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Archive through March 27, 2008

The TVClubHouse: Big Brother IX- 2008 ARCHIVES: Big Brother 9 - Part 6: To Wash or Not to Wash: That is the Obsession: Archive through March 27, 2008 users admin

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Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 2:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Every year, since something like BB3 and Jerry, BB fans have been OBSESSED with the post-WC handwashing habits of every houseguest. Every post I see on most sites, where a HG has been "recorded" as going to the bathroom, has also had their handwashing (or lack thereof) put on the record.

My question is, why do we care so much, when NOT washing is a more common occurrence in our daily lives, and people have survived for thousands of years without washing after bathroom use? Most "naturalistic observation" studies in public bathrooms record that more people DON'T wash their hands after bathroom use. Soooo.....why the overly specific outrage at THESE people not doing it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating lack of hygiene, or defending the non-washer. I'm just wondering why every year, people get their britches all in a knot after 16 random people are caught once in a while, not washing their hands? Shouldn't we be more worried about the people and the environments that we are in direct contact with, rather than these 16 people?

To be honest, there are times where I am in a rush, and don't do it, or the bathroom towels are in the washer or dryer, and I can't do it. And I'm still alive! So is my boyfriend, who I've TOUCHED with my unwashed hands!

It's funny about the bathroom handwashing, because people don't realize the OTHER gross unhygienic things they do every day, like touching their mouth or face after touching money, EATING after touching money, touching public railings on stairs after those other 75% non-handwashers have touched them, or even leaving a public bathroom and touching the door handle after all those potential non-washers have touched it! Horrors!

I just don't understand why every year, BB fans choose to demonize people, and label them as disgusting and horrible, for a non-washing practice that is actually more common than people who DO wash. And these poor houseguests get turned into these "gross" people, when really they are just like you and me.

Sure, there will be the 15 people here that will INSIST on going on the record in response to my post that THEY ALWAYS WASH, but really, I bet someone in their family, or friendship circle, or co-workers aren't as "clean" and I just don't think it's right, or fair to criminalize the HGs, for something our friends and family are guilty of as well.

So why the obsession? What social function is it serving, to constantly document the handwashing habits of these 16 people, yet never care about the people in our direct social circles?

Kminfinity
Member

06-29-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 3:07 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kminfinity a private message Print Post    
Not sure why the obsession. Maybe it's an "easy" point-of-entry to "document" the players' bad habits, giving the viewer the feeling of moral superiority?

Your note that the majority DON'T wash after using the restroom is even more apropos when it's noted that those who DO wash up do so ineffectively, and therefore uselessly. Unless you use HOT water, and LOTS of soap, and wash thoroughly - between fingers, under nails, etc. for a full 45 seconds, you didn't really do any damage to germs and bacteria. How many wash up as completely as that? Most times, those who do wash up seem to rinse for a few seconds, then dry....more of a symbolic ritual than a real cleaning.

Seattlemom
Member

05-10-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 3:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seattlemom a private message Print Post    
LOL LOL Eeyoreslament Thats why I WILL NOT comment as I'm sure I wouldn't want cameras in my house LOL. And I carry one of those waterless hand sanitizer's so I'm sure to other people it looks like all I'm doing is maybe rubbing my hands.Heck I figure there is more germs about everything we come in contact with. And unless we want to be a germ a phobic like Howi Mandell LOL. We will encounter germs

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 3:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
My friend and I had this debate up at university a while back.

It started with my lamenting that our dryers in the women's bathrooms really suck and take about 3 minutes to dry your hands. My friend said that the men's are really fast and hot, and he theorized that perhaps because so few MEN use them, they are still effective and not broken down. I said that I witness MANY women while I'm drying just leave the stall and walk out (some stop to check their appearance in the mirror). To this, my friend replied that most men don't, and then we debated that MEN should more than women, because men actually have to TOUCH their "bits" whereas women can make a big huge toilet paper shield, so essentially, women never really touch anything offensive.

