to think that you should WASH YOUR HANDS after going to the loo? ALL of you!

[MsOnatopp]

The amount of times I am in a public bathroom and women come out of the cubicle, look at themselves in the mirror, touch their hair, and then walk out without washing their hands is ridiculous. At least a quarter. No exaggeration.

Is it just where I live? Does it happen where you are?

There is nothing, NOTHING you could do in a cubicle that does not require hand washing afterwards.

I am seriously tempted every time to chase the woman out and publicly shout 'Ew, please wash your hands. That is so gross' to humiliate them into washing in future. OK, yes that would be BU but so tempting.

I'm sorry, this is more of a rant than an AIBU.

NameChangeGalore What did she think you were using the paper towels for?

ithaka Actually I do that too. Wild pooing doesn't bother me in the slightest. Public toilets do though.

I also wash the tap, and use tissue paper to open door handles.

Some people have dreadful personal hygiene. I don't wish to subject myself to them.

YANBU

NameChangeGalore - Yes I am talking about people who come out of the cubicle while I am washing my hands and walk out while I still am. It is about a quarter. Not all of them can be antibac gelling outside the door.

I don't really think about the people that have walked out before I am washing my hands. I just assume that everyone washes their hands.

We have public toilets all wrong IMO. Basins should be inside cubicles so you don't have to touch door handle or toilet flush with dirty hands. And the water/soap should be automated so you don't touch the taps either.

I think about these things.

I don't know why you wouldn't wash your hands. People can't be in that much of a hurry that they don't have a couple of minutes to do that.

Umm, quite of few of us have given a reason...

I just wish that the doors would be automatic or at the very least open outwards so you can push them open with your foot - I hate the fact that after I have washed my hands I have to touch the door handle that the dirty hands in front of me has also touched. YADNBU.

and then remember that that same person who hasn't washed their hands after using the toilet in the supermarket has touched the trolley handle, and felt all the fruit and veg to see if its ripe! Could drive you mad couldn't it? Imagine how dirty the money you touch is

God. Anybody would think people were walking around with the galloping lurgy from not washing their hands every time they touch something that another person might have touched.

Because let's face it, if you don't wash your hands after going to the toilet, it's unlikely you will stop touching things once you leave the environs of the ladies loos!

I wash my hands after I've had been to the toilet but not if I've just gone in to adjust my hair or whatever. Strangely enough, I don't lick surfaces or let people put their fingers in my mouth, and haven't had stomach trouble for a long time so I think I'm ok.

Ithinkitsjustme

I REALLY don't like money, especially all the little coppers, yuk! Cashless economy can't come soon enough for me.

I always get stressed about touching the door handle when leaving the loos. I've washed my hands, but what if the last person to touch the handle hadn't washed theirs? Arrgggghhhh
But I am a bit odd as I won't use the first price of toilet paper in a public toilet I always discard the first.

And I always squat not sit unless it's my own toilet :-/

Bonkers I know.

it is disgusting not to wash your hands then touch the door handle on your way out, for thsoe who come after you it is horrible.

If i have my alcohol hand thingy i wait until i leave the toilets and use that, but if i havent got it i wash my hands And use the hand driers

YANBU - it's disgusting.

That said I worked as a nanny for awhile so I'm a chronic handwasher in some ways. But after the loo? Oh yes.

voter any chance you could wash your hands first and then use your alcohol hand thingy afterwards, if we ask nicely?

I always do in public (that now includes at uni...), it'd be selfish otherwise, but not always around my family. We're all very healthy and never get ill :-)
I haven't had a cold in years. I also shower on average every 3-4 days and wear clothes until they start to smell. You might find me disgusting, but you probably wouldn't if you were just chatting to me and didn't know all that cos I don't look unclean.

Well i suppose so but if you see a woman holding up the queue to get out of the door by fishing something out of her bag......its me

I recently attended a hand hygiene course (yes, I actually have a certificate to say I can wash my hands properly!) and we were told that applying gel complements washing, it does not replace it. This is of course in a clinical environment, so a bit more exacting than everyday life for obvious reasons. However, the rule was: when you first come into the clinic/surgery, wash your hands. If you go to the loo, wash your hands. If you get anything gunky on your hands, wash them. In between, use hand gel.

I'm not a fussy person at all and don't understand why you wouldn't even touch a door handle when you were going to be washing your hands shortly afterwards, but not washing when you come out of the loo is like, well, not even eww, it's just not done . I get you about giving the tap handle a bit of a rinse, and using gel after washing in one of those unsalubrious toilets is probably a wise precaution (I don't carry it).

My bro worked in a place once where the canteen was a bit, shall we say, dodgy, and he saw the catering staff come straight out of the loos without washing on a couple of occasions. He also once saw them replacing date labels on the sandwiches with a later date. Needless to say, he didn't eat there.

Anniegetyourgun assuming that the bit about not touching the door handle was in reply to my comment - I was talking about the door into the toilet "block" which is touched AFTER washing your hands, not just before.

I can't understand why people don't wash their hands after using the toilet. Quite a few at my work don't - I've been in a cubicle having a poo and in the time I'm in there they come in, go in a cubicle, wee, flush, then leave without washing their hands. I know who one of them is because once I came out of the cubicle just as she was going to leave the toilets without washing, and she looked embarrassed then walked back to the sink and gave her hands a cursory rinse under the tap (no soap). Dirty mare. Let's face it, if everyone washed their hands at the sink after using the loo, the exit door wouldn't be nearly as germy as it probably is.

I don't feel like my hands are properly clean unless I've used soap and water so would only just use gel if there was no other option, but I sometimes use gel in addition to soap and water.

Just for the benefit of everyone that cant understand...

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability Tue 25-Sep-12 02:15:25
Same as HSMM. My eczema reacts terribly to cheap soap, and can even get itchy with plain water, yet is fine with my antibac gel stuff. So I come out of the cubicle, check my hair, leave, and then use that. Outside the door to allow for the fact that the handle is more minging than the toilet seat!!

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability Tue 25-Sep-12 02:17:38
I always try to antibac right outside the door though, so judgy people that notice I didnt wash can see
Makes me damn paranoid mind, that everyone is thinking Im a dirty scrubber when I leave, so thanks for starting the thread :(

For those who don't understand
But if you don't use your antibac until you are outside the door then you leave YOUR germs on the door for eeryone who has washed ther hands inside the door! By all means use your antibac, but why can't you do so BEFORE you leave and then again if you want to?

what soap do you use at home? I would have some of that in a handy little squeezy bottle and use it when I am out and about and if you want the hand gel after that.

''Wash Before you Walk!!''

In black letters on bright yellow laminated card should be on the doors of all public toilets; also supermarket, pub, restaurant & cafe toilets.

More catchy & assertive & noticeable than the a polite 'Please Wash Your Hands'.

It would obviously help if all toilets were regularly cleaned & kept stocked up with paper towels (made from recycled paper) & (moisturising) hand soap.
Also a regularly emptied bin (for the paper towels) & taps that actually work.

The best toilet have doors to the outside that you can push rather than use a handle. That's better because no need to use your clean washed hands; just push the door with a shoulder / elbow.
It's ok to have soap dispensers that you press because you get soap before you wash your hands.
Taps that you only have to press once for water or taps with a sensor are hygienic but taps that you have to turn off are pointless IMO.
When you take paper towels after washing hands; then you should only touch the towels you use, put them in the open or pedal bin then leave.

Research has shown that Hand Gels are ineffective at killing any germs that cause diarrhoea & vomiting.
Soap & water is definitely best.