I'd rather kiss a toilet seat!

I can still remember this line from Home Alone 2.

Kate McCallister: Why don't you just sit up here for a while and think things over. When you're ready to apologize to Buzz and to the rest of the family, you can come down.

Kevin McCallister: I'm not apologizing to Buzz. I'd rather kiss a toilet seat!

I had heard in a radio perhaps 2 years ago that the toilet seat is much cleaner than my desk. I took time to search about this and found one from University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County. Based on the article, according to a 2001 survey by the University of Arizona Microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba (funded by Clorox), an office desk may contain 400 times more germs than an office toilet seat, the telephone and desktop had the most germs followed by the keyboard and computer mouse. The number of germs per square inch on these office stuffs were:

• Phone : 25, 127
  
• Desktop: 20, 961
  
• Computer Keyboard: 3, 295
  
• Computer Mouse: 1, 676
  
• Toilet Seat: 49

Image source

We all know that maintenance people seldom clean office desktops, phones, et al and that this chore is usually left to us. The crumbs on the desktop may even attract more bacteria. Too bad for me, I'm forced to eat at my desk. Should I rather eat on the toilet seat? Nah. The article says,

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Qoute:

If you feel you MUST eat at your desk, clean the surface with a disinfecting wipe. Gerba's study found the number of illness-causing microorganisms could be reduced up to 99.9 percent on office surfaces when they were cleaned daily with a disinfecting wipe. Always read and follow usage directions and precautions on the label of cleaning products before each use.

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