Washing on the Job

November 8, 2005 7:44 AM

Do you wash up in the bathroom at work before going home?

Recently my husband and I watched Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Blackmail (1929). I was particularily struck by a scene where two plain clothes detectives at Scotland Yard go into the washroom at the end of their working day and meet several others and everyone engages in a good washing up: coats off, face lathering, using towels, hair combing, etc. When I mentioned how odd I thought it was, my husband said it wasn't odd at all-- he always washs in the restroom before coming home-- in fact his contract specifies this; he has a five minute period before lunch and a five minute period before going home set aside to wach his hands. Not only that, but in looking back over his series of jobs, he has always washed up before going home. He says it has become a ritual marking the end of the working day.

This is the first I've heard of such a thing. I've worked in a lot of jobs, but I have never gone into the bathroom before going home so that I can wash my hands. Is this a cultural thing? A gender difference? A habit? Should I be washing up before going home?

posted by Secret Life of Gravy to society & culture (28 comments total)

Well, I do, but I work as a research chemist, so sometimes not washing up before using the bathroom is too much of a risk. I wouldn't say it's a ritual for me, more of a precaution.
posted by jenovus at 7:48 AM on November 8, 2005

In university I was worked at a union job, there was 5 minutes or something for washing up. I never used it though in retrospect other people did. I think the difference was that I was a student and the rest of the guys were crufty old union members who made damn sure that they made use of every benefit they had.
posted by substrate at 7:48 AM on November 8, 2005

I have known people who freshen up before going home (hair combed, fresh lipstick applied) although I am not one of them.
posted by orange swan at 7:51 AM on November 8, 2005

I've never heard of such a thing either (I'm in the U.S., in a legislative office job). Around here, the only reason you'd need to wash up before going home is if you got knocked down and trampled by the stampede of people grabbing their stuff and leaving at 5 sharp. Unless we're staying very late at night, in which case one might want to wash up to remove the pizza grease.
posted by JanetLand at 7:53 AM on November 8, 2005

What kind of job does your husband do?
posted by smackfu at 7:55 AM on November 8, 2005

Any shop I've worked in allowed paid time to wash up at the end of the day. I've never seen this in IT.
posted by Mitheral at 7:57 AM on November 8, 2005

Well, one of the defining things of being a lab worker is washing your hands both before and after using the washroom. It only take one incident with solvent to make this clear to most people.
posted by bonehead at 7:59 AM on November 8, 2005

It might just be tradition left over from "manly" dirty jobs after which you really needed to clean yourself.
posted by lazy-ville at 8:02 AM on November 8, 2005

Let me make sure I'm being perfectly clear, this isn't about washing your hands after going to the bathroom, it is about washing your hands/face after work before going home. Something I never thought to do even when I worked as a waitress, dental assistant, or plant nursery worker. In all of those jobs I washed my hands when I needed to (such as in between each patient or after removing my gloves) but not necessarily just because I was leaving work and going home.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:10 AM on November 8, 2005

nope; however it's common in chile to brush your teeth after lunch. i walked into the men's room yesterday and someone was busy brushing his teeth while standing at the urinal... yay for multi-tasking!
posted by andrew cooke at 8:20 AM on November 8, 2005

My Dad used to wash up before he came home, I'm pretty sure. But he worked the kind of job that resulted in grease on your hands and grime on your face.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:22 AM on November 8, 2005

i've been trying to get into this habit after a parenting book recommended it. the basic idea is that you want to reduce the number of work germs and smells that you bring home to your kids. i don't get that dirty at work, other than touching my filthy keyboard all day, so who knows how useful it is but I thought it was a nice idea and provides a little ritual to transition my mind from work to home stuff
posted by jacobsee at 9:20 AM on November 8, 2005

No and never seen anyone else do it either, but we're all subway or bussers - it would be kinda pointless.
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:28 AM on November 8, 2005