In any case, I find public bathrooms more offensive, and I am always hand-sanitizing out in public, but I think hand-washing (the way Kminfinity describes it) is almost never done, either in public or at home.

And don't even get me STARTED on how little hand-washing is actually done in a restaurant, especially when busy. I've been in restaurants for 15 years, and I don't think I am an exception when I say that I will go from scraping plates in the dish area, to slicing bread for another table, never once washing my hands. Seriously, I rarely have time on my shift to do more than rinse off any huge offensively wet chucks, that bother me more by their wetness or stickiness, than the hygiene level.

But yes, I think the hand-washing observations during this decade of BBs have served more to make people falsely feel good about themselves, than anything else. If people TRULY cared about handwashing, they'd be speaking out in more relevant forums like public bathrooms, or when they don't hear their hubby run water after the toilet flushes, than cowardly calling names in an anonymous online forum. LOL

Seattlemom
Member

05-10-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 3:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seattlemom a private message Print Post    
LOL I hear ya Eeyoreslament on the restaurant work. I was a waitress almost all my life so while some people may be horrified by what you said I just read it Nodded and smiled and said there is an Honest person LOL

Dogrivergirl
Member

06-24-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 4:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dogrivergirl a private message Print Post    
I agree with you Eeyore, at home I am no where near as much of a hand washer. I figure my husband and kids have had exposure to every germ I have...lol! I work in a high school cafeteria, and there I am a differen't person. I wash my hands so much and deal with bleach water to sanitize the work surfaces all the time that my hands stay chapped. My boss is a real stickler for it!

Tresbien
Member

08-27-2002

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 4:24 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tresbien a private message Print Post    
I doubt I'd have taken note of what the HGs do or don't do if they hadn't raised the issue themselves. Then it just became habit to watch their habits.

Tanzanite
Member

06-28-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 4:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tanzanite a private message Print Post    
Eeyore, I barely made it through your post before getting so nauseous that I ran to the bathroom to violently throw up. Oh the idea of it is so filthy to me. You caused me to think of so many more instances of germ contamination... Can you tell that I am an OCD germophobe? Oh I am presently crying to God to help me get past this.

I was just shy of buying a box of those hospital type gloves - latex, is it? For all of my future contact with the public or with money or stair rails, I will be wearing disposable gloves. So glad that I cook at home most of the time.

My closest friend is just like me, or worse... She keeps one sink in her home filled with soapy bleach filled water. She practically had a fit when I told her that the active component of bleach wears away. Now, she refreshes her sink of soapy bleach water throughout the day.

Gosh I feel so sick just thinking about this. I have been known to lose it in public restrooms when I've seen a lady come out of the stall and head straight for the door. I have to repent for some of the words I've used and questuons I've left ringing in the ears of those women about their filthy habit...

I won't even tell about the tedious process that I must employ to use a public restroom. Getting in and out of the door with clean hands is quite hilarious.

I'm one of those people that they invented portable/disposable wipes and purell or germ-X or any kind of hand sanitizer for.

I have to say that it has paid off for I very rarely suffer from any of the germ-based or viral illnesses that go around. I hadn't had a cold in well over 10 years until this year, only a few weeks ago. I was so thrown off by that occurrence because I had forgotten what it felt like to catch a cold. So there truely is a virtue in hand-washing. Gosh, even public service announcements are encouraging people to wash their hands as often as possible. Seems like after using the bathroom would be one of the easiest times to comply with that request. Dang, when bird-flu becomes a full blown epidemic in America, so many are going to be dropping like flies just from being hand-washing challenged.

ROFL Oh, help my mind...

Gotta go get another image in my mind now. That'll teach me for indiscrimanently clicking on links and reading anything online. LOL

Just realized that that cold must have come from me being around one of those filthy non-hand washing friends or family members. What crude!

Obsessed, yep that's me!

