Do you use paper toweling to open public bathroom doors?

I'm not a germ freak or have OCD. But I try to use the paper toweling I dry my hand off with to open the door. Am I the only one who does this?

or my sleeve.

You just never know who didn't wash their hands and went through the door. But I guess that is true with every door out there.

vending machine button... yup.

I carry hand sanitizer in my purse.

Yuck yuck! I just see that person sneezing and then grabbing the handle!

no cross contamination here

CB

parts of my hand that are unlikely to touch my food/face. Also, I typically use hand sanitizer after leaving the bathroom...

Otherwise I just shove it open with my foot.

You can always spot the nurse in a public bathroom. She/he is the one who turns the taps off with a paper towel. What? You want me to touch the same tap I turned on with my dirty hands with my now clean ones?

No, I don't have OCD: what I have is a Master's degree in Public Health.

you say you're not a germ freak but i honestly don't know how you could ever go anywhere if you're this fearful

Take a microbiology course and you'll understand.

Khash, not squeamish.

Every time.

And, to go you one further, I don't wash my hands in the bathroom at my office-- I wait until I return to my desk and use an anti-bacterial hand sanitizer simply because our men's room is pretty... filthy (to put it lightly).

(I worked in the medical community for six years and sat in on one too many in-services about hygiene)

so i don't see the connection, sorry

The human body is quite resilient and resistent to germs. I think our society worries far too much about them, and our environment suffers even more.

or public places I just don't touch the doors, especially during flu season.

before I started this habit I had the flu yearly and usually a couple colds a year. now I don't.

it's anecdotal at best, but I can only share my experience :shrug:

Or I pull my hand inside my sleeve. Hate touching the handle on the door! ick

I am not ill very often either.

but, oddly, I flush the toilet with my foot even though I wash my hands after using the bathroom.

:crazy:

The correct position of the trashcan in any public restroom is next to the door so this can be accomplished. Not kidding. True.

hands after using the bathroom is pretty big.

after using the facilities. If I could I would wear a paper jumpsuit as well.

I've seen and heard too many men leaving the rest room without washing up. I ain't touchin' that handle if I can help it.

If that bathroom door handle is filthy, so is any other surface that bathroom users subsequently touch.

Face it, bacteria are everywhere. Trying to avoid them all is impossible. Besides, we coexist peacefully with most of them.

byproducts of someone else's use of the toilet. Ick.

At least they are to me! :puke:

i don't mean to be rude, but it's a serious question

why would you ever shake anyone's hand if you felt this way?

btw, healthy urine is sterile anyway, i wish guys did more than just "shake off" after they whizzed, but i'm not their mommy and i can't control what they do -- i can only control what i do -- and i conclude that worrying about grown people not washing their hands is just harming my mental health (and wasting more trees in the case of the compulsive paper towel users) without any positive result possible


we are constantly opening other doors, shaking people's hands, trading business cards and other papers back and forth...if germs were that easy to spread, it would be hopeless if we didn't go gloved all day long

avoid all nasty germs out there. But when you are in the bathroom and you know what we all do in there, it is easier to take that extra step to stay away from bodily fluids. And urine may be sterile but yuck!

That about one-third of the dry weight of feces is bacteria?

http://www.jem.org/cgi/reprint/14/4/433.pdf

(Just something I once learned in a microbiology class...)

Kinda wish I still didn't know that.

:P

If they only have air dryers, I'll use my foot.

I've seen FAR too many nasty fuckers leave without washing their hands to be touching things willy nilly. x(

...and if I ever find out who is dribbling on the toilet seats....grrrrrr!

actually i don't but this is the longe afterall

I'm amazed at how filthy many people are.

I open the door using the towel or tissue then toss the towel or tissue into the garbage can while holding the door open with my foot.

I use hand sanitizer after every trip to a store or most any public place where I have to touch surfaces like knobs and handles and buttons.

(using my little finger or some other portion not likely to contact food or mucous membranes, for example). It seems handwashing in public restrooms is a lost art and I know too much about hygiene to ignore the dangers.

I broadened my suite of precautions while working in health care facilities but I've always been aware of crosscontamination and food and other hygiene. I'm very, very rigorous with cleanliness in the kitchen, too, and think a lot of people would be surprised if they were to dye some potentially nasty item and trace where the dye shows up within their kitchen.

I'm not Howard Hughes-like in my desire to minimize contact with potential pathogens, though, and it seems from responses to this thread that many here seem to think you're either incredibly uptight about cleanliness or absolutely laissez-faire. I've many times basically ignored much in the way of food hygiene and can't help but think that growing up in the great outdoors and accruing all sorts of punctures and other wounds untended by hydrogen peroxide (never used that 'til I met my American wife) or alcohol -- or anything else -- contributed to a degree of robustness that many who diligently avoid 'germs' never attain. Still, some of these microbeasties out there, lurking in hot dog packages, on restroom door handles, on money, and elsewhere, can sicken and even kill the most hardy and compromise the most intact immune system. In my job I handle a lot of money and touch and am touched by a lot of people, many of whom demonstrate execrable hygiene standards (does anyone these days at least cover their mouths and noses when they cough or sneeze?), and I just make sure I don't touch my mouth or eyes with my fingers until I've washed them thoroughly.

So, yeah, if the restroom actually does have paper towels I'll use them to both turn off the tap and to open the door. It's an easy and worthwhile way to exercise Universal Precautions in a world where a majority of idiots seem content to spread their coliform and other personal greeblies willy-nilly about the landscape.