Cleanliness. It was one of the things emphasized about the trip. Traveling in foreign lands, Be careful about drinking the water. Watch what you eat.
On the ship it was emphasized every time you dined. There was always someone out front with a squirt bottle of disinfectant.
“Washy Washy, Happy happy” they would often say. I often wondered if the saying might be construed as reinforcing a negative stereotype, as most of the crew were from second and third world nations, but it did have the desired effect of getting the guests to wash their hands each time they came in.
They also had signs by the inside of the public restrooms asking people to open the door by using a paper towel on the door handle. And in all of the restrooms but one, they actually had a trash receptacle within easy reach of the door to throw away the towel on your way out (for one you had to reach real far across the room).
Many people at work have the same compunction about opening rest room doors with towels to keep their hands from getting germs off the handle. Which is fine. But I was there when one guy washed his hands, dried them, got a towel for the door, wiped his mouth on the towel, and then used the surface of the towel where he wiped his mouth against the door handle to open the door.
His behavior certainly keeps him from picking up germs, but increases the germs that other people might get, more than if he just used his hand alone on the door.
I couldn’t decide if it was sloppiness, lack of forethought, or just selfish concern that made him take actions that benefitted him at the expenses of others.
I guess it is easy for us to miss the side effects, the unintended consequences of our actions, especially if we don’t or can’t stick around to notice them.
At The Rainbow 