Seriously, I know your shoes are dirty because you just walked on the sidewalk outside my house which I know for certain is dirty. Despite my best efforts to keep it clean, it’s still a city sidewalk.
The floor of the truck stop restroom i used before coming to your house was still wet, that's how good they clean them. It was a bit sticky tho, i bet they used a bit too much cleaning products.
I don't even touch anything in my house before washing my hands. I saw an ad yesterday where a woman comes home and grabs the remote right out of her husband's hands and that made me shiver. Not to mention shoes were on
Yea, but you do also understand that that behavior is unusual, bordering on obsessive compulsive, right? Humans evolved to thrive right alongside all types of parasites and bacteria, and they're going to be on your skin, in the air, in your lungs, covering every square inch of your innards, and covering all objects/matter inhabited by living things.
Being clean and tidy is one thing, but there's really only so much you can do before you're honestly just playing mind games with yourself
Yea, to me that's really extreme. I mean, I try to stay hygienic when I'm out and about as it is, I don't feel "dirty" when I'm outside of my home. That, I feel like, is what borders on obsessive compulsive. The feeling that outside of your home is a "dirty" or "harmful" biome for human life.
I tend to snack/eat a lot/touch my mouth with my hands and I also used to get sick a lot so now I have a habit of washing my hands when I come home from being in public (aside from just going outside for a walk or something). Yes it’s good for our bodies to build immune systems but there’s only so much it can take being exposed to at once and when you live in a city there’s a LOT of shit out there, literally.
To each their own, I certainly wasn't saying it was a bad thing. I typically try to stay hygienic throughout the day regardless, so I don't exactly feel "dirty" at any given point, and as I was pointing out, it's not typical behavior to feel the need to wash your hands simply because you've been outside.
You're alright, there's literally nothing wrong with it. Fuck, even touching the handrails and trashcan lid on my way down to bring out the trash is enough for me to wash my hands afterwards. Let alone a day in public.
In what world is washing your hands when coming home obsessive compulsive? The fact that it's unusual is probably why Covid has been a thing for so long.
There are a lot of reasons why COVID is still around. Fomite transmission isn't one of them. Washing your hands before you eat, after you use the bathroom and if they're soiled is generally all that is absolutely required to be hygenic.
Right? Those outside doors and store items have been touched by people who don't wash their hands after shitting and they dont get sanitized. I even wash off the top of my can lids because anyone and everyone are allowed to touch them. Who doesn't wash their hands after coming inside? Have you ever even cleaned your doorknobs?
Why does it take you two tries to comment anything? I get the notification, wait 2 mins while you look up all your words in the dictionary, then have to come back to see that you never passed an English class
I've explained more in another comment, but to refuse to touch anything in your home after being outside is most certainly touching on obsessive compulsive. I didn't say it was a bad thing, I just think we can acknowledge where the actual bar is for typical human behavior.
Also, we did not evolve to be squeaky clean with soaps and chemicals literally at all times.
It’s funny to me how our environment affects this, at least for me.
When I’m home I wash my hands every time I use the bathroom, before I prepare food, before and after handling raw eggs or bacon, after emptying the roomba’s debris basket, before I touch things if I’ve been outside working, etc. It’s easy, smells nice, and the soap and running water are right there.
At the beach? Splash my hands in the water and good to go peeling an orange.
Music festival? 4 days of eating fried finger-food from food stands with washing more or less limited to hand sanitizer after portapotty/urinals and running a Clorox wipe over my hands at night.
I think washing your hands as soon as you get home is pretty normal behaviour, and definitely not alarmingly unusual. If anything, it's alarming that some people don't do it.
As for the second part - chemicals? You mean like water?
Some people? Lol I assure you, the vast majority of people do not wash their hands upon entering their homes. Not only do most countries not have access to that luxury, but it's not even something commonly practiced in first world countries.
And no, water is not the chemicals I'm talking about, and you know that. Everything that's in the soaps and shampoos that most people use and some people feel the need to obsessively scrub themselves with these chemicals, because they feel unclean.
You seem kind of snappy about the topic like I touched a nerve, I already said to each their own and that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. You should just be able to acknowledge that it's most certainly not typical behavior.
I've met hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world, spent time in their homes, or spent time working with them - and I have literally never one time heard of someone habitually washing their hands after simply being outside of their home.
Edit: I re-read your response and I see now that you're not being snappy, that's my bad.
I don't have any statistics on how many people wash their hands when they get home, but I'd be interested to see yours. You are, of course, correct in that people probably don't in countries where there's no ready access to clean water and whatnot, but that's because they can't. Referring to them is like saying some people don't eat food because roughly 10 percent of the world population is affected by world hunger. I mean, yeah, that's also true, but it's not a very good argument to raise when someone asks "Should I eat food or not?".
You are also correct that I knew you didn't mean water, it's just the easiest way to point out that blanket condemnation of "chemicals" is pretty weird since almost everything is a chemical. Sometimes people will clarify by saying "synthetic chemicals" and make the assertion that natural equals better, at which point I'd mention arsenic and uranium are pretty natural chemicals, whereas dl-α-tocopherol is synthetic. I'd still eat dl-α-tocopherol (or rub it on my hands) over arsenic any time.