Skydiver6
Member

07-21-2006

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 4:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Skydiver6 a private message Print Post    
While I do always wash my hands when I'm out and I am a fanatic about handling food especially raw meat I don't fret over much else. My dad always said you needed some germs to build up your immunity. My best friend growing up and her family were obsessed with cleanliness and washed their hands a 100 times a day and she was often sick and still is. I have hardly ever been sick. I rarely get colds or the flu. I'm not even sure what the flu actually is. I've gotten strep throat a few times but otherwise I'm very healthy - never miss a day of work. And with a candy dropped on the floor or something - I live by the 5 second rule! :o)

Hpythought
Member

08-11-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 7:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hpythought a private message Print Post    
They have proven that one of the reasons we are developing so many strains of resistant bacteria is that there are too many antibacterial products out there. Hot water and regular soap will do the trick if used properly. We do need some contact with bacteria or we will not develop antibodies and we will be sick all the time from coming into contact with people who carry those bacteria which are normally harmless. Living with a chronically ill, immunosuppressed person I suppose we have better handwashing records than most, but we're not even perfect.

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 8:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
To me public restrooms are just so nasty I would rather use other measures to make sure I don't have to wash my hands than to touch those faucets, paper towel dispensers or blow dryers. I try very hard to touch nothing but myself when in a public restroom. I always feel that my hands are dirtier after washing up in a public bathroom. I was told by a Dr. once that urine is sterile unless you have an infection.

I am obsessive when it comes to food handling and prep.

Oh and Tanz, if you do decide to get gloves to wear, don't get the natural rubber latex ones.
Get the synthetic one. Read up on latex allergies. You don't want it.

Amylou
Member

09-20-2007

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 8:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Amylou a private message Print Post    
I hear ya Tanz... I'm very germophobic. I always, always wash my hands. I probably wash my hands more than anyone I know- I'm a freak, and I don't really care.

So what's the problem with people not washing their hands? Improper hygiene is the leading cause of foodborne illness, and one of the leading causes of other illnesses such as the flu. I realize that a little more than half of people (something like 56%) do not wash their hands, but I can't go on saying that it's not a problem.

I honestly don't watch the houseguests hand washing patterns. I guess I don't really care. But, there definitely is something nasty about people not washing their hands.

I realize I sound kind of crazy... especially because I have actual statistics. I'm an FCS teacher, though. I can't help it!

Lucymatucy
Member

02-28-2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 9:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lucymatucy a private message Print Post    
<76>

Sorry, the first thing every Doctor says about not getting the flu and other bugs going around and spreading them to others is to stay hydrated and WASH YOUR HANDS!!!

Sunshyne4u
Member

06-17-2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 11:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sunshyne4u a private message Print Post    
latex, is it? For all of my future contact with the public or with money or stair rails, I will be wearing disposable gloves


There are many of us with latex allergies. Please wear Nitrile.

I myself wear ordinary 99 cent gloves (like those cheap ones for winter) whenever I go out. I will take them off for Picking out fruit or vegs and back on they go. It also stops you from rubbing your face or scratching nose LOL

I do not have OCD. I worked for YEARS in hospital and wearing gloves is second nature to me. I like not having my skin exposed to ICKY contacts when I go out....like the handle on the Shopping cart or the door handles.
I get a cold once every ten years!

ON TOPIC STATEMENT TO FOLLOW LOL

I get grossed out in the BB house because of the fact they are strangers. You dont know their history or what diseases they are positive for.

family and friend washrooms dont bug me but Public? Yuck!! Did you know that the toilets in Public washrooms are Cleaner than the Sink Taps??

I do NOT wash my hands in public washrooms. I take my gloves off to do my business and put them back on before touching the stall door handle.

