When I was young, my mom would purchase new Easter dresses, sometimes even hats, accompanied by patent leather shoes and white gloves for my sisters and me. She admonished us to never wear jewelry over our gloves (tacky) and to always remove them before dinner was served. (Very Tacky.) Mostly obedient, my Mickey Mouse watch stayed home during Easter festivities.
This holiday, there’s no need for new Easter outfits, and hand sanitizer and protective latex gloves have become more valuable than golden eggs.
Medical professionals wear protective gloves to prevent the spread of germs to themselves or their patients. We mere mortals have begun wearing gloves to the grocery store, pushing the cart, squeezing tomatoes, scrolling on our phones, assuming our gloves are protecting us against coronavirus germs. With them on, we dig through our purse or wallet to find cash or credit cards. When we get into the car, gloves are discarded into the grocery basket or tossed in the parking lot. What poor manners!
Whatever we touch with our glove is transferred in the same way it would be if we touched it with our bare hands. Our gloves have become a type of second skin for us.
According to the Center for Disease Control, wearing gloves improperly may create a false sense of safety that offers us and others little or no protection. Ironically, gloves can make things worse.
Coronavirus comes in through our face – our eyes, our mouth, our nose. If you are more comfortable wearing gloves, think about what you touch when wearing them and carefully pull them on and off.
Here’s the PROPER way the CDC is asking us to pull off latex gloves:
- Grasp the outside of one glove at the wrist. Do not touch your bare skin.
- Peel the glove away from your body, pulling it inside out.
- Hold the glove you just removed in your gloved hand.
- Peel off the second glove by putting your fingers inside the glove at the top of your wrist.
- Turn the second glove inside out while pulling it away from your body, leaving the first glove inside the second.
- Dispose of the gloves safely. (Please don’t leave them in the grocery basket or parking lot.) Do not reuse contaminated gloves.
- Clean your hands immediately after removing gloves.
With our without gloves, if you pick up a product in the grocery store, please don’t put it back. Buy it, carry it home, and wash it before putting it away.
Be mindful about placing your groceries in the trunk of your car instead of on the seat. Sanitize your car door handle, trunk latch, keys, groceries and anything else you’ve touched. Make a quick beeline to the bathroom as soon as you get home to wash your hands FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS. Make sure to scrub those fingernails while you’re at it.
Be nice, be clean, and if you choose gloves, behave properly in them.
Sincerely,
Ms. Corporate Manners
