2008 Woodie Awards
Cleanliness - is it next to impossible?
Linda P. Campbell
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Opinion
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Turns out that the most important question about Larry Craig's bathroom habits isn't what he meant by his foot-tapping but whether he ever made it to the sink after messing around in that men's room stall.
The way events unfolded, it's likely that he never washed up properly before washing up as a U.S. senator. At least he had a plausible excuse. But what gives with that 34 percent of men who don't bother with basic hand hygiene?
Do they think that only employees must wash hands before leaving the lavatory?
Apparently, when you ask folks for a show of hands by phone, 92 percent claim to wash their hands in public restrooms. But the dirty little secret is that they don't really do it, if you believe testers who took notes at public toilets in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
The American Society for Microbiology and the Soap and Detergent Association, which sponsored the snooping in the name of science and public health, tells us that both women and men are slipping up on their soap and water. But men are way more cavalier about cleanliness in places crawling with germs.
The market research firm Harris Interactive sent prowlers to a pro baseball game, a science museum, an aquarium, a pair of swarming commuter train stations and a farmers market in August, where they watched 6,076 adults. (We'll put aside for a moment the creepiness of undercover clipboard toters staring at strangers who've just answered nature's call.)
The observers found that only 66 percent of 3,065 men washed up (down from 75 percent in 2005), while 88 percent of 3,011 women did (down from 90 percent). Chicago had the cleanest hands (81 percent washed at Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry) and San Francisco the dirtiest (73 percent washed at Ferry Terminal Farmers Market).
At Turner Field during an Atlanta Braves home stand against the Arizona Diamondbacks, only 57 percent of the men (464) washed up after taking care of business _ the worst performance of all the venues.
The way events unfolded, it's likely that he never washed up properly before washing up as a U.S. senator. At least he had a plausible excuse. But what gives with that 34 percent of men who don't bother with basic hand hygiene?
Do they think that only employees must wash hands before leaving the lavatory?
Apparently, when you ask folks for a show of hands by phone, 92 percent claim to wash their hands in public restrooms. But the dirty little secret is that they don't really do it, if you believe testers who took notes at public toilets in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
The American Society for Microbiology and the Soap and Detergent Association, which sponsored the snooping in the name of science and public health, tells us that both women and men are slipping up on their soap and water. But men are way more cavalier about cleanliness in places crawling with germs.
The market research firm Harris Interactive sent prowlers to a pro baseball game, a science museum, an aquarium, a pair of swarming commuter train stations and a farmers market in August, where they watched 6,076 adults. (We'll put aside for a moment the creepiness of undercover clipboard toters staring at strangers who've just answered nature's call.)
The observers found that only 66 percent of 3,065 men washed up (down from 75 percent in 2005), while 88 percent of 3,011 women did (down from 90 percent). Chicago had the cleanest hands (81 percent washed at Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry) and San Francisco the dirtiest (73 percent washed at Ferry Terminal Farmers Market).
At Turner Field during an Atlanta Braves home stand against the Arizona Diamondbacks, only 57 percent of the men (464) washed up after taking care of business _ the worst performance of all the venues.
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