every day.

There is a rational level at which one should absolutely wash hands - having come in contact with human waste or effluvium or blood or pus or what have you it would be highly recommended to wash one's hands - sanitize them even, before touching hands or eyes or mouth or open wounds.

Bandaids in the pool are also extremely gross.....LOL!! Check out Sebastian Maniscalco for some really hilarious observations of human weirdness.

but plain old garden soil or dust is not going to hurt you. I often garden without gloves...dirt gets under my fingernails - sometimes remains there...I'd still wipe my hands on my jeans to brush off the stuck stuff, but worrying about what I can't see (and only imagining the things that might lurk there!)....not on my to-do list.

My OCD used to be about poison ivy. Now I am able to deal with it. OCD is treatable.
But if you don't think you are suffering, that's fine! If you're driving others to distraction with your nitpicking cleanliness, then it becomes a nuisance behavior.

Plus, that antibacterial soap stuff? Bad for your skin.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I will eat with my bare hands while I'm fishing, after handling worms a nasty cut-bait and live fish.

I'm relatively never sick, save for maybe a bad cold every couple of years. I have a very effective immune system, and I'm fully convinced that it's from always putting things in my mouth as a child--I would chew on everything.

I do, however, understand that not everyone has such a good immune system, so when I'm out eating in public and using the restrooms and whatnot, I will definitely wash my hands for the sake of other people.

Stay away from too much hand sanitizer, though--you body needs the introduction of germs and things to keep the immune system up to par. If you sanitize your hands too often, it actually can sabotage your system.

Doctor's are the worst. Ever since they installed those alcohol machines on walls it's common practice to see docs use those instead of soap and water. Unfortunately they must have slept through the biology class on viruses because it's well known that alcohol hand cleaners are not all that effective on most viruses. I can't tell you the number of times I had to ask the doctor to please wash his hands whenever he entered my mother's hospital room where she was receiving treatment for her cancer. Crazy.

originally posted by: BLee8127
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

LOL Oh NO the germs are going to get us! Everyone RUN AND HIDE!

And then there was the superbug...

www.washingtonpost.com...

Working in the drug field, this has everyone thinking more about antibiotic resistant bugs and the lack of drugs in the pipeline to defeat them.