Last night I had to use a public restroom. The germaphobe inside of me screams and throws a fit whenever I enter one, but sometimes you do what you gotta do…
As I entered the stall, my eyes caught on something shiny on the floor: a quarter. Cringing at the very thought of picking it up, I went about my business and soon realized, there were more coins on the floor.
I counted them up: one quarter, two dimes and a nickel; 50cents.
Hmmm, 50 cents. Do I take it or leave it?
Mentally, I weighed the pros and cons:
PRO–50 cents is 50cents, I don’t care how you get it. It all spends.
CON–It’s only 50 cents, is that worth touching money that’s been on the bathroom floor?
It was at this moment that I realize that if I don’t pick it up, someone else will. Thats just the facts of life. Someone will pick this up–and use it. Which further made me wonder how much of the change that was currently in my pocket had ever been on the floor of a public restroom–or worse.
I’ll let your minds decide the fate of that particular 50 cents (if it went home with me or someone else) and I’ll pose a question to all of you:
Would YOU have picked it up? It is money and it all spends and chances are you’ve unknowingly touched some with a sketchy past…
Or would you have left it alone?
If you’d have left it alone, how many coins would need to be there minimum to tempt you to pick it up?
(Okay, I wrote this very early this morning and my mind went in all sorts of wrong directions! LOL)
Rose Unscripted 
I would have used my feet to scoot the coins closer to me, then I would have used a paper towel or toilet paper to pick up the coins, and then wash them with the antibacterial soap (money laundering at its finest) usually provided in most public restrooms, dried them with more paper towel, then put them away in my pocket or purse. Hey, fittysent is fittysent, and that would buy me a can of soda in the staff room 😉
Oddly enough, I was at my son’s basketball game and I thought… hmm, I could carry it out in a paper towel and go buy a can of pop at the concession stand! LOL I’m a bad person.
I love this because it can be taken as not just about the actual $0.50 but about picking something up that could eventually benefit you or do you leave it there and let someone else benefit from it while you passed it by. You could pass it by because of the fear whether it be the actual fear of germs or a hypothetical fear. I think when it comes to anything in life no matter how big or how small we need to move past our fears and take the opportunities presented to us. Even if it is just $0.50, you never know when you may miscalculate how much something costs and while it costs $10.49, you only have ten ones in your wallet. At that moment that $0.50 would have helped you dearly. There’s always going to be antibacterial soap and that mini bottle of hand sanatizer in your purse to fall back on! The same with life in general, you may pass on something beneficial because of fear or even inconvenience but we have our faith in God to fall back on.
Good point! (Actually, points.) Fear shouldn’t hold anyone back. Thanks for sharing and putting that into perspective.
I would probably leave it because I’m not in a position where I need it that badly. But if it was something I needed, I would pick it up and wash it as soon as possible. I’ve dropped my wallet/debit card on worse floors and have had the disgusting process of cleaning it up. Then I pretend it never happened in order to stay sane. (God knows I’m one of the clumsiest people on this planet. So many things have fallen out of my pockets over the years.)
I think I have you beat for clumsy. I am ALWAYS dropping things and tripping over things. Unfortunately, I’ve dropped more than 50cents on the floor in the bathroom and had to pick it up, clean it up and force the memory from my mind!
No, it does not matter the coin amount! For the germiphob in me😜. However if I had surgical gloves on me I would have and then those coins would have been washed😂. What can I say I make no sense!
You mean you don’t carry a spare pair with you wherever you go?!
I like to pretend the money is get is clean. LOL I do not want to know the truth.
LOL I t hink we all live in that dream-land.
Considering that I just lost my roomy and am now wondering how I am going to pay all the utilities bills, I can’t afford to pass up money. Then there is the simple fact that I don’t wash or even worry about the other coins in my possession being germ free, so why am I going to worry about these? But then, I am not a germiphob – thank goodness! Coins are filthy no matter where they come from. Sorry. You probably didn’t want to think about that either. 😀
That’s what I was thinking while I was in there. If I don’t pick it up, someone else will which then makes you wonder just where have the coins you already have been… Yeah, I was following you and you didn’t shock me. I always make my kids wash their hands after handling money because you just never know. I once heard money is the dirtiest thing on the planet and I believe it.
Sorry you lost your roomie!
I have no idea whether or not I would have picked it up. It depends on my mood at the time. More than likely, I would have picked it up, covered it in hand gel to disinfect it, and then I would have washed my hands as usual. Not to be too graphic, but I WOULDN’T have picked it up until after I’d used the toilet. I’m one of those people who tear off the end of the toilet paper (holding it a few inches from the end) because I don’t want to use toilet paper someone else might have touched.
You and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to public BR habits, I’m afraid. I not only will not use that end part of the TP, but I tear off TP and use it to lock/unlock the stall door and to flush the toilet. Then at the sink, I pump down some paper towel to start with, then after I use the water, I use that part I already pumped down to turn off the sink and pump down the paper towel I’m going to use to dry my hands then open the door with. I’m not trying to be wasteful, but after so much experience with hospitals and knowing how plentiful germs are (okay, and how disgusting some people are) I don’t take chances I don’t have to. Then of course I leave the BR and touch books or clothes or hangers or whatever is in the store as if they’re perfectly clean.