Originally Posted by
meiji
It seems these days in general people have a massively out of place fear of germs. It's not uncommon for me to see people wanting to fill their cars at petrol stations driving away because there are no gloves for them to wear. I'd never seen this until the last few years.
I like to keep things clean but I also strongly believe that exposure to a bit of dirt makes your immune system stronger. Recent medical research seems to point to overly sterile environments as a cause for a number of ailments affecting children in particular.
As kids often say, "a little dirt don't hurt."
I agree that there's an awful lot of misplaced germophobia in general and in these posts in particular. I never gave it much thought until I began working as a screener. A couple new habits I've developed are to never touch my face until after I've washed my hands; to always wash my hands or use the hand sanitizer; to always wear gloves when screening people or their property; and to be conscientious of bio-hazards. I see these as precautions not necessarily a fear of germs.
Here's what I see at my job:
Passengers who come through the WTMD with their boarding passes clenched in their mouths. Then they hand it to me. While that's disgusting enough, they then place it back in their mouths after I hand it back to them!
Passengers with minor cuts or are otherwise bleeding who refuse medical attention. They may have used their own handkerchief to stop the bleeding or maybe even used some of our paper towels, but I don't know where they've discarded these items.
Passengers who place a foot on a chair to tie on a shoe in the screening area (or in any area for that matter). It should be pretty obvious that someone is going to sit in that chair, but it doesn't seem to matter to the people who do this.
And I've already covered the loose, uncovered toothbrushes inside of toiletry bags (with soap bars, colognes, shaving creams, etc.); cosmetics bags with the interior linings discolored or powdery; food wrapped in napkins placed inside of carry-on bags; etc.
The point to all this is that dirty bins are the least, or should be the least, of all worries. While theoretically possible to catch a disease or the transfer of bacteria from a dirty bin, washing hands is a simple and effective means of prevention. Putting the blame on TSA or suggesting that TSA provide booties is a lazy denial of individual responsibility. (Are there any guarantees that the table you dine at in a restaurant is truly clean? Where do you place your silverware once you begin to eat? I submit that you are more likely to catch a disease as the result of eating at a restaurant than handling a bin at the airport.)