This pet hate stems largely from my time in the National Health Service. I cannot stand my own hands to be dirty, I hate dirty nails and most of all I hate it when you go to a public toilet and you can hear the people going to the loo, flushing then walking out without washing their hands.
Now I have nothing against getting dirty hands in an attempt to boost ones immunity, for example, children playing in the garden making mud pies and eating worms. But not washing your hands after toileting is disgusting. I’ve done the old experiment where you wash your hands then have them sprayed with a luminescent solution that highlights bacteria under a UV light. I also understand that commensal bacteria are important to the health of the skin and the body in general, note the use of probiotic yoghurts and drinks to improve digestion. But to risk passing on the commensal bacteria from the genitals after toileting to the mouth, as often people visit the loo before eating, is just opening yourself and others up to disease. Not washing your hands after toileting and using the handle on the door to let yourself out is risking transferring your commensal bacteria to an elderly person or child or even a normally healthy adult who just happens to touch the handle after you.
Toileting and not washing your hands when you are a professional working in the hospital or other medical environment should be considered as gross misconduct, possibly even criminal conduct. People in hospital are usually already ill, they don’t need cross contamination and a staphylococcal enteritis or yeast infection from a lazy member of staff to add to their troubles. I’ve seen it happen, staff toilets I went in one day and a health care assistant in the department was just finishing in the toilet, I could hear her urinating and texting. There was no one else in the toilets just her and me when I walked in and until I walked out it was just us two. She didn’t see me but I had seen her as I had gone in after her from the main corridor in the department. She flushed and unlocked the cubicle door, completely bypassed four hand wash basins and two hand towel dispensers and two air hand dryers and left the toilets. It’s the reason I open doors with my hand covered in a sleeve or a tissue. Keep your bacteria to yourself and I will look after mine, thank you.
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