Germs are sneaky and tend to live in unexpected places…
The weather is getting colder, and people are huddling indoors more. That means the flu season is upon us once again.
Everyone knows the obvious germ-y places: public restrooms, airplane seat belts, bus benches, to name a few. But what about the other places? The places that you actually visit daily. Today, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about: the most overlooked office germ lairs. The places that get lots of public use, and little cleaning attention. Nasty!
Breakroom Sponges
We all know that this is a germ hotspot at home, but who takes care of changing this out at work? Think about all the people that use the communal kitchen – touching the faucets, the handles, the buttons, etc… Usually those spots are taken care of regularly, but sometimes the little things (like the sponge) goes unnoticed.
Elevator Buttons
You may have heard of this one before too, but the buttons in an elevator get touched by dozens, if not hundreds of people every day. How often do you catch a cleaning crew scrubbing an elevator? We rest our case.
Mats and Carpets
This one might seem obvious too. People track mud, and dirt, and who knows what else onto the foyer carpets and door mats. That’s what they’re there for. Those mats have all sorts of germs — and so does your shoe. Now, we highly doubt that many of you are crawling around on these door mats, so what’s the worry? Well when you get home at night and take your shoes off, where do you touch?
Conference Room Phone
It belongs in the conference room, so nobody really takes a lot of ownership of cleaning this device. However, during a meeting when you need to mute it so you can discuss something as a private group everybody’s pushing those buttons…
Candy Bowl
Most offices have one of these. Usually it’s placed on the reception desk or in the break room or kitchen. It’s pretty much a habit to reach in as you walk by, right? Yeah… for everybody else too. And how often do you see it being washed?
As always: if you remember to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your mouth, eyes, and nose, skip the handshake when possible, get plenty of sleep and make sure you’re eating right, you should be just fine. These are just tips to help you be more aware of the things around you.
To learn more or if you have any questions feel free to contact us anytime! Our customer care representatives are available via telephone: (800) 277-0208, online chat: at the bottom of this page, or email: [email protected].