There is no need to wash......since I'm wearing gloves

Sunshyne4u
Member

06-17-2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 11:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sunshyne4u a private message Print Post    
Unless you use HOT water, and LOTS of soap, and wash thoroughly - between fingers, under nails, etc. for a full 45 seconds, you didn't really do any damage to germs and bacteria

I dont believe that is true. What you are describing is a major wash used before surgery LOL

Bacteria and viruses do wash off, but you will get more off if you do that long drawn out wash.

However, our whole bodies are colonied with Thousands if not millions of bacteria /viruses. Replenishing our bacteria is an important fact of life. If a child is kept too clean they will often develop Immune problems.

A person is unlikely to catch anything toxic from a touch contact.

most diseases are selflimiting and good for our immunity LOL

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 11:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
I still think it is more about washing your hands WHEN there is a reason. I have never had the flu. My kids have had perfect attendance or less than 3 absences for the entire school year (except the year my son learned to kiss and had Mono).

When I have been around young children I wash and wash. When I handle raw meats and foods that can transmit illness I wash and wash. My son has anaphylatic reations to a food (think Allison), believe me the cleaning is nothing that many of you have experienced to keep him alive.

Still to me the bigger threat in a public bathroom is washing your hands. Just don't touch anything with bare hands (carry kleenex). As long as you are well and not carrying anything, it's a heck of a lot safer.

Let's say you wash for the 45 seconds after you 'might' get hot water in a public restroom and then you touch the towel dispenser or blow drier after someone who only rinsed......Boom you have the germs you are trying to avoid.

I am comforatable washing and drying in bathrooms where the the water and drying is motion sensitive, but not all places have these things.

I still do not touch anything in a public restroom. It is the touching of things, not the lack of washing that makes the difference.

So go wash your hands (your germs), touch the spigot, the towel dispenser and grab the door handle to get you back out and feel good that you washed 'your' hands.

Tanzanite
Member

06-28-2005

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 12:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tanzanite a private message Print Post    
My friend recently had a fit when she saw me place my purse on the floor in my own home because as she said she'd heard a report of purses being swabbed and tested only to find that some of them had the flesh eating bacteria on the fabric of the purse.

I had to assure her that I merely set my bag down momentarily in order to get my groceries inside and that I only buy purses that can take a bruising from my cleaning methods.

Question: Has anyone else heard of this study?

Closer to OT - In an enclosed environment with limited contact to others, like in the BB house I suppose viruses like flu, cold, etc. would be at a minimum. However, my reasons for loosing it in the BB house would be due to the possibility of transmission of other germs from houseguests not washing their hands.

Oh, I would be a case on that show.

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 12:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
I spent so much time editing my post above that I was timed out. I type so slow.

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 12:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
Tanz, my overtimed edit also went closer to the BB subject.

Yes, I have heard of the bacteria on the bottom of purses. I don't set my purse on the floor of a public bathroom or area either. My home? Well yea, I do that. If a flesh eating bateria is in your home you probably know about it.

What I wanted to say about the BB house was that the HG's were screened before they came in. I don't believe that even AG would randomly subject HG's to STD's without warning. In the first few weeks any viruses would be apparant. Later on viruses would be brought in by staff. Didn't we see that last year?

So if you are sick stay home and it won't spread, but many people will not or cannot do this. I remember years ago a virus sweeping through my office over and over because the person that had it last wouldn't stay home. I think I had it 3 times. Didn't matter what I did in the bathroom, I still had to touch the paperwork they created.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 1:08 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
#1 - yes I would think all the BB people are screened for communicable diseases, and if the producers are pressing SEX as much as I think they are, I'm sure they've got all the applicants tested for any STDs.

#2 - I have heard of the purse study. TANZANITE - do not read what's coming next!!

There is also this guy called "Dr. Germ" who has done a ton of scientific testing, and did you know that a public computer workstation is HUNDREDS of times more infected than the toilet seat in a public bathroom? Actually, there is this one big study that I read that swabbed all of the public bathroom surfaces, like the toilet seat, the sink handles, the toilet floor, the toilet BOWL, the hand dryer, etc. Every single one of those places is CONSISTENTLY cleaner than our own keyboards and computer mice.

