Saturday, May 21, 2011

Sir, there's pee on my tap...


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: 
  1. You pee. Droplets of pee fall onto your supporting hand (I mean, why else do you have to wash your hands after peeing?). 
  2. You go to the sink and turn the tap. The droplets of pee are transferred to the tap.
  3. 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. 
  4. You turn off the tap. The droplets of pee are transferred back to your hand (and some are left behind on the tap)
  5. You open the toilet door. Some droplets of pee are transferred from your hand to the door handle. 
  6. Repeat with the next dozen or so people who use the same toilet. 
  7. 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: 
  1. Sensor-activated faucets and soap dispensers (foolproof, but expensive) 
  2. Continuously running water (wasteful, bad for the environment)
  3. 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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