Wipe them down

I’m sure many of you may have noticed grocery stores offering sanitary wipes for customers to use to wipe down shopping carts. And starting in February, the Rutter’s stores will have Purell dispensers by the doors.

For my story that will run in tomorrow’s paper, I went out to grocery stores and gas stations and scoped out the number of people who used the various antibacterial products that each store offered.

Let me tell you, after watching people cough, sneeze and practically spit all over their hands before touching their shopping carts, I will never not use the wipes. I mean that’s just nasty. Think of all those germs getting passed from one person to the next. No wonder we all have colds that seem to last forever in the winter.

But no one does it better than the cruise ships. I can only speak to Royal Caribbean because that’s the line I’ve been on, but they knew what they were doing. Every time I walked into the buffet-style eatery on board an attendant was standing there to offer me a hand wipe.

It wasn’t a suggestion, like, “Hey, you’re about to eat, you should probably take a wipe.” It was mandatory. You weren’t allowed in unless you wiped down your hands.

I attempted to stroll by the attendant once because I wasn’t planning to eat. I was just looking to see if my friends had sat down for breakfast yet, but I couldn’t even enter the restaurant without taking a wipe.

Kudos to you Royal Caribbean for forcing everyone to use them.

When I stood at the grocery stores and gas stations, I watched tons and tons of people pass by without giving the antibacterial products a second glance. I don’t get it. If it’s there, why wouldn’t you use it?