…can pack a wallop!
A friend of mine–Jennifer Angelo–is writing a fabulously funny book on germs and the people who hate them.ÂÂ
She needs our help with a chapter on purses. She has discovered that one of the most recent threads of research on germs involves looking at how filthy the bottoms of women’s purses are.
Remember, we often set these lovely leather pocketbooks on the counter before cooking….EWWW, yes, that’s right. That purse you set on the bathroom floor in toys-r-us. That one.
Anyway, Jennifer is wondering if we could offer the grossest places our purses have been.ÂÂ
I have to admit, since knowing Jennifer for over a year and being subjected to countless, grotesque and funny chapters of her book, I don’t put my purse on bathroom floors. In fact, I’m almost to the point of wearing and carrying nothing that isn’t plastic and can’t be scrubbed down with wipes or zapped in the microwave…
Really, what’s your grossest purse story? Think hard ladies…or how about you men and your briefcases? My husband lays the garbage can lid on the kids table while pulling out the bag…I shudder to wonder where his computer case sits while he’s working. I know you men have good germ stories. The grosser the better.
OK this isn’t my purse, but…
I once dropped my wallet in a toilet at a rest stop after I’d already done my business. Keep in mind, this was my Coach wallet that Mr. Jaye got me for Christmas. Yes, I did grab that thing out of the yellow water. I layed the wallet, bits of paper and money out on my passenger seat to dry in the sun.
That was two years ago. That very wallet is the one in my purse today.
OMG, Jaye, that’s hilarious…you can’t just flush a Coach wallet down the toilet or throw it out. I’m sure the hot sun killed all the germs, right?
Yeah, I have a couple of purses that have been on various public bathroom floors. But I just read somewhere that computer keyboards are rife with germs. It makes sense. That reminds me. I need to go wash the apron. One of the ties went into the toilet as I sat on it the other night. I hardly ever wear the thing, but I was baking a pie for Thanksgiving, and I forgot I had it on. I know, ewwwww!
I don’t know that I have any purse stories…since I really loathe to carry a purse. I used to keep a man’s wallet until I realized I needed someplace to put a checkbook. I don’t put it on the bathroom floor either. It gets placed on the back of the toilet, though I don’t know if that’s any better.
Somewhere in my blog I tell of my four year old son wetting himself in the ballpit at a McDonalds. Special sauce, lettuce, cheese…
When I worked as a cashier it was normal to develop a greasy black layer of goo on your hands from handling money. It wasn’t uncommon to be handed cash along with a big pubic hair…especially if they were storing your money in your pants pockets.
I once managed the costume portion of a beauty supply slash costume shop. Because the tanning bed was next to where I kept the hats it naturally fell on me to maintain it. Every time the bed was used I’d clean it before it got turned on then cleaned again immediately after it turned off and the tanner was dressed. One day I had to insist the store put a policy in place that only ONE customer could be in the tanning room bed at a time. See, when a couple goes in there, what they leave behind isn’t really pleasant to be scraping off a incredibly hot tanning bed. (They got a call and got told that they were not welcome to return.)
Thanks Becky, these stories are great!
These stories are great. What about what you put on the floor?
Like an infant carrier seat while you are paying for groceries or at a restaurnat and you put the seat on the floor, or in a doctor’s waiting room. then at home, you put the infant seat on the kitchen counter. Anyone do something like that? and what about the small child who loses complete muscle control and falls to the floor in a mall.
what else ends up on a public floor that you wish hadn’t?
As I’m never alone, my little girl always holds my purse in the ladies room as I have a thing about germs in toilets.
Also, I have a thing about the poles in busses. Think how many people hold those, then go home and make their dinner without washing their hands…we’re talking thousands of hands that have urine, poo, snot, and God knows what else on them.
UGH.
:o)
If you are a frequent bus/subway passenger, here is a little gizmo just for you. It’s your own personal subway strap, Transtrap.
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/09/06/a_strap_to_hang_on_the_transtrap.php
what will you do when your little girl is your big girl and no longer wants to accompany you to the bathroom?
Kathie, has anything interesting happened this week you’d like to share with your readers?
I haven’t put my purse anywhere more disgusting than the wet cement floor of a football stadium bathroom, but I did lose my wallet down the toilet on a booze cruise once. I’m curious if the leather is still holding up in the polluted waters off the Connecticut coast…
LMFAO Jennifer. Probably put my purse on my knees or something.
:o)