Have you ever paused to think about how nasty things around you truly are? Here are 15 things that are considerably nastier than most people realize. Do you?
1. Restaurant Ice
Moreover, the restaurant ice machines. They are nasty! Many places that accumulate mold, slime, and other grime are challenging to access. You can bet your bottom that most minimum wage employees don’t know anything about cleaning one. I’ve worked in several fast food and sit-down restaurants, and I’ve never seen an ice machine cleaned.
2. Alley-Use Bowling Balls
Did you ever think about how many people put their unwashed hands inside alley-use bowling balls? Studies have indicated higher than expected amounts of fecal matter in the finger holes! In the words of Dr. Cox from Scrubs: “Oh, my God. I’m gagging and vomiting at the same time; I’m, I’m gavomiting!”
3. Dementia
Dementia isn’t just quirky memory problems. Your brain is in control of every bodily function. People with advanced dementia are losing their mental and physical faculties. Some people forget how to walk, others forget how to breathe.
It’s devastating to watch someone you love completely disappear, especially knowing they are initially aware. It’s gut-wrenching to have your parent not know who you are. I watched my dad discover he had Primary Progressive Aphasia (Bruce Willis diagnosis) one day.
Within a short time, he couldn’t speak, but it didn’t stop him from stuttering to try. It was nasty, and people who haven’t been around it don’t really know how nasty it is.
4. Cancer
Without a doubt, everyone acknowledges that cancer is nasty. Still, unless you’ve received the diagnosis and subsequent treatment, you really have no idea. Watching someone go through chemotherapy is nasty. I witnessed my mom battle breast cancer for years, and chemo and radiation treatments aged her 20 years nearly overnight.
5. The Kitchen Sink
Did you know the kitchen sink and surrounding areas have more fecal matter than a toilet after you flush it? The sink is an excellent place for E. coli to grow and live because it’s wet and moist. Bacteria feed on the food people put down the drain and what’s left on the dishes in the sink.
6. Luggage
Luggage is rolled all over the world. That means it has been rolled through nasty airport bathrooms where floors are wet with urine. Once people get to their destination, the first thing many of them do is toss their luggage on the bed to unpack. BARF! When do you ever wash your luggage?
7. Airport Security Bins
The United Kingdom’s University of Nottingham and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, published a study in the BMC Infectious Diseases journal, revealing airport security plastic bins to be the biggest culprit for spreading germs in airports. A whopping 10% of surfaces tested were positive for viruses, including the common cold, influenza, and rhinovirus.
8. Computer Keyboards
As I’m typing this tidbit of horrific information, I can feel the gavomiting again! Your computer keyboard is way grosser than your toilet seat. HuffPost UK reports: “Your computer or laptop keyboard is 20,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat!”
9. Cell Phones
When I worked at T-Mobile, I had a customer come into the store and hand me a cell phone in a Ziploc bag. He informed me that he dropped it in the toilet and was there to get a new phone. However, he expected me to transfer all of his data.
I was mortified at the thought of touching it, or connecting it to any of the data transfer machines. But it turns out your cell phone is 9,000 times dirtier than the toilet he dropped his in!
10. Hospital Floors
Have you ever put your purse on a hospital floor? Worse? Have you ever allowed your children to be on the hospital floor? It’s surprisingly not uncommon. That being said, they are covered in harmful bacteria and dangerous pathogens.
The American Journal of Infection Control published a study: “Researchers cultured 120-floor sites among four Cleveland-area hospitals. They found the following:
- 22% of the floor sites were positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
- 33% of the floor sites were positive for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE).
- 72% of floor sites were positive for Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile).
11. Remote Controls
The TV remote control is the dirtiest thing in your living room. They can be up to 20 times nastier than your toilet seat. And the hotel TV remote controls harbor some of the highest levels of bacterial contamination in hotel rooms. EVERYBODY touches them, and nobody cleans them.
12. Video Game Controllers
Have you ever sanitized your gaming system controllers? Video game controllers are five times dirtier than a toilet seat! Domestos and Unicef found that the average toilet seat has 1,600 germs per 100cm². The average gaming controller was found to have 7,863 per 100cm².
13. Garden Trampolines
The same Domestos and Unicef study determined the most bacteria-coated object in most homes is the garden trampoline. They have bacterial levels 640,000 per 100cm², including potentially harmful E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae. I’ve never seen anyone clean an outdoor trampoline. Have you? I wonder about those Trampoline parks?
14. Shoes
Shoes are nasty, nasty, nasty. Never mind the sweaty feet. You take your shoes with you everywhere. You walk them through public spaces, including gas stations and airport bathrooms.
Every store you walk in, your place of employment, school, and sidewalks that have been urinated and, in some cases, defecated on. It’s gross. Bacteria, including E coli, are often present on your shoes. Get a pair of house slippers!
15. Restaurant Menus
Menus are one of the dirtiest surfaces in a restaurant. A restaurant menu can contain 185,000 germs per square centimeter. A public toilet has about 500-1,000 germs per square centimeter. That’s a significant difference. Laminated menus house more bacteria than paper ones.
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.