Germs drive me crazy!

March 27, 2008 — by Brittany Judoprasetijo

It’s true. I’m not afraid to admit it. I hate germs. I hate them with a burning passion.

Every time someone offers me a sip of their drink or says I can waterfall it, I always say no.
I’ve seen plenty of people waterfalling other people’s drinks, and not everyone succeeds. I don’t like taking that kind of risk and drinking from the same place that contains saliva other than mine.

It’s true. I’m not afraid to admit it. I hate germs. I hate them with a burning passion.

Every time someone offers me a sip of their drink or says I can waterfall it, I always say no.
I’ve seen plenty of people waterfalling other people’s drinks, and not everyone succeeds. I don’t like taking that kind of risk and drinking from the same place that contains saliva other than mine.

At a New Year’s Eve party I was talking with an adult when suddenly I witnessed a speck of food fly out of her mouth and land on my rice krispies snack. It took all my courage not to cringe and stop talking to her. It horrified me knowing that if I chose to continue munching on my delicious dessert, I would be consuming icky unknown germs within the saliva enclosing that tiny bit of food that was now in my bowl.

If I’m listening to music, I refuse to lend my earbuds to anyone else. I don’t think I could stand the icky feeling that someone else’s ear mucus and germs are in my ear. I have lent my headphones out to some friends before. However, I always use baby wipes or some other sanitizing wipes to clean them up afterwards.

I can go on with my nice big list of peeves with unhygienic people and things, but that would take up every one of the 24 pages of the newspaper. Maybe more.

People wonder why I’m such a germphobe. The answer is simple: I just don’t want to get sick or any unnecessary germs.

I know I can’t always monitor how clean my things are, but I try the best as I can. I shouldn’t be the only person who chooses to be aware of her surroundings. One easy way that just about anybody can follow involves pillows. On my bed, for example, I have two pillows of different shapes and covers. If I washed my hair that night, I would use one. If I felt like my hair was greasy and uncomfortable, I would use the other pillow. Why not just one pillow? Well, I don’t relish the feeling using a pillow infested with random germs and whatnot when I showered that night.

The American Society of Microbiology released a report this year saying that only 66 percent of males wash their hands after using the restroom, while 88 percent of women do. Fifty percent of middle and high school students claim to wash their hands, but of these students, only 33 percent of females and 8 percent of males use soap. Hypothetically, out of the 1300+ students at SHS, only about 214 girls and 52 guys wash their hands with soap.

Whenever I sneeze, cough, touch garbage or finish using the restroom, I always scrub my wet hands and wrists clean with soap for 20 seconds before washing it away with warm water. If soap and water are not available, I turn to the wonderful bottles of hand sanitizer. People may not have to go as far ast I do to keep clean, but too many are unaware of importance of washing hands thoroughly with soap and water. Eighty percent of all infectious diseases are passed by direct and indirect human contact, so I think spending a little time to wash my hands is worthwhile.

Spending the extra tiny moments to be hygienic is worth it. Who knows? Other people may start using baby wipes to clean their earbuds sometime soon. Or maybe not, but I can always hope, can’t I?

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