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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Washing hands

25 replies

CalicoBlue · 27/01/2015 19:41

I wash my hands, after being out the first thing I do when I get in, home or work is wash my hands. Obviously before and after handling food and when I have been to the loo. I don't think I wash them any more than anyone else.

Recently at a corporate party I was chatting to a very nice girl, very attractive and well presented, quite glamorous. We both went to the loo at the same time. I came out of my cubicle and washed my hands, she came out, smiled, and then walked out without washing her hands. I was horrified, you would think that an adult who obviously takes pride in their presentation would wash their hands after visiting the loo.

I did not eat anything from the buffet after that. DH did not think it was that much of a big deal.

Would you all be shocked too?

OP posts:

PurpleSwift · 27/01/2015 19:44

It doesn't surprise me, no.
Did she actually use the loo?
I did this several times recently at an event to rearrange my slip, I couldn't care less if people jumped to conclusions when I came out of the cubicle.

Hatespiders · 27/01/2015 19:45

Not shocked perhaps, but it is surprising. Maybe she just went in the cubicle to adjust/check something?
I think you're over-reacting in not eating at the buffet though.
Nothing would keep me from my food!

I do always wash my hands when I get home, especially from the supermarket or shops. Most germs are caught from hands touching mouths.
And of course, always after using the toilet.

Blueblueblueblue · 27/01/2015 19:48

I used to work with an extremely beautiful girl. Fabulous hair, flawless makeup, gorgeous figure.

In the three years we worked together she never washed her hands. I could never understand it as she was obviously so well groomed.

Salmotrutta · 27/01/2015 19:52

You need to cart a small but vocal child around with you.

They always pipe up with "That lady didn't wash her hand" in a very loud and insistent fashion.

Salmotrutta · 27/01/2015 19:53

hands

Original poster

CalicoBlue · 27/01/2015 19:54

I don't think she just went to adjust something as I heard the loo flush. However if I just went into a cubicle to adjust something, I would still wash my hands. People have touched the door after the loo.

It was a finger buffet, she had been eating too. So it put me right off.

OP posts:

Lorialet · 27/01/2015 20:18

Dirty minger. Whether she actually used the loo or not, the door handle will have been covered in germs.

SparklyTwinkleGlitter · 27/01/2015 20:23

Gosh, you sound a bit OCD about not eating the buffet afterwards. It certainly wouldn't have put me off.

Tiptops · 27/01/2015 20:24

I'm not shocked by people who don't wash their hands after using the loo, but I am disgusted by them. It takes a few seconds to wash your hands, why wouldn't you?

I don't eat buffet food either, ever.

Shallishanti · 27/01/2015 20:29

that would put me off
I'd be scouring the buffet for stuff that was wrapped or that was at the back of the table
(actually it takes more than a few seconds to wash your hands properly but it's time well spent IMO)

Hatespiders · 27/01/2015 20:29

Oh I eat anything me!
Actually, even if she'd touched a sandwich that you then ate, the germs wouldn't have had time to cultivate and you'd have come to no harm at all.

I think one could die from anxiety rather than germs at this low level.

scottgirl · 27/01/2015 20:32

Perhaps there was a wash hand basin in the cubicle (I discovered this days after having the same thoughts about someone).

CleanLinesSharpEdges · 27/01/2015 20:34

Yep that'd put me right off eating any of the buffet food. But then I'm disgusted by people who flush without closing the lid of the loo, which results in the whole cubicle being sprayed with wee and poo particles. That coupled with them then not washing their hands and fingering the buffet would have me retching.

londonrach · 27/01/2015 20:36

Yuk and doesnt surprise me. Went to a first aid course recently. Another lady And in the toilet at same time. I can tell you she didnt wash. Returning to the course it took all my strength and me holding my tongue from shouting out loud....she didnt wash her hands. We work nhs. Im front line think hospitals, doctors surgeries but she wanted in a care home as a carer.

Kitsandkids · 27/01/2015 21:07

Being a non driver my boys and I travel on a lot of buses and so I end up taking them to the bus station toilets quite regularly. The toilets there are always pretty grubby and yet every time I'm there we see one or two women exiting the cubicles without washing their hands. Yuk!

InTheGiraffery · 27/01/2015 21:11

Good point kits if the toilets are really dirty sometimes it seems like you're exposed to more germs by washing your hands, if you've touched nothing otherwise (paper to touch door handle etc)? That would have to be a desperate situation, though!

wobblyweebles · 27/01/2015 23:19

Why not eat from the buffet OP? Pretty much every buffet you've ever eaten at has been pawed at by someone who didn't wash their hands. The only different with this one was that you know which person did it.

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/01/2015 23:24

Lots of possible things: she had hand sanitizer (I carry one and I'm a minger); fixed tights/slip and flushed toilet with foot because there was something down there; went poop and didn't wash (dirty).

However, if you don't eat from a buffet because you SAW someone do that... don't Google the stats on how many people don't. You'll never eat again!

ACSlater · 27/01/2015 23:31

I'd bet she had hand sanitiser.

Discopanda · 27/01/2015 23:41

Whether or not she used the loo, she obviously used the latch and handle on the inside of the loo which other people touch after they pee and/or poo!

Discopanda · 27/01/2015 23:45

I explained the whole pee and poo particles being sprayed everywhere thing to my OH's grandma when we were staying with her and she asked me why I kept putting the toilet seat down. Her response was "Oh no, my toilet doesn't do that"...

CallMeExhausted · 28/01/2015 02:43

I have a child with an immune deficiency. Understandably, we wash hands with a frequency that might seem bordering on obsessive.

With that said, not washing hands after toileting is foul - but during the season of heightened colds/influenza, you wash as often as you feel inclined. If that means you avoid illness, more power to you.

If your DH catches a man cold from the buffet, have no pity.

plipplops · 28/01/2015 03:38

My big sister doesn't wash her hands after going to the toilet "because I can wipe my bits without getting wee on them" I thin it's minging, and no wonder she gets colds all the time (works in a school so in contact with germ kids all day, surely even if she's not worried about wee she should be worried about all their horrible germs?)

I'd still have eaten the buffet though.

ChippingInLatteLover · 28/01/2015 03:44

Did you check to see if she had used a hand sanitiser after exiting the bathroom? I do if I don't like the look of the taps and I've just had a wee.

Original poster

CalicoBlue · 28/01/2015 16:44

She might have used hand sanitiser in the cubicle. Not something I thought of, not sure why though. I was not a horrid bathroom, it was a very nice, newly refurbished central London hotel.

OP posts:

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