A
six-year veteran of the Department of Corrections recently told me that a
cellmate spitting toothpaste in the sink after brushing was his biggest peeve.
I asked how he rinsed his toothbrush. This confused him. I explained:
"When you rinse your toothbrush under the faucet, the bacteria that were
in your mouth swirl and splash all around the basin you're refusing to spit
in."
He said, "Yeah, but I guess not as much."
I don't know whence the compulsion springs, but nearly every prisoner whose
acquaintance I've made has been downright fanatical about the cleanliness of
his sink basin. He won't spit in it after brushing his teeth — heavens, no, that's what the toilet's for! — and wipes every drop of moisture out of it after washing his hands. Why?
No inmates have been able to satisfactorily explain the anti-spit policy. The
most insightful acknowledge it's a psychological quirk, but even they can't
enlighten me further.
I've been imprisoned now for eighteen years. Many have been the occasions when
I've used the water faucet in the utility closet. Many have been the occasions
when I found soggy noodles, tiny cauliflower florets, or a sliver of roast beef
stuck in the drain grate. Such is their aversion to using their own sink that
these people will drain excess liquids from their dinner bowl into a communal
sink. Very few seem to clean up their messes afterward. Worse, as sometimes
happens, that stuff will end up clogging a shower drain. Any port in a storm, I
guess.
On a seemingly related note, I have watched with my own eyes as the same
characters with clean-sink fixations sop water from their toilet with a rag
they then use to "clean" their cell floors, walls, and doors. To
rinse his rag, each has an identical method, dunking the cloth and flushing two
or three times.
There are some around here, I've heard it said, who use a similar technique to
wash laundry in the toilet. How they also might feel about the subject of sink
cleanliness is not a subject I'm knowledgeable enough to address at this time.
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Byron does not have Internet access. Pariahblog.com posts are sent from his cell by way of a secure service especially for prisoners' use. We do read him your comments, however, and he enjoys hearing your thoughts very much.