To think hygiene standards are low in Britain?

[castemary]

This obviously does not apply to everyone. But in Britain, I think there is a general acceptance of fairly low hygiene standards. I see it in several areas.
With individuals you have people telling everyone they do not wash bras for months, do not clean their teeth every day, do not wash face masks every day.
In public areas, offices and shops the cleaning often consist of no more than a quick hoover occasionally, a mop and a bit of damp wiping. Apart from toilets, places are rarely properly cleaned.
I think most people simply do not realise how unhygienic Britain is until they go to countries that do have a good standard of hygiene. There seems to be a lot of emphasis in Britain on superficial things that make places look good such as scatter cushions or make-up, and not on basic hygiene and cleanliness.
AIBU?

@Coolandclamy

There is also the licking of fingers to separate plastic bags or open a plastic bag that gets handed to you.

I honestly don't know how you fucking cope mate.

HectorHalloumi why the face? It's mainly genetics. Diet and lifestyle can improve your chances and massively improve quality of life, but life span is largely genetics and luck, not health per se. You can be alive and very unhealthy!

I have noticed in cafes in Europe staff are very quick to clear and clean tables, compared to Britain.

Have you ever walked through the streets of Paris?

This thread is nuts. Hysteria over not washing meat? A plague of monthly bra washing? People refusing to eat cakes made by colleagues in case they get food poisoning?

I tell you what is gross in this country: fitted carpets. Go to any other European country and they have bare floors, that can be washed. Carpets are minging.

@Coolandclamy

Lifespan does not equate to how healthy a person is.

Yeah... OK then. You obviously know what you're talking about

@Coolandclamy

Lifespan does not equate to how healthy a person is.

There aren't many healthy dead people, are there?

Not washing hands after using the toilet, spitting all over the place, and the long list of very common behaviour listed in this thread happens in the UK and is seemingly practiced by the majority and defended as okay by the majority.

I'm pretty sure I am not in the minority just because I wash my hands and have never spat in the street!

I cope by being careful who I accept food and drink from, where I seat, where I place my things, not allowing outside shoes in my house, and so on. In other words I do not engage in the poor hygiene culture.

Not long ago I went into a well-known establishment. There were two members of staff. One was cleaning the cold shelves where drinks and food are kept. This lady was standing on one of the shelves with her dirty shoes to clean the top shelf. I made eye contact with the other employee and we both rolled our eyes. I left and can never buy any food item from there, ever. The thing is that lady saw nothing wrong with what she was doing.

What more is there to say other than each to their own. I agree with the OP, hygiene standards in this country are very low and what’s shocking is that to many the poor hygiene is thought to be a shining example for others to follow. The best of the best, apparently.

@Allthereindeersaregirls

HectorHalloumi why the face? It's mainly genetics. Diet and lifestyle can improve your chances and massively improve quality of life, but life span is largely genetics and luck, not health per se. You can be alive and very unhealthy!

And yet we're told again and again unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, drinking, obesity can drastically cut our life expectancy...

YABU and generalising which is sloppy thinking,

The most important thing is to wash your hands constantly and keep kitchen food surfaces clean.

@DietrichandDiMaggio that makes no sense. Healthy people die. Unhealthy people die. You can live a long life and be very unhealthy. Life span in western countries are extended by drugs rather than by good solid health.

‘ Maybe people stopped scrubbing doorsteps when more women joined the workforce instead of being housewives?’

I think it’s more to do with us stopping using coal. Particulate pollution in and out of the house had a huge impact on the amount and type of housework that had to be done.

@Coolandclamy, our average lifespan is longer than many other countries, most of us are clean and hygienic and the only place I have ever seen anyone spit on the ground is a football pitch. It is disgusting, I agree. Most women, at least, wash their hands after visiting the toilet and it happens so rarely when someone doesn’t that it is commented on. Our teeth are actually quite healthy on the worldwide scale, it is simply that we are not into the artificial dayglo perfectly straight teeth that are favoured by so many people in the USA. In fact, in spite of all their gibes about bad teeth, 6% of British adults have no natural teeth compared with 30% of American adults. Even in squeaky clean Singapore, nose picking is extremely common and not all houses are as clean and tidy as they might be. As for the shoes on/off debate, ours is a shoes off house and I take my slippers to other people’s houses. I think shoes off is much more common these days. In the USA shoes on is normal. I have no problems with you being in the UK and am not in the slightest bit interested in why you are here. What l object to is your rudeness to people in your new country. If you carry on with this nose in the air attitude thinking yourself superior to everyone else you are not going to make many friends.