I work as a computer technician, and I put up the study for people to read while they were in our university computer labs. What really grosses me out is that about 50-100 people use each computer on a daily basis. If only HALK of those users cough, touch their face, or don't wash their hands post-bathroom, then that bacteria is now on the mouse and keyboard. THEN you have all these IDIOTS who eat their lunches at the computers. Yeah, go touch your granola bar with your bare hands, then keep typing. Blegh! And we as technicians don't clean those keyboards. Too much work. 3 times a year (semester break) we clean the labs. We turn the keyboard upside down, and bang it against the wall. So many crumbs come out. Blegh!!!


# 4 - I was just over at Jokers, and someone just now posted that Adam just used the WC, and didn't wash his hands. Seriously, what is their point? That he is just like everyone else?





TANZANITE - I wear the same little 99 cent gloves that Sunshyne wears. I take the bus, so I try to always wear them when touching other surfaces.


Anyways, I just think it's such a silly comment that BB live feeders at ALL sites do, and it really just seems hypocritical to me.

Christy358
Member

07-10-2007

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 1:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Christy358 a private message Print Post    
Ok, washing your hands regularly helps stop you from getting ill.

When you have just visited a room with running water is a good time to do that.

But being worried about the button to push to turn on the water, or the paper towel dispenser is kind of silly.

ANYTHING you touch has germs. Not because other people do not wash after the restroom, but because they do not wash after eating, touching face, picking up dog.....or just walking in the city..... We have germs on hands. Then we touch food or such and pass from hands to inside.

the reason to wash hands after using restroom is just to have regular hand washing....not because anything in the restroom is ANY more germy than the other things we touch everyday.

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 1:26 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
So what do you suggest Eeyore? Lysol for everone before they touch anything, inside thier homes and outside?

I am personally more grossed out by Adam's nose picking than anyones hand washing after using the bathroom.

Christy358
Member

07-10-2007

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 1:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Christy358 a private message Print Post    
yes, you wash your hands after using restroom not because your hands are "gross" because you just used restroom, but because you need to do so regularly because the handrail you just touched to go down a step was touched by someone who just picked their nose.

Mummy35332
Member

09-09-2005

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 1:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mummy35332 a private message Print Post    
Yes, Christy anything we touch can have germs. It is a matter of which things are more likely to make us ill. Running water does not cure all.

It is also a matter of how we wash our hands. The 3 to 5 seconds of water many public restrooms give us isn't enough to make a diffence. Tap, enough water to get our hands wet, soap dispenser, tap, water to rinse, tap again because we still have soap on our hands. Your hands are not clean! Then you and everyone else go and press to get paper towels or air dry.

No one gets clean hands in a public restroom unless they clean the soap spigot, the water spigot and the towel dispensor or air drier. Oh and don't forget the door out of the restroom.

Our best bet is to touch as little as possible and come home and wash very thoroughly and change our clothes.

Let us not even think of the things we have purchased that have been handled by others.

Just speaking as someone that has has very few viruses for 20 years and a parent that when thier kids aren't at school it's a huge discussiON.

Shadoe
Member

11-04-2004

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 2:45 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Shadoe a private message Print Post    
Because of the SARS issue years ago here in Toronto, I have noticed many changes and safeguards were put in place.
We had quite a bit of posted instructions at work, and also in many restroom facilities. There were extra trash containers placed both inside and outside of restroom doors so that those who used paper towels when touching surfaces and handles could dispose of the towels.

I certainly don't do major scrubs of my hands, but I am selective when it comes to what facilities I am willing to use. there are some that I refuse to use, and the others, I wipe off all surfaces I touch before I touch them.

I do carry some dry hand wash gel and towels with me at all times because many places are pretty lacking.

I sure don't hum happy birthday in my head two times to time the length of hand washing as was mentioned back in the SARS days.