We generally cook everything at home, and many things from scratch since our families food allergies were diagnosed. As we were driving through town yesterday Tater Tot had to make an emergency stop. Beings she is so young and potty trained quite early we have learned the consequences of not getting her to a stop quickly. However, this was unpleasant in many ways, and became more unpleasant the further we proceeded.
I generally avoid public bathrooms unless of course it cannot be helped. My children have been taught that you touch nothing, clean your hands, and then follow the ritual with sanitizer shortly afterwards. The truth is that I am very near the germ-phobic side of things. Many people are uncomfortable with yucky situations; I just tend to be a little past uncomfortable.
We stopped at a local fast food restaurant in town at which we have on occasion went through the drive and ordered fries. I could tell the instant I walked through the doors, having never been inside before, that they would have an unclean bathroom facility. Generally people who neglected cleaning foyers, floors, and glass in an eating establishment pay little attention to bathrooms. Of course this alone was enough to convince me that I eating here again would not be enjoyable.
However what came next was absolutely beyond what my germ fearing mind had conjured. I was carrying Tater Tot into the bathroom very quickly and was met with grossly sticky floors, black sludge on every vertical surface, an over flowing porcelain bowl spewing waste onto the floor, a downright foul faucet, and mangled toilet paper strewn throughout the water closet which were really only a few of the charms it had to offer. Did I mention the smell, and that overall feeling of grim that you just cannot shake? There have been few other occasions in my life where a portable toilet would have had more appeal, but this was definitely one. I have felt the need to clean my shoes after different bathroom encounters, but truly I wished to throw them away.
Having escaped my husband suffered my grossed out gags and heebie-jeebies the rest of the way home. I explained the experience we shared, and told him I felt quite confident that a business that kept such a clean atmosphere most likely cared equally as much about their kitchen. Not only did I effectively describe to him the bathroom horror scene, but I am quite sure my usually strong stomached man was not feeling so hot, and now shares my loathing for their business.
Germ fearing people generally receive a hard time, are misunderstood and truly not appreciated by many folks. Many circumstances come up in my daily life that I know better than to draw attention to. Things that are quite unnerving to me tend to leave others unscathed. However, I highly doubt that walls dripping in every direction with gooey looking black soup, and that urine and fecal matter on the floor blending with toilet paper and what I could guess to be weeks of dirt, would hardly be something that the general public could ignore. Perhaps we germaphobic types are misunderstood, and even sometimes the laughing stock. However, in situations likes these people understand better than they may want to realize. For a brief moment in time as you walk into a germ war zone in which you realize you have to touch something just to get out you have a glimpse of what a germ fearing person feels like throughout their lives in various ways, shapes,and of course locations.
That being said, as much as I wanted to smear the well known chains name all over the internet, I realize that one germy situation does not equate to a world or even national or state level catastrophe. Perhaps a personal level, but that is a different matter all together. Will we be eating French fries there? ABSOLUETELY NOT! Will we be able to hold our tongue when asked about that particular restaurant? Most likely not! Will I eat French fries for the remainder of the month? Nope. Is my bathroom clean? Yes, but I do have a strange urge to bleach it ceiling to floor.
The looming question -So where does our cooking factor in to this long gross story?
Answer – My germ advoidance may make it a hard time eating food that other people prepare. Germs may make me more cautious in public bathrooms. I may get to hear ridiculous things I have been accused of because I try to reduce the spreading of illness. However, at the end of the day having to change our diet so dramatically has been an additional blessing for this germ horrified mama!
Thanks for Stopping By
~Shy Willow
*originally published on A Mom’s Handbook. com
picture source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
~Sensually Yours~
Shy Willow
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