And yet we're told again and again unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, drinking, obesity can drastically cut our life expectancy...

Yes, and I actually disagree with that message with the exception of smoking (which is known to cause lung cancer on its own, no other factors needed). It's accurate on a population level but not so much on an individual level. Quality of that long life though, that is massively impacted by how healthy you are. My grand a perfect example. Obese, practically bed ridden, multiple health issues, can't really leave the house or do anything for herself. Yet she's plodded along like that for nearly 20 years and is 89. Friends dad was fit and healthy and died of a heart attack in his late 40s. But he lived a very happy and active life. Bad lifestyles + good genes = long but unpleasant life.

I forgot to mention the lovely habit of blowing into a handkerchief stuffing up their sleeves or into their pockets. Then put it comes again, they open it out, sometimes shake it, proceed to use it again and that can be repeated many times. The same snorted into areas being turned inside out and all around.

@Coolandclammy - having read your last post it sounds like you have significant OCD which is very sad. I have a close family member who suffers with this and it is very hard. I offer you my genuine sympathy and hope you are accessing help in some form.

However I think you have a very skewed view of the "hygiene practices " of this country caused by your own issues and that, whilst of course some people's habits may vary, generally speaking we are not quite as disgusting as you suggest.

@Coolandclamy

I forgot to mention the lovely habit of blowing into a handkerchief stuffing up their sleeves or into their pockets. Then put it comes again, they open it out, sometimes shake it, proceed to use it again and that can be repeated many times. The same snorted into areas being turned inside out and all around.

Every British person you know does that do they? I think the last person I saw do thatbwas my great nan who died 20 years ago at the age of 100.

And I'm being very simplistic, I can't be arsed to write an essay on the matter, but I could.

I’ve never heard anyone say they don’t wash bra for months or brush their teeth daily. That’s definately odd cases and not the norm.

But I agree there doesn’t seem to be lots of cleaning action involved but I think the result is still a clean enough work place.. so it must be the efficiency!

One of the first things that I noticed when travelling was how much cleaner most things were overseas; toilets, cafes, bars, hotels, airports shops etc., it really shocked me

As compared to where?
Certainly Switzerland leaves UK in the shade, but I have found France to be revoltingly unhygienic. Leaving the lavatory without washing hands seems to be commonplace. In Russia and some of the Eastern European countries it is beyond disgusting.

OP clearly hasn’t travelled much

Think someone needs a chill pill.

@Coolandclamy

I cope by being careful who I accept food and drink from, where I seat, where I place my things, not allowing outside shoes in my house, and so on. In other words I do not engage in the poor hygiene culture.

Not long ago I went into a well-known establishment. There were two members of staff. One was cleaning the cold shelves where drinks and food are kept. This lady was standing on one of the shelves with her dirty shoes to clean the top shelf. I made eye contact with the other employee and we both rolled our eyes. I left and can never buy any food item from there, ever. The thing is that lady saw nothing wrong with what she was doing.

What more is there to say other than each to their own. I agree with the OP, hygiene standards in this country are very low and what’s shocking is that to many the poor hygiene is thought to be a shining example for others to follow. The best of the best, apparently.

While that is gross, the food and drink is presumably in individual packages, so the dirt from her shoes would not touch the food or drink at all.

I don't really see hygiene standards as being low in the UK and I'm pretty sure most health professionals would agree if you look at it on a worldwide basis. We are very, very lucky here. A lot of places don't have clean drinking water for a start. A lot of places don't have showers, don't have fridges. We are privileged and most people completely get this and how lucky we are to have the things we have access to.