I am amazed at how folks still -- here in 2002 -- do not understand the concept of cross-contamination. It simply amazes me. If a guy/gal sloppily wipes his/her ass, then touches the faucet to turn on the water to wash his hands, he has basically put fecal matter on the faucet handle. Now, not everyone is this sloppy. But it happens. And you can't see bacteria, so you can't avoid a dirty faucet. People will sit there and wash their hands, then turn the faucet off, touching the same faucet with the fecal matter on it. Then they proceed to lunch. They should have just had someone wipe their ass across their sandwich.
My theory is always have a layer of paper between your hands and anything in the bathroom, post-soap. And always prep the paper towels before you even turn on the faucet so you don't have to touch the fecal infested paper towel crank. Always fear the worst. Always think that everything has shit, vomit, and snot on it. Always. Everything. Every door, every lever, every knob, every soap dispenser, every sink counter.
I have lived by this and have had no stomach illnesses (aside from a nasty bout of food poisoning in London) in nearly ten years plus. And you can call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be anal about cleanliness than to puke and shit my brains out for a week because I ingested someone's ass bacteria.
I have also become so accustomed to using my foot to flush, that I was at a friend's house and I flushed with my foot, right in front of him. He was so insulted, and laid into me so hard. I had to convince him that it wasn't that I thought he and his family were filthy, that it was just habit. He tried to use that philosophy of "well, it's people like you who use your feet to flush that make the handles dirty!". Whenever someone uses that on me, I just have to laugh. If someone has already shit in the punch bowl, using the ladel won't make it any cleaner.
Now another thing that drives me nuts -- food preparation. People just don't understand cross contamination, no matter how you slice it. I've seen scientists and biologists and doctors cross contaminate like hell when they cook (which scares me to think what they do in their jobs).
People just have no problem using some tongs, forks, etc. to put raw beef, poultry, etc. on the grill. Then they use the same fucking fork/tongs to put the food on your goddamn plate. Why not just drink a gallon of salmonella and get it over with? It's less trouble.
And the worst...using the same cutting board for bird and veggies! Fuck!
This reminds me of the other thing which boggles my mind about supposedly well-educated people:
I have been to visit offices of other companies in my day. Many of these companies are small enough to have little normal one-seater bathrooms for their employees, and sometimes for patrons as well. You go and use the bathroom, and you will see, right there sitting on the back of the toilet: mugs, cups, jars with toothbrushes, etc.
Now, I understand that that's where these people wash their mugs and where they brush their teeth. But have they never heard about the aerosol that emits from toilet bowls when flushed? All these tiny little particles that rise up in the air and then fall to rest right on your mug, your toothbrush, and your water cup? Apparently, you can learn a lot in Ivy League schools, but not much about biology and the physics of plumbing.
And this doesn't even begin to touch the fact that if someone dropped someone else's toothbrush in the toilet might actually pull it out and put it back as opposed to telling them about it. Or what if guests in the office (like me) took those toothbrushes and...well, you get the picture.
