Touching door handles with sleeve of top

[asblindasabat]

Does anyone else do this? I only do it in public, I don’t do it in my own home though. The thought of touching door handles in public grosses me.

@MrsTerryPratchett No... I'm not a gymnast...

@MrsTerryPratchett you've actually made me laugh out loud that you thought I'd be putting my foot on a door you clearly have to use your hand on. I pictured it in my head and it made me laugh so thank you

I rarely use public toilets when I’m out (eg shopping).

I use the loo at work sparingly and have seen some truly horrific sights as well as witnessing colleagues failing to wash their hands. I therefore put on gloves whenever I have to open any doors in the office as they are unfortunately push down handle doors. I carry the gloves at all times. I’m thankfully only there 4 times a month.

It’s perfectly ok to use your hands. You can’t possibly avoid touching everything that other people have touched. You just need to wash your hands before touching your face or eating food.

I will not, however, put my bum on a public toilet. Because putting my bum where other bums have been is worse than putting my hands where other hands have been. Not to mention the horror of a splash back from water in a toilet where other peoples wee and poo have been!

You just need to wash your hands before touching your face or eating food.

Is this theatre of the absurd? Because if I use my hand to open the door of the public toilets when I'm out shopping, say, then I have to go back in and wash my hands, because touching the face happens unconsciously a lot of the time. Then I touch the door on the way out and have to go back and wash my hands, ad infinitum!

I will not, however, put my bum on a public toilet.

Oh, great. You're one of the ones leaving the Jackson Pollock splatter paintings of piss on the seat for other women to absentmindedly sit on. Hygienic.

I will not, however, put my bum on a public toilet

I hope you clean it afterwards. Horrid habit. And by way of condign payback bad for the bladder:

wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/dont-hover-over-the-toilet-seat

www.healthywomen.org/content/article/sit-dont-hover-when-using-toilet

I just don my hazmat suit whenever I'm out in public. So much safer than all this tissue and clothing sleeves lark.

Yes because germs are well known to be completely foiled by tissue paper and ladies sleeves.

Ffs. Of course I don't do this. I've seen one person in my life do it and I assumed she had some kind of anxiety disorder.

I am rather shocked to read how fearful some posters are of 'germs'. We do have an immune system and in order for it to function it needs to be exposed to the everyday risks we face. Humanity got to where we are now without for the most part having hand sanitisers, sprays that kill 99% of household germs, toilet paper, or even basic hand washing facilities.

I am not saying that we shouldn't exercise basic hygiene, but we should guard against going over the top in our measures to keep ourselves healthy. There is a school of thought that says the amount of children these days who have allergies is caused by our obsession with having to be clean.

I do wonder what precautions are taken some of those posting on this topic before they either give, or receive, oral sex. Nothing less than a vigorous going over with a wire brush and Dettol would seem to suffice.

I don't do it, and am rarely ill. I've not had covid and have just had my first cold in just under two years, which I believe I caught from a visitor - who never touched any of the doorknobs in my house! Why can't you just wash your hands?

I am rather shocked to read how fearful some posters are of 'germs'. We do have an immune system and in order for it to function it needs to be exposed to the everyday risks we face. Humanity got to where we are now without for the most part having hand sanitisers, sprays that kill 99% of household germs, toilet paper, or even basic hand washing facilities.

Yes, it makes you wonder how humanity survived. My parents and grandparents never dreamed of this level of insanity and yet somehow made it to their mid/late eighties.

It is well known that door handles, light switches and hand rails are major sources of transmission of things like Norovirus and flu. They are called touch points.

I do it. But I think I'm one of those strange people who don't use my clothing as a utensil for eating. For the ones saying it's weird because you can't wash your clothing while out and thus 'just wash your hands' well I just don't tend to use my sleeve as a spoon.

Listen I'm sure I'm nuts, germphobic etc but it's a habit that started as a teenager and lasted. We all have our quirks I guess.

When I was a student of microbiology, we went around the uni testing all sorts of surfaces for the presence of fecal bacteria. I was shocked to see how high the count was for toilet door handles, so you're not wrong op.

No, I don't do this. And I never get ill! (Half a day off sick in the past 17 years of employment.)

I will preface this by saying I am usually aghast at the lengths some MNers go to to avoid the dreaded germs. Only yesterday my mind was noddles by someone who washes all clothes after going to the dentist.

However, having done some research about this as part of my job, this is one thing I do do in public toilets. Not so much the cubicle door as I know I will be washing my hands after. But if there is an outer door to the loos, I don’t touch that. I’ll try and use my elbow / shoulder if it opens outwards, a sleeve / skirt if it opens inwards. As a PP said, there is a reason, apart from traffic flow, why many public toilets are designed without an outer door.

The door handles are often dirtier than the toilet seats. Which puts paid to the hoverers’ logic!

Yes but my reason is because I hate touching things that other people have made wet. The idea of touching a mysteriously wet door handle and making my hands wet freaks me out. The same goes for wet tap handles, counter tops, sanything really.

What is with all the germ threads at the moment?

I’ve always touched things in public with my hands and I’m not any more ill than the next person. If I saw someone do it id think they were childish.