When did common sense cease to exist?
My office received an email today from the people who look after our building:
Health & Safety – Friendly Reminder Personal Hygiene. In order to keep the spreading of germs throughout the business centre we would like to remind all clients to wash their hands after using the toilets.
Obviously this is in reaction to the ‘swine flu’ situation. Supposedly 100,000 people per day will be diagnosed with the virus later in the year. That’s a lot of ill people.
I’d normally be offended by the email. The idea that I have to be reminded to keep myself clean is insulting. The ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’ advert is also borderline offensive - surely people know this? Surely everyone knows how to look after themselves, even on the most basic level i.e. covering your nose to sneeze or washing your hands after you’ve visited the toilet?
A big part of me wants to cry ‘nanny state’ and complain about how the Government hold our hand through the times we don’t need them to, but I can’t. I certainly don’t need to be told to wash my hands or bin a used tissue, but I’m surrounded by people who do. It never ceases to amaze me when someone leaves the office bathroom without washing their hands, or when someone sneezes uncovered into a crowded train.
I don’t know if it’s low intelligence or general disregard for other people, but there are so many out there who just don’t care. The ones who shove their contaminated hand into the communal biscuit barrel and have a good rummage, fingering every last bourbon.
I’m sick of the hygiene messages. I get it. I didn’t need a flu pandemic to tell me to keep myself clean, I do that already.
Was it Bill Hicks who suggested taking the labels off tins and letting natural selection take its course? Smart man.
