Survey finds airport restroom users seldom wash

Sun Times ^ | 09/16/03 | JIM RITTER

[_Jim]

The same person who cleaned the toilets restocked the towel dispenser.

And?

THIS is bad HOW?

(Hint: WHAT do you scrub with and WHAT is your intent? To clean! HOPEFULLY this goal will have been reached!)

It also more than a little presumpuous to anticipate that EACH towel is handled during reloading thereby contaminating each one.

This process is also HIGHLY dependent on the towel refill package design/dispenser design.

[_Jim]

It wasn't so fortunate at the Cleveland airport during the blackout. Reportedly there wasn't a single flushable toilet in the whole place

Perhaps a good thing - 'lift' stations (lift stations pump sewage from *low* aras to high areas so's the sewage can flow to the plant) weren't functioning either (nor was the sewage treatment plan). New York at least has an ocean nearby they can 'release' that stuff into!

[OldPossum]

With reference to your statement, Even if you do wash your hands, as soon as you touch the door to leave, your hands are contaminated all over again, I do what Sloth does (post #67), i.e., go through all kinds of distortions to open that door to get out without touching the knob. I've seen too many instances of "Poppy" in a Jerry Steinfeld episode.

[OldPossum]

Oops, I didn't note that Sloth doesn't use the faucets. I do, with the use of paper towels (often I bring in my own since a lot of restrooms don't provide them). I then use these to open to door or, if I run out, I use my coat or shirt sleeves to open the door.

[OldPossum]

Damn, I keep missing things. Sloth does use the faucets when he deems them possible to use in a clean manner. Often, though, most faucets have to be touched. Using paper towels does the job for me.

[gcruse]

remember the last time you rubbed your eye and about five to ten minutes later it was seeping and maybe stinging - GERMS baby

Well, no. Germs don't burn your eyes, neither do they make them water, certainly not in a timespan of minutes. What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration you have transferred from around your eyes and from your hands into your eyes.

[Guna]

Well, I haven't tried that female sitting device either.

If the facility is particularly horrific, I try to "hover" very close to the lid to avoid actual contact - yet not cause any unseemly splashing effect. It is not easy being a female! This is why it takes us longer to get done.

[VRWC_minion]

Arriving HOURs before a flight (handling touching what: dozens of surfaces, luggage, steering wheel, public door nadles ) ... hours ON the flight (handling, again DOZENS of artilces ALREADY touched by Lord knows who) ... an hour, perhaps to DRIVE to destination (handling the rental car's steering wheel) -

The fewer places I touch in public the less chance I have of getting a staff infection. Airport bathrooms are about the worst places.

[_Jim]

The fewer places I touch in public the less chance I have of getting

Hmmm ... I wonder what's on your folding money - you *do* launder that stuff don't you *since* you don't know where it's been?

[_Jim]

What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration

... yet another good reason to 'wash your hands' at regular intervals ... (and ONE wonders what provides the living environment for 'germs' on one's hands. Now we also have a better idea of that.)

[_Jim]

What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration

I don't think this ENTIRELY accounts for that either. I'VE GOTTEN sweat in my own eye before and the effect is *not* quite the same as the delayed effects (et al) from 'rubbing one's eyes' ...

[VRWC_minion]

The idea is to limit your exposure as much as possible. Not using the sink of a heavily used rest room is one way to reduce exposure. Handrails and other public places people frequently touch is another.

I agree, its not possible to eliminate all risks but it doesn't make sense to accept risks one can easily avoid.

[N. Theknow]

If the facility is particularly horrific, I try to "hover" very close to the lid to avoid actual contact - yet not cause any unseemly splashing effect. It is not easy being a female! This is why it takes us longer to get done.

Longer to get done?

All the seats should've been down, what took so long?

[Junior]

Probably French tourists...

[11th Earl of Mar]

I've seen too many instances of "Poppy" in a Jerry Steinfeld episode.

No kidding! LOL

Seeing that should cure anybody of not washing hands or of touching the doorknob on the way out!

[wakmah]

There is a thing here www.wakmah.co.uk

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I recently learned something from a plumber out here in the SoCal desert.....it's a cultural sort of thing that Latinos often use the paper, but don't flush it - it's either tossed on the floor of a public bathroom, or in a home, there's a box for it...but it's NOT flushed. Maybe back home, it saved digging another pit or something.

Wifey noticed that the stall at Hometown Buffet has a sign inside the door requesting "deposit soiled toilet paper in the commode".

Ah, multiculturalism...