Have you ever noticed someone walk straight out of a public restroom without washing his hands? Have you heard of someone who lives by the rule of “if it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down”? What about people that sneeze directly into their hands? This summer, I’ve seen my fair share of disgusting human behavior.

I’ve seen tons of guys walk right past the restroom sinks. If you are one of those guys, read every bit of this column!

I don’t get it. If you don’t know how to wash your hands, Google it. I wonder how many unwashed, filthy hands I’ve shaken.

According to the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH), our hands bring us into contact with disease-causing bacteria and viruses every day. According to Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services, not washing your hands can lead to diseases spread through fecal-oral transmission. Infections that can be transmitted include salmonellosis, hepatitis A, giardiasis, enterovirus and amebiasis (to name a few). Most of these infections are easily treated, but amebiasis is quite serious.

According to the World Health Organization, 70,000 people die due to amebiasis annually worldwide. Amebiasis infections can last for years. Luckily, for those of us stateside, amebiasis rarely occurs. It affects people that live in moist, temperate climates throughout the world.

You should always wash your hands before handling food, setting the table, eating, treating a scrape or cut, tending to someone who is sick and putting in or taking out contact lenses.

You should wash your hands after using the restroom, changing diapers, coughing, sneezing, preparing food, handling wounds, playing with animals, handling dirty dishes, being around people who are sick and taking out the garbage.

Now, for your handy dandy, hand-washing instructions straight from the MSDH! Proper hand-washing takes at least 20 seconds. To properly wash your hands: wet your hands under warm running water and apply some soap, lather up and rub your hands together hard to scrub dirt and germs away. Always wash hands front and back and between fingers. Wash around your wrists and under your nails, rinse well with warm water and (lastly) dry your hands completely with a clean cloth or (even better) a paper towel.

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.” This statement and the act itself are completely revolting to me. I heard two guys talk about it in the restroom once.

Apparently, there are no health risks to this.

It’s even considered to be ‘green.’ In areas of the world where drought is frequent, selective flushing (as it’s called) is strongly encouraged. Most toilets use at least 1.6 gallons of water per flush, if you skip two flushes a day, this saves up to 1,168 gallons of water per year. I won’t discourage anyone from selective flushing anymore, but don’t expect me to follow this rule. I’ll have to live with my environmental sins.

Sneezing in your hand is another thing that completely freaks me out. Most people think that sneezing in your hand is fine, but if you don’t immediately wash your hands, then you’ve pretty much spread those germs everywhere. The Centers for Disease Control say you should cough or sneeze into your sleeve or elbow. Especially during flu season, someone near you can breathe in your air or touch a surface contaminated with your germs and become ill.

If you see someone doing something disgusting, feel free to call them out or give them step-by-step instructions. You’ll save a life, sort of, or enter a completely awkward situation in a restroom.