I often go to the ladies room to wash up at the end of the day and touch up my makeup and hair. I work in an office and most of my female colleagues do the same. One of my old co-workers termed it the "fluff and buff".
posted by missmerrymack at 9:41 AM on November 8, 2005

no
posted by ajbattrick at 9:41 AM on November 8, 2005

I'm a student and stay at home mom and I have my watch set to beep at 4:30 to remind me to wash my hands and face. Since my day lacks the formal structure of an office job I like to make up little rituals like this to mark time. The 4:30 washup is when the afternoon ends and the evening begins (start thinking about dinner, etc).
posted by selfmedicating at 9:42 AM on November 8, 2005

I once did some admin work at a cold storage facility. The facility turned a container (as in "container ship" container - I don't know if there is another technical term?) into a shower for the guys who drove the forklifts and did manual labor. I remember asking my boss why someone would want to shower in a filthy retro-fitted container rather than just showering when they went home. He told me that it was a cultural thing (this was at the port of Miami and all the workers were either latin american or hatian) and the men felt that it was emasculating to go home dirty.
posted by necessitas at 9:48 AM on November 8, 2005

It's somewhat old-fashioned, and it's for the same reason that you would wash up before going out for the evening -- you want to look presentable to strangers when you go out, you want to look presentable to your spouse when you come home.
posted by desuetude at 10:19 AM on November 8, 2005

I've never heard of such a thing until just now.
posted by gyc at 10:43 AM on November 8, 2005

Another lab worker (biology) - I wash up after handling biologicals when needed, but I also wash my hands/face before leaving at the end of the day.

It's (cool splash of water/warm splash of water - weather dependant) a nice way to just "freshen up," especially if I'm headed out to dinner or something instead of heading home.

I have a lot of friends in the machinery business and some wash up at the end of the day, some don't. The don't's correlates well with increased body weight (although my sample size isn't very big).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 10:52 AM on November 8, 2005

I have never heard of this in my life either. (I've worked cubicle jobs my whole life after college) If I was going to go somewhere special straight after work, I might brush my hair, re-apply some makeup, but I haven't done that in years.
I'm curious too -- what does your husband do for a living? (I'm mostly curious that he has a work contract in the US.. I thought that concept was dead)
posted by j at 12:37 PM on November 8, 2005

Yeah, a half-day stint in the lab can leave you pretty much dead on your feet a lot of the time. Sorry if my first answer was just referring to pre-/post-bathroom wash; I often splash my face a few times (once the hands are clean).
posted by jenovus at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005

I'm curious too -- what does your husband do for a living? (I'm mostly curious that he has a work contract in the US.. I thought that concept was dead)

He sorts packages for the U.S. Post Office. I mean it makes perfect sense to me to wash after handling all those packages (who knows where they have been?) except that he works nights and often doesn't work at all the last hour or so of his shift. He sits and reads. But he still washes up.

Furthermore, he did this before he started working for the USPS-- when he moved mattresses for a mattress store, when he worked in an automotive supply store and when he worked at a Mobil Home Sales Lot.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:47 PM on November 8, 2005

I wash up before going home and again immediately on arriving home. I also wash my hands frequently during the day.

I am a doctor, though, and we are taught to do this to prevent the spread of infection.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:20 PM on November 8, 2005

There are a couple of women at my workplace who wash their faces on the way out. I assumed they were going out to something after work, it never occured to me they'd be doing it to go home. There are some dirtier factory jobs there though, so that may be it.
posted by jheiz at 3:31 PM on November 8, 2005

I'm going with the dirty factory job....

Or possibly this:
50+ years ago, showers/baths were...well, less frequent. So, this washing up, kept faces/hands cleaner.
posted by filmgeek at 9:04 PM on November 8, 2005

Late to the party here, but but in case anybody's still checking... I've worked blue collar jobs. First in a railroad yard, then in a large printing plant. Both jobs were so grimy that if you didn't clean up a bit and change clothes you'd get your car grimy on the drive home.

There was a guy nicknamed "Cadillac" at the rail yard who would leave the place looking like he as an insurance salesman. The story told was he didn't want his neighbors to know he performed manual labor.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:05 AM on November 9, 2005

I work as a nurse and apart from having to wash my hands many times through out my shift always have a quick spruce up before I go home, which includes washing my hands and giving my moustache a quick straightening to make sure I'm all in order before heading home.
posted by mule at 4:04 PM on November 9, 2005