Thoughts 30 Sep 2007 02:32 pm
Dirty keyboards
This is from PC World:
Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, has studied germs in the workplace and produced a series of entertaining and scary findings, such as the fact there are more germs on a typical ATM than there are on a public restroom door. Gerba has ranked telephones, keyboards, mouses and fax machines as the germiest objects in offices.
“We have jumped to the Electronic Age without bringing hygiene with us — that’s what has happened,” he said. “You learn a lot about people’s habits by turning their computer equipment upside down. It’s amazing. I can see what they’ve been eating for the last year.”
Another thing Gerba said he has found is that women typically have more germs on their keyboards and work surfaces than men do. That’s because women “tend to eat more at their desk,” he said, adding that female workers are two times more likely than their male counterparts to eat over their keyboards. But, he was quick to add, women also tend to be healthier eaters.
It looks to me, like a man’s keyboard may have bread crumbs in it but a woman’s keyboard will have pieces of apple and fruit juice.