to think kids should be taught to wash their hands

[somedayma]

after they use the toilet?

I work in a clothes shop with no customer toilets but obv if a parent says 'my child really needs to go' we will escort them to the staff toilets and then back to the shop floor. The last 3 times I've taken a child & parent to the toilets, the kids haven't washed their hands!

Today I took a woman & her 2ish year old son to the toilets. After they had finished (I have to wait to take them back to the shop floor as the toilets are in a staff only area with private property etc) the woman thanked me and apologised for taking me away from work and i said 'oh it's no bother at all, don't feel rushed, you can wash his hands!'. I was met with a pretty filthy look and silence as we walked back to the shop floor.
On the way to the toilets she'd been v chatty and friendly. I think I offended her...

is hand washing not taught to toddlers?! I don't have kids so I don't know if I'm being unreasonable.

While it's best to wash hands after using the toilet (and we do teach our own children this), aren't you just a little too invested in whether or not a stranger does it? Perhaps she thought it was none of your business. Perhaps she was right.

I really didn't mean "you're disgusting, why are you not taking your child to wash his hands", i only said that because she seemed quite flustered about taking me off the shop floor and i didn't want her to feel like she was being rushed

If that's the case, then you should have just said "oh it's no bother at all, don't feel rushed" and left it at that. It's pretty obvious from your comment that you were being critical of the lack of hand washing, so you actually DID really mean that (as evidenced by your OP).

well yeh I am critical of lack of hand washing. as evident in my OP

they should wash their hands yes or at least direct them to. i would let it go but maybe put up some 'wash your hands' signs

We do have wash your hand signs. I genuinely didn't know if I was being UR as I don't have children and this is not the first time I've thought 'oh. Why are they not going to the sink?!'

Depends if you have one of those noisy hand dryers, they freak my girls out and so we have gel instead

our hand dryer is the worst I've ever experienced. I wish we had a dyson airblade :(

lisad123 my DD has only just been able to use a hand dryer. She would hold her hands over her ears and freak. I always have hand gel too.

Are you sure your toilets arn't filthy. Some public toilets are so filthy its more likely to pick up germs than wash any away.

nah they're v clean, they get cleaned every morn