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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not want people drying their hands on the tea towel?

64 replies

HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:08

Hi everybody, long time reader first time poster :)

I wanted to ask this question for a while because it's been flipping over in my mind. My hflat mate, and others, dry their hands in the kitchen, when there is a perfectly good, FLUFFIER towel right next to it!

I even move the tea towel further from the sink so its nearer to the dishwasher, but thats only swapping them around in order so hardly a gigantic shift....but I haven't said anything yet.

Am I being ridiculous that tea towels are NOT for hands?

OP posts:
Musicaltheatremum · 27/04/2013 20:10

Quite agree. I have same problem

OhHullitsOnlyMeYoni · 27/04/2013 20:12

YANBU - my mum always got annoyed with people doing this too. A cocky builder once asked what the difference was and she politely said "Well I know which one I would rather dry my hands on, what do you think?" which pointed out the sense behind it all. She always had them next to each other too but I think it is one of those house rules things that not everyone 'gets'.

mum1979100 · 27/04/2013 20:12

I am so interested in the answer to this! You see I see nothing wrong with drying hands on tea towel. They are newly washed clean hands so I don't understand why not. We do it all the time. But when in laws visit they seem amazed that we haven't got a separate towel for hands and make me get one out. But I don't see the big deal?

gwenniebee · 27/04/2013 20:14

YANBU but I think I may have done it at a friend's house yesterday. There was no hand towel. Or no tea towel. One was missing and I dried my hands on the other.

What really used to irk me was when my (male) flatmates dried their hands on my apron!! Come to think of it, they used the apron as a tea towel too. Eugh.

MinnesotaNice · 27/04/2013 20:15

So what are tea towels for?

Original poster
HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:15

I'm not even sure, if there was only one towel, there would be a problem.....but not everybody washes their hands properly. They may not get right inbetween the fingers. And then my clean pots are getting smeared with their dirty hand leftovers.

OP posts:
picnicbasketcase · 27/04/2013 20:15

I don't see what difference it makes either. If they were wiping the worktops and the grubby floor and the dishes and their hands all with the same towel, that would be a problem. But clean hands?

Original poster
HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:16

Tea Towels are for drying plates/panss etc. after the washing up/dishwasher

OP posts:
CMOTDibbler · 27/04/2013 20:17

I don't see the issue tbh

Sirzy · 27/04/2013 20:17

Do people really have a hand towel in the kitchen?

mum1979100 · 27/04/2013 20:20

Sirzy, that's what I think. Surely it's not that bug a deal unless you live with some manky people who don't know how to wash.

Original poster
HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:20

I certainly do. People like washing their hands before preparing food.

OP posts:
AnnoyingOrange · 27/04/2013 20:21

I always have a separate hand towel in the kitchen. I don't often dry up so I rarely use tea towels apart from wiping my sharp knife if I wash it whilst prepping

Sirzy · 27/04/2013 20:21

If their hands are so dirty after washing that them drying them is a problem I wouldn't want them prepping my food in the first place!

CheesyPoofs · 27/04/2013 20:22

I don't see a probably either - in fact that's all our tea towels get used for.

I'm far too lazy to dry washing up myself when the air will do it for me Grin

AnnoyingOrange · 27/04/2013 20:24

I wash my hands constantly whilst prepping, feeding the cat, wiping surfaces and all the other jobs in the kitchen I would get through a couple of tea towels at least every day .

BonaDea · 27/04/2013 20:24

Yanbu

Inability to distinguish between a tea towel and a hand towel drives me NUTS Confused

Original poster
HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:24

Well like I say, I live with my flat mate, and I don't monitor how clean their hands are, but we have to share the same kitchen towels. It's not the same as bathroom towels.

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 27/04/2013 20:26

I don't see the problem.

lljkk · 27/04/2013 20:27

Life is too short to have special towels for drying up.
Life is too short for active drying up, for that matter.
YABU.

claraschu · 27/04/2013 20:27

They are touching your clean plates with those manky hands as they hold the plates to dry them with the tea towel.

How many germs climb on to your tea towel then crawl on to your clean plates and lie in wait until you next use that plate? YABU

usualsuspect · 27/04/2013 20:28

I never dry my pots anyway.

Melawen · 27/04/2013 20:28

You wouldn't want to be in the kitchen with my Dad - he dries his face on them or uses them to dry the floor after mopping - drives Mum utterly bonkers but he won't listen (or change!)

SwedishEdith · 27/04/2013 20:31

Simply can't compute the issue here at all.

Original poster
HoveringKestrel · 27/04/2013 20:31

So I still don't know wheether to say anything, there's no majority answer :(

OP posts:
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