Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Name something unhygienic/disgusting but people do it

334 replies

stoow · 02/07/2025 06:43

I start off:
. Holding money their mouths. It’s mainly an elderly person thing. Friends working in retail see this often. Even in mask wearing days, customers lowered masks to do this, yet denied it.
. Going to the toilet and not flushing
. Washing chicken out. People don’t realise that this can spray bacteria around. Cooking it properly will kill bacteria.
. Coughing without covering mouth. Even with Covid, people are still doing this.
. Not washing hands after using loo. In public toilets, I use hand sanitiser as seen people from certain cultures spit and mums letting their toddler DS to wee in the basins.
. On planes, people walking barefooted especially in toilets. With the quick turnaround of planes, the staff can’t clean everywhere

OP posts:
Biffsboys · 02/07/2025 10:14

OldWomanInACardigan · 02/07/2025 08:52

............."It’s mainly an elderly person thing." How very patronising. I'm elderly (66) and have never done that. Nor have I ever had a tissue or hanky up my sleeve.

Edited

66 is not elderly 😳

NotSmallButFunSize · 02/07/2025 10:10

Sahara123 · 02/07/2025 09:07

I do quite a lot of these …. I don’t remember the last time I had a cold or a tummy bug

Exactly - came to say this.

sonoonetoldyoulifewasgonnabethisway · 02/07/2025 10:08

putting your finger over 1 nostril and blowing it out the other one, like with out a hanky

anything to do with flem, someone clears their throat and spits it out and i'm over in the corner borking

people eating snot - i'm borking typing this

men that sit with their hands down their pants

keeping every single plastic takeaway tub we receive

peeing in the garden because its easier than going upstairs

spitting in general

Cherrytree86 · 02/07/2025 10:06

AndImBrit · 02/07/2025 09:54

It didnt have my spit on it, it was held between my lips while my hands did something else and the money was perfectly dry.

As you have stated, it’s already covered in germs so I’m not sure I materially changed the germ profile of the cash, and it’s now in my wallet - I didn’t spit it at a cashier.

I’d rather have money that had been in someone’s mouth like that than down a sweaty bra which seems to be broadly acceptable.

@AndImBrit

thats not acceptable. Put your money in a purse or a wallet not in your gob or down your bra or down your pants or whatever.

RabbitsRock · 02/07/2025 10:01

I work on a till & really hate when customers put notes in their mouth before handing them to me. Lovely!

RabbitsRock · 02/07/2025 10:00

Cannot bear when people let their dogs lick their face! Just think where that dog has likely been! On Celebrity Googlebox, Vicky from Geordie Shore let her dog take a snack from her mouth! Gross!
Not washing hands after the loo then helping themselves to the salad bar for example. Goodness knows what’s lurking in those!
Parents changing their babies’ dirty nappies in public rather than using the facilities.
People doing the loudest most disgustingly wet sounding sniffs. Yuck!

Denimrules · 02/07/2025 09:55

Feeding babies purée from a big bowl directly using a spoon to feed them from the bowl then keeping the leftovers for later consumption.

AndImBrit · 02/07/2025 09:54

Cherrytree86 · 02/07/2025 09:26

@AndImBrit

gross. Why would you put money in your mouth? So many germs on it. Also why do you think anyone else would want to handle it after it’s got your spit and germs on it?? Selfish

It didnt have my spit on it, it was held between my lips while my hands did something else and the money was perfectly dry.

As you have stated, it’s already covered in germs so I’m not sure I materially changed the germ profile of the cash, and it’s now in my wallet - I didn’t spit it at a cashier.

I’d rather have money that had been in someone’s mouth like that than down a sweaty bra which seems to be broadly acceptable.

BeanQuisine · 02/07/2025 09:52

RhaenysRocks · 02/07/2025 07:16

Not washing every towel after every use

Not getting up in the middle of the night to change the bedding..gross to have a WHOLE night in one set

Breathing within 20ft of another person

Allowing food waste to drop from their body without a hermetically sealed chamber and then NOT scrubbing with bleach afterwards

Eating anything except green leafy veg grown in their own garden in filtered air

Using anything that anyone else have ever touched ever.

I've been on MN too long 🤣

Eating crisps out of a packet with their bare hands, instead of using a clean pair of pliers.

hayfeverforever · 02/07/2025 09:51

dogs sleeping in beds 🤢 and licking off plates 🤮 some people are just pure filth.

Mademetoxic · 02/07/2025 09:40

Cherrytree86 · 02/07/2025 09:20

SPITTING! If you spit you should be fined. End of.

oh and I don’t think it happens so much these days , but shop assistants licking their fingers to open carrier bags. They should get a disciplinary for that.

I work in a shop and people lick their fingers all the time to get money from their wallets. 🤢

AutumnFog · 02/07/2025 09:39

SparklyGlitterballs · 02/07/2025 07:22

That's me off to hell then. My little dog won't sleep anywhere else and as I'm otherwise alone in bed, I'm happy to have him there.