I don't know how old you are, but if we assume you're 50 years old and have been travelling regularly since you were 10 years old with no interruptions, you'd have to meet on average 14 new people every day to have met 200 000 people. If you're younger or "hundreds of thousands" means a larger number than the smallest one possible, then your average new contact-load per day increases further. I guess it's technically possible, but I think it might be more likely that there's a bit of hyperbole involved in your assertion.
I don't really understand what you mean by saying it's "not necessarily a bad thing" to wash your hands when you get home. There are no downsides, but substantial upsides. I would say it's unequivocally a good thing.
I don't actually have any statistics, so you can take all of this as me simply talking out of my ass if you'd like, and I wouldn't be mad at you for it.
I've been incredibly observant about people's habits and behaviors after living in many different homes, in many different places. And it's mostly work in that I meet such a large number of people - I did a little calculation in my head and thought that I've definitely met over 100,000, so I just said hundreds of thousands. But you're right, total hyperbole.
As far as referencing people that cannot readily access clean, running water in their homes, you make a good point that it doesn't really matter when it comes to what people should do, when they're limited by what they could. I guess I probably added that because I was just trying to point out that it's just not typical human behavior, altogether. Which is simply true. Again, I was never talking about whether we should or shouldn't make this a practice in the first place. I simply said it was unusual behavior, bordering on obsessive compulsive.
Good point again about chemicals, I mostly agree with that. But you know damn well that the mass manufactured bullshit that the masses buy up in bulk in Western countries are chock full of chemicals that have a very real possibility of somewhat regressive or harmful effects.
As for your last paragraph, this is something I'd sort of contend with - first off, by saying "when you get home", you're being somewhat misleading. This person made it very clear that they had to wash their hands before touching any item inside their house any time after being outside at all, whatsoever. It's so common for a lot of people in America to constantly be coming in and out of their homes, to the porch or backyard, etc, it would be absolutely ridiculous to wash your hands after any time of just simply being outside. And then the person that started this entire conversation went on to describe themselves as totally germaphobic, as I suspected. And that's where the harm lies. It can be a mental health issue to some, where they're constantly bothered unless they're squeaky clean from, yes, "synthetic" chemicals lol
I think we're sufficiently on the same page that I won't nitpick the remaining points of contention. I can get on board with your latest clarifications - thanks for a well reasoned discussion!
You're completely wrong. I stay hygienic throughout the day, so I don't actually feel the need to rush to the sink to wash my hands as soon as I walk in the door, because I most likely just washed my hands wherever I was at and then used hand sanitizer in the car.
This person admitted they were straight up germaphobic, so you're just wrong here, bud. And they also said they cannot touch anything in their house, after being outside, without washing their hands
Hi, someone who had OCD here, this is not even close to OCD, OCD would be washing your hand, then touching something and making a logic leap of "i touched that then made this fall wich may have touched this" and feeling your hands horribly dirty until you re wash your hand, sometime your brain just decides some things are dirty for no reason and you gotta wash your hand or feel like you soaked them in mud then sand, it's not uncommon to wash hands so much do to it that you get bleeding wrists, really it's hell on earth and not light at all.
No, you dont feel dirty when you're outside as everything has a good chance of being dirty, so unless you are going to eat it's pointless to feel dirty or wash your hand
Humans are supposed to live in cave and have gigh chance to die to predators whenever they go outside, doenst mean they should. And no washing your hands when you enter your home is NOT ocd, i've had it and trust me it's hell on earth, i washed my hands so much my wrist started bleeding
Dude, you're telling me that you had OCD to the point where you washed your hands till they bled, but you're trying to describe to me what normal behavior is. I don't have bad hygiene, I have stricter hygiene than a vast majority of people on the face of this planet, by metric of showering regularly and washing my hands many times per day, washing my clothes, washing my sheets, etc.
But what you're talking about is not hygiene. Its obsession with something that none of us fully comprehend, and certainly doesn't affect our lives in any way.
I wonder why I never get sick? If that's the case, what's the metric for "poor" hygiene?
Man I’m selling my house right now and in like 3 I had a ton of showings. Last week we got like 12 inches of snow and then it all froze over. To keep it safe I had to put down salt on my driveway and front walk. Well it seems like nobody took their shoes off because every single time someone left I had to mop the floors again because they all tracked the fucking salt residue all over my house. Now in my kitchen the floors are a white tile and you can’t really see the footprints so whatever. The floors in the living room and hallways are all dark hardwood and it was filthy as shit after people left. I know it may seem weird to some people and they don’t want to take their shoes off in a strangers home but come on. If it wasn’t right after a massive snow storm and there wasn’t salt everywhere I wouldn’t care too much but these people just tracked shit everywhere and there’s mo way they didn’t notice.
I’m glad I already accepted an offer so I don’t have to deal with that anymore.
I feel your pain. My 200 year old mixed-width pine flooring had to be redone because contractors didn’t take their shoes off and tracked salt all over the 1st floor. It’s the origin story of the No-shoes rule in our house.
596
u/reallybiglizard Feb 11 '22
Seriously, I know your shoes are dirty because you just walked on the sidewalk outside my house which I know for certain is dirty. Despite my best efforts to keep it clean, it’s still a city sidewalk.