The hygiene benefit of washing hands under a tap faucet after peeing is a myth. No, I'm not being cute here. Think about it:
- You pee. Droplets of pee fall onto your supporting hand (I mean, why else do you have to wash your hands after peeing?).
- You go to the sink and turn the tap. The droplets of pee are transferred to the tap.
- You scrub your hands with soap till they are so clean, they shine like a baby's bottom. Oh, and I assume that you rinsed your hands before handling the soap dispenser, or else droplets of pee are also transferred to the soap dispenser button.
- You turn off the tap. The droplets of pee are transferred back to your hand (and some are left behind on the tap)
- You open the toilet door. Some droplets of pee are transferred from your hand to the door handle.
- Repeat with the next dozen or so people who use the same toilet.
- Result: You have a potpourri of a dozen people's pee on:
- your hands
- the tap
- the toilet door handle
- the soap dispenser button, if you were a prick and did not rinse your hands before using
And I won't even go into the scenario of taking a dump. Better check them old copper taps; the colour camouflages brown pretty well.
Solutions:
- Sensor-activated faucets and soap dispensers (foolproof, but expensive)
- Continuously running water (wasteful, bad for the environment)
- Push-type faucets, i.e. the ones installed at hotels and departmental stores, where the knobs slowly rise back up after de-pressing and cut off the water (okay, this will work, but is frustrating when you need the water to run for longer; and it still doesn't solve the problem of having a whole potpourri of pee collected on the knobs).
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