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?

My abiding memory of German forests is the amazing amount of human shit in them, plus bits of loo roll. Germans, it seems actually carry loo roll in the car. (NB this may just be Bavarians, in which case I apologise to the rest of the Fatherland).

@TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain

Who has time at work to fanny about cleaning keyboards and phones? Sounds like something the office busybody would do instead of doing their actual work.

Ha ha. Quite

Handkerchiefs FGS! 😆 The last time I saw someone use a handkerchief to blow their nose was my Grandad in about 1982.

He died of ‘old age’ in his 90s, incidentally, and never took a single sick day off work. His hygiene practices didn’t cause any issues for him or the rest of his family. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Who has time at work to fanny about cleaning keyboards and phones? Sounds like something the office busybody would do instead of doing their actual work

If you’re hot desking it’s disgusting not to wipe your mouse, keyboard and desk down when you log off. Same with the phone. Most offices have a tub of antibacterial wipes for this.

In NHS offices it’s breaking all sorts of policies NOT to wipe down your workstation between people, even in non clinical offices!

It takes about 15 seconds max.

This is awful,
Knowing Japanese as I do they are very timid, this story is so sad. Most first world countries are better at accommodating any disability, Japan has along way to go.

I must admit I dont dryclean my coat very often. Sponge it over and steam now and then and if I've worn alot I dryclean once a year. Dry cleaning is expensive and environmentally damaging. I must be gross 🤣

@FaceyRomford

My abiding memory of German forests is the amazing amount of human shit in them, plus bits of loo roll. Germans, it seems actually carry loo roll in the car. (NB this may just be Bavarians, in which case I apologise to the rest of the Fatherland).

Maybe it was the bears!

^In NHS offices it’s breaking all sorts of policies NOT to wipe down your workstation between people, even in non clinical offices!

It takes about 15 seconds max.^

Technically that's not true. The big tub of office-supplied wipes are somewhere well away from one's desk. Hot desk of course you spend too much time setting up & packing down daily already. You have to walk to the wipes tub, get wipe, walk back to desk, wipe it all down, decide what to do with used wipe (I brought mine home to reuse as house rags). Imagine generating the waste of 5 microfibre wipes/week. Until moment of disposal took more like 1 minute, not 15' And we were only encouraged (in 2019) not strictly required to wipe down.

@PommieCheeks75

Japan is very clean, people carry water to wash away dog wee, trains are spotless and public loos are cleaner than most peoples private bathrooms here. Don’t get me started on wearing shoes in the house 🤮

Except for all the drunken vomit at cherry blossom picnics.

@lljkk

^In NHS offices it’s breaking all sorts of policies NOT to wipe down your workstation between people, even in non clinical offices!

It takes about 15 seconds max.^

Technically that's not true. The big tub of office-supplied wipes are somewhere well away from one's desk. Hot desk of course you spend too much time setting up & packing down daily already. You have to walk to the wipes tub, get wipe, walk back to desk, wipe it all down, decide what to do with used wipe (I brought mine home to reuse as house rags). Imagine generating the waste of 5 microfibre wipes/week. Until moment of disposal took more like 1 minute, not 15' And we were only encouraged (in 2019) not strictly required to wipe down.

And then people wonder why hospitals were the biggest source of spread of covid. Too many excuses for not doing pretty basic hygiene.

That wasn't a hospital location I was describing, user.

tbf, I understand the big admin offices inside actual hospital properties were similar... except everyone is now being forced into WFH anyway for those NHS admin jobs you'll be pleased to hear (contracts, finances, procurement, BI, management, segmentation, performance management, quality assurance, etc...). Arguably WFH is Better than 60 hotdesks in one 7x7m room anyway.... if only we didn't have to work on huge spreadsheets on dinky size under-memoried laptops without extra screens or an external mouse then WFH might be better, that is.

I don't work in the NHS either. The computer I use regularly at work is not in a communal area.

In NHS offices it’s breaking all sorts of policies NOT to wipe down your workstation between people, even in non clinical offices!

It might be in some Trusts, none of those I’ve worked for have had one policy about this, let alone all sorts.

I have a friend who works for NHS, ambulances are disinfected and cleaned alot now due to covid.
Before covid if you wanted to catch something grim, get an ambulance. Bloody rank, let's hope cleaning carries on after pandemic is gone.

@Ddot

I have a friend who works for NHS, ambulances are disinfected and cleaned alot now due to covid. Before covid if you wanted to catch something grim, get an ambulance. Bloody rank, let's hope cleaning carries on after pandemic is gone.

This is utter crap.

Too much hygiene is bad.

Neonprint
No it's not crap, crew were to busy to keep on top of it.
Maybe where you live its quiet and crew have time.

@Ddot

I have a friend who works for NHS, ambulances are disinfected and cleaned alot now due to covid. Before covid if you wanted to catch something grim, get an ambulance. Bloody rank, let's hope cleaning carries on after pandemic is gone.

That is BS.

@sunnyblackwidow

I do agree with you, I am not from here originally and one of the biggest adjustments in this country was getting used to the poor hygiene (things like smelling people's body odour or a whiff of unwashed hair sitting next to you in the cinema etc.) How grim public transport is as well (being expected to sit on stained fabric bus seats etc) People wearing the same outfit to work two days in a row - or winter coats that didn't ever seem to be dry cleaned or washed but are worn daily for a whole season. Children's PE kits that stay in school from week to week without getting taken home (so obviously aren't getting washed after each sweaty wear!?) People who don't change their bed sheets every week or don't bath daily (I've learnt this on MN as its not something I talk to my friends about!) Other nations just don't live like this, but it is so normal here

Which other nations? Also, changing a whole outfit every day is really wasteful.

"Smelly breath in the mornings because tongues are not brushed."

You've misunderstood what morning breath is. I have a tongue scraper, but I still get morning breath.

"I'm against the trend of overshowering; it's basically a modern phenomenon and something only the western world can indulge in - it's not good for either our skin or the environment. "

I totally agree. Except in a heatwave, it's totally wrong to have two showers a day as some are encouraging.

". I'm bit surprised when I hear that my son in (state) secondary school just don't have the facilities to shower after PE -"

Read the thread about things that make people uncomfortable. Having to use communal showers was a huge complaint.

"that my primary school child has left their (school) swimming lessons without a shower either before or after swimming"

Not great for the hair, but his body is in chlorine so he won't be dirty.

"Food handling is often grim - why do they touch food directly and then take money? In civilised places the functions are separated for hygiene reasons."

Like where? Go to any bakery in many countries in western Europe and the same staff are handling food and money. Often there's only one person anyway.

"people sneezing and coughing on the tube"

What do you expect them to do?

@Coolandclamy

Lifespan does not equate to how healthy a person is.

It's linked.