You pay for your lunch with a $10 bill and put the change in your pocket. You handle the money and then you sit down to eat your sandwich … but you haven’t washed your hands!
You go into a bank and fill out the deposit/withdrawal slip. You use the pen at the counter because it’s accessible. Then you handle the money and when you’re done, you go back to your car. Now you put your hands on the steering wheel and various other items. You may even put candy or gum in your mouth … but you haven’t washed your hands!
Maybe you use the ATM machine to get money. Your fingers press all those buttons, the money comes out, you count it and put it in your wallet. You go on to the next stop … but you haven’t washed your hands!
You go to the grocery store and as you’re walking in, you take one of the carts that is sitting by the door. You use the handle bar to steer the cart through the store. This shopping experience takes about 20 minutes and all the while you have your hands on the handle and then on the food and then back to the handle. You pay for your groceries, handel the money and coins and then you’re back in your car. Maybe you touch your face as you check in the mirror to see how your makeup looks, or you eat a piece of fruit that you just bought because you’re hungry … but you haven’t washed your hands!
Have you ever thought about who handled the money, the pen, the grocery cart before you? It has been said that money is the dirtiest thing we touch every day! Not to mention the grocery cart! Or the ATM machine.
My problem is I watch too much CSI. I love that show. It has taught me so much about hygiene. For instance, did you know that when you cough or sneeze, your germs take flight and land on some lucky person or desk or machine? Those germs don’t die right away. In many cases, they are picked up and transported by an unsuspecting victim.
I was in a bank last week filling out a deposit ticket. This young girl was also there, standing at the other counter filling out her bank ticket. She was sneezing and wiping her nose with her hand — sort of like a hand/wrist motion across her nose. She was right handed so she used her left hand to clean her nose while she wrote with her right hand. I visualized all the germs that were landing on the counter and the pen and I was glad I wasn’t standing near her. But then I wondered if someone had done the same thing where I was. Luckily I was using my own pen. But I was touching the counter.
We really need to be careful. I don’t want to sound like Monk but you know, he’s not completely crazy. I use those anti-bacterial liquid soaps at home and I keep a small, no-water-necessary tube of hand cleanser in my car. I also try not to eat anything in my car without washing my hands first. Oh dear, I am remembering that today, I shook that woman’s hand, let her use my pen and then ate grapes as I drove home. I was hungry and it was late and I needed something to chew on so I ate those grapes … but I didn’t wash my hands first!
Let me ask you this … do you ever take notice of how many people leave a public restroom without washing their hands? Why is it necessary for the establishment to post signs on the doors instructing their employees to “wash your hands before leaving the restroom”? Do we not have enough common sense to know that our hands are dirty? Everything we touch is dirty!
Monk is right! I may start wearing gloves. Hey, at my small town post office, the clerk always has lightweight blue gloves on. I never thought about it before but she is one smart lady!
Have I made think about your dirty hands? Do you understand my point? If you and I start washing our hands more often, we will be helping society and ourselves stay healthy. It would reduce the number of colds we have and the medicines we have to buy and the visits to the doctor’s office that keep us sitting in a waiting room for two hours because we didn’t have an appointment! WOW!
Wash those dirty hands!
from the desk of Louise