You'll likely be a walking allegen to a lot of people 😅 DDs teacher had to change their seating plan last year because the boy she was sat by slept with his cat on his bed and sitting by him was triggering her allergy almost as much as if they'd had a cat in the room

chocolatemademefat · 02/07/2025 09:38

Eating something then licking fingers clean - where have those hands been.

Snorting snot onto the pavement - never seen a female doing this.

Going around with food crusted on the corners of the mouth - use a bloody napkin.

going barefoot on public transport shouldn’t be allowed - feet are UGLY and should be covered up.

People bragging about how long they go between clean bedclothes - dirty bastards.

Cherrytree86 · 02/07/2025 09:37

Gall10 · 02/07/2025 09:28

Allowing children to sit/ stand in shopping trollies WITH SHOES ON!
I’d bar anyone doing this from the supermarket for life!
Filthy, dirty, disgusting behaviour….far worse than not closing a loo seat or leaving suds on the dishes!

Yes! This! They could have trodden in dog shit, spit, piss anything and then that’s being transferred to the bottom of a shopping trolley where your food is

DancingFerret · 02/07/2025 09:37

InMyOpenOnion · 02/07/2025 06:56

Sitting on the train sniffing for ages and not blowing their nose so we can all hear them sucking up their snot the entire journey.

We had to listen to a Japanese (I think) man sniffing loudly all the way from Heathrow to San Francisco. Apparently, nose-blowing in public is unacceptable to some cultures. I know which I prefer.🙄

KimberleyClark · 02/07/2025 09:36

Putting the lid down to flush the loo and then not lifting it to check it has flushed properly.

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 02/07/2025 09:36

Gall10 · 02/07/2025 09:28

Allowing children to sit/ stand in shopping trollies WITH SHOES ON!
I’d bar anyone doing this from the supermarket for life!
Filthy, dirty, disgusting behaviour….far worse than not closing a loo seat or leaving suds on the dishes!

You do realise rats and birds piss and shit all over shopping trolleys, right?

I think some kids shoes are the least of your problems there 🤣

ComtesseDeSpair · 02/07/2025 09:35

ObtuseMoose · 02/07/2025 08:53

What on earth are you putting in the bathroom bin that needs bagging and removing from the house immediately?

I’m wondering if this poster lives in a part of the world where plumbing and sewerage isn’t geared up for modern volumes, so it’s customary to put the paper you’ve wiped with into the bathroom bin rather than flush down the toilet because it will clog the pipes.

Yerroblemom1923 · 02/07/2025 09:33

randomchap · 02/07/2025 08:55

Rather tricky to put your own in

Or points for manual dexterity!

PandoraSocks · 02/07/2025 09:32

StrawberrySquash · 02/07/2025 09:09

You forgot then cleaning the toilet with that week's new loo brush

Gross. I replace the toilet every time.

Gall10 · 02/07/2025 09:28

Allowing children to sit/ stand in shopping trollies WITH SHOES ON!
I’d bar anyone doing this from the supermarket for life!
Filthy, dirty, disgusting behaviour….far worse than not closing a loo seat or leaving suds on the dishes!

Cherrytree86 · 02/07/2025 09:26

AndImBrit · 02/07/2025 09:25

How weird. I’m mid 30s and held a twenty pound note between my lips earlier this week, I wouldn’t think twice about it. But MN would probably burn me at the stake for my hygiene levels. I am very rarely ill though, so it’s not impacting my wellbeing.

@AndImBrit

gross. Why would you put money in your mouth? So many germs on it. Also why do you think anyone else would want to handle it after it’s got your spit and germs on it?? Selfish

Blondebrownorred · 02/07/2025 09:25

Agree with the dogs in beds point. Also letting dogs lick plates etc.

AndImBrit · 02/07/2025 09:25

SpiralSister · 02/07/2025 09:10

Hard agree. 10 years (admitted only once a week( serving an elderly population. It’s never happened.

I have had people handing me cash in the same hand as their used tissue though! Grim. Although money itself is absolute filth!

How weird. I’m mid 30s and held a twenty pound note between my lips earlier this week, I wouldn’t think twice about it. But MN would probably burn me at the stake for my hygiene levels. I am very rarely ill though, so it’s not impacting my wellbeing.

AndImBrit · 02/07/2025 09:23

Fizbosshoes · 02/07/2025 08:55

I would recycle what you've listed, although our bathroom bin is mainly dental floss, but I wouldn't bother taking that outside at 11pm when I've just brushed my teeth!

I didn’t give a huge amount of detail, but it’s a split bin with a recycle section and a general waste section. The toothpaste tube is non recyclable in my local council but the other bits are in the recycle side!

Swipe left for the next trending thread