Hand Sanitizer Overload!!

I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of all this talk about hand washing and sanitizing. My workplace has gone so far as to have "Handwashing Steps" and "Hand Sanitizing Steps" display on our display boards throughout the day. Seriously. Steps in washing hands. And I'm not talking "Step 1, put soap on hands", but detailed instructions on how to actually rub the soap on your hands. Really? Seriously, I'm pretty sure that as a thirty-something woman, I know how to wash my hands by now. And the hand sanitizer? Give me a break. That stuff is nasty with a capital N. Thanks so much for delivering a small, company branded bottle of it and a Health Ontario brouchure to my desk this week. And thanks too for the detailed instructions on how to apply it (just in case I was not competent enough to figure it out by myself or follow the instructions on the bottle--remind me again why you hired me??).

Not only am I being totally patronized at work about how to keep my hands clean, but we've moved to a brand new office facility which has hands-free flushing toilets, soap dispensers, taps and hand dryers (I'm sure if they could have figured out how to do hands-free ass wiping, we'd have that too). So with all this technology to get our hands clean, why do they feel the need to have a hand sanitizer dispenser (also hands free) right inside the bathroom door? Am I supposed to sanitize on the way in or the way out? If I've just finished washing my hands (following their elaborate instructions), why would I need the sanitizer? And how the heck do you open the door after you've sanitized your hands? The door opens in, so it's not like you can just push your body against it. So what exactly was the purpose of this "convieniently placed" hand sanitizer?

My daughter's school sent home forms a couple weeks ago saying that they were offering special bottles of hand sanitizer that the kids could purchase that were able to be clipped to their belt loops. Please, let's give our children an alcohol based sanitizer for them to use without supervision. Because no child ever puts their fingers in their mouths or overdoes it with applying things like hand lotion. I learned when my oldest first started school that the hand sanitizers were not a good idea. She would go into the bathroom upon returning home from school to wash her hands. Instead of using soap and water, she decided she'd use the hand sanitizer instead. Let me tell you, we went through that bottle of hand sanitizer in no time flat. She'd come out of that bathroom just reeking of rubbing alcohol. Knowing that she'd be going from cleaning her hands to eating a sandwich, I decided to get rid of the sanitizer. I didn't want her ingesting it along with her lunch. Needless to say, we declined purchasing the sanitizer from the school. I think there are better ways to reduce the spread of germs in the classroom than sanitizing and sterilizing everything and everyone.

And that, my friends is the end of my hand sanitizing rant for today. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll return to this topic again soon!