Growing up, my mom always taught me to squat in public bathrooms. "The germs!" she would say. "You don't know what's touched that!" To this day, public toilets still completely gross me out.
You know what never used to gross me out? My desk. That is, until I checked out a new study from the American Dietetic Association that says our desks may harbor 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
Oh my God. I think I may throw up.
Even though I'm officially skeeved out, now that they mention it, the findings totally make sense. Let's think about this for a second. I'm hoping, if you're at all like me, that you've cleaned your toilet once or twice in the past two weeks. And while I spend hours upon hours at my desk, I can only remember 15 minutes or so, once, that I actually spent tidying things up. And that was without any cleaning products, aside from my shirt sleeve.
Nevertheless, day after day I eat breakfast at my desk. Then I eat my lunch, also at my desk. And God only knows (well, aside from my coworkers) how much I snack at my desk. Are you beginning to see what I mean? No wonder our beloved workstations are so filthy. We're ALWAYS at them, doing germ-infested things on them like breathing and eating.
So now the old claim that your office could actually be making you sick isn't so ludicrous after all, is it? This could be just the reminder we all need to take a little time off every once in a while, if not to enjoy the outside world, then at least to clean our desks. Sure, some Pledge, Windex, and sanitary wipes will cost $10 or so. But compared to those potential medical bills? Ten bucks sounds just fine to me.
Does this study make you as much of a germaphobe as me?
Image via jordanfischer/Flickr
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Comments 16
I keep antibacterial wipes in my desk drawer and use them all the time just because EWWW GROSS
Yeah, but they're MY germs! It's a little different, in my mind.
I'd imagine our cell phones have lots more bacteria on them. Think about where those things have been. Plus, we are breathing and (dare I say it?) spitting all over them. Ew.
the main issue is not the number of germs, but how dangerous they are. e.coli is often found in and on toilets. what germs are on your desk?
Def. has not turned me into a germaphobe.
I use Clorox wipes at my desk all the time! I work in an Elementary school, so I constantly have kids kids touching my stuff!