It could be anyone. The lady in Walmart. The well-dressed, well-coiffed older woman in Macy's. The acclaimed professor and textbook author at a prestigious conference...what do they have in common? It could be their hometown, the color of their eyes, their college GPA...or it could be their hygiene. The aforementioned women are just a few examples of women I have observed who did not wash their hands after using a public restroom. Now, maybe they use the "drip dry" method, or maybe their bodily fluids are just better than yours or mine, but a little soap and water never hurt anyone. After all, they have to touch the handles to the doors of the rest room stalls in order to get out.
The latest observation was a relatively decent-looking lady in the Walmart rest room. She exited her stall and didn't even look at the sink as she charged for the door. OK, maybe she had hand sanitizer in her purse, or maybe she was indifferent to the microbes using her digits for transport. In any case, my first instinct was to say "excuse me, but aren't you going to wash your hands?", but I imagined potential curse words flying my way, and I had the kiddo with me. Instead, I turned to the kiddo and thanked her for washing her hands, reminding her how important it is to do so after using the rest room.
So, if you carry hand sanitizer in your purse or pocket, is it important to let other people see you using it if you decide to bypass the sinks in a rest room? I think it is, just to assure people that you are not spreading dangerous (or at least disgusting) pathogens. Or, so that you don't get mentioned in a blog post like this.
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