I bet I know what you’re thinking: a blog on hand washing sounds like the most boring thing in the world. Didn’t everyone learn how to wash their hands in kindergarten? Well, maybe they did, but most likely, they don’t still give hand washing the full attention it deserves. To prove this point, I hung out in the HowStuffWorks bathroom this morning, hoping to catch my fellow staff members making egregious hand washing mistakes, such as not applying soap or not washing for long enough or worst of all, skipping the task altogether.

Here’s what I learned: You look creepy when you hang out in the bathroom with a notepad. I also learned that very few people go to the restroom at around 9:45. Perhaps that first cup of coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. But don’t take my word on hand washing slacker. Feast your eyes on this article from the Chicago Tribune, which reports that 54 percent of people haven’t changed their hand washing habits since hearing about H1N1/2009, commonly known as swine flu.