And while I’m writing about the ICU waiting room, here’s a comment my mother made that I can’t help but mention…because it bears great truth. It is amazing how many people will use the bathroom and not flush the toilet. And not just number one, but number two.

People. What the hell are you thinking? If you’re doing the deed and then, um, wiping the evidence of the deed, aren’t you going to be washing your hands anyway? I mean, please…PLEASE be washing your hands after making the poops. My 4 year old has known this for, well, ever. And if you’r washing your hands right then, don’t you think you can bend the knob? Seriously, it’ really not that gross. It’s just cold steel.

And contrary to what you might think, it is highly unlikely that the prior user did something really nasty on their hands and then flushed, leaving nasty all over the knob. It just doesn’t really happen all that often.

And seriously, haven’t you figured out that 95% of public bathroom users don’t ever touch the knob? That’s what your feet in nice comfortable rubber-soled shoes are for. I don’t think my mother has touched a public washroom flusher since the 70s. I’ve had to explain to  my kids about using my foot on the knob and both boys eagerly await a height gain of 6 to 12 inches so they too can foot-flush.

I know there are germophobes that won’t shake hands and require steam cleaners to prep any unfamiliar room, but come on. It’s a hospital. The janitors do the rounds more frequently than the doctors and if all else fails, there is a dispenser of hand sanitizer along the wall every 5 feet. It is WAY more unsanitary to leave a toilet full of unflushed schmootzie than to flush and then wash your hands.

Is it laziness? Is it lack of concern for your fellow citizens? Is in germophobia? Is it stupidity?

Is it just me?