AIBU - Handwashing

[Lolipoplady]

Not sure who's being unreasonable here so opinions very much appreciated!

DP this morning got out of the car (we'd been out early), came into the house and made himself some toast. He didn't wash his hands first even though we'd been out and he'd just had his hands on a steering wheel, car keys, etc. I said 'hey, you forgot to wash your hands' and he got huffy saying that lots of people don't.

He started to make me a sandwich for lunch and again he didn't wash his hands even though he'd been on phone, using TV remote, etc.

Who is being unreasonable here? Am I being obsessive about hygiene? Or id DP being grubby? I thought that everyone washed their hands before preparing food?! I've never particularly noticed before that DP doesn't... maybe I've just not been paying attention.

For those

Mozzchops, op was objecting to her dp not washing his hands before preparing food on both occasions! Not borderline obsessive. She appears to have the same standards as you

But I think it's up to him. Fussing about whether another adult washes their hands before preparing their own sandwich is a bit much.

When I come in? No, not unless its in from the garden.
After the loo? Yes of course
Food prep depends- peeling veg etc ( that's going to be boiled )- nope!
Touching raw meat - yes, before and after
Before having a snack- bisc, cake sandwich- no, the odd germ doesn't hurt anyone, and if its ME bound....
Before dinner- unless they were visibly grubby, no, because I tend to eat with cutlery rather than my fingers

Maybe different if you were cooking for a child, or weaning- less resistance to bugs etc

Just to clarify - I wasn't expecting DP to wash his hands just because he'd been driving, using phone etc. I was expecting him to wash his hands because he was preparing food (and especially because immediately beforehand he'd been touching things which are known to carry lots of bacteria).

Seems like there's quite a range of views on this... maybe neither of us are being unreasonable! I still can't imagine not washing my hands before food prep though, it's just automatic for me like a pp mentioned.

I always wash my hands before preparing or eating food, often afterwards as well & sometimes during the preparation, if I've touched raw meat for example.

I wash my hands after using the toilet and gardening etc. I wash my hands when preparing food for other people but I rarely do when preparing food for myself or eating my food. This is a deliberate choice, my family history includes a lot of autoimmune conditions and I feel this helps protect me. I cannot remember the last time I was ill, I get about one cold per year that lasts a week or two and I had meningitis following spinal surgery infection 8 years ago but other than that I haven't been ill since my teens.

Wash my hands after coming in from driving/being out (you don't know who's touched something and not washed their hands)

Before and after food prep especially if its raw meat - hate food juices on my hands
After using the toilet
Before eating any meals (dd does the same)

I'm in the habit of washing my hands after I've been out. Obv after using loo and before prepping food too.
I got DS into the habit of washing hands the minute he gets home from nursery too. Thankfully we've escaped the majority of nasty nursery bugs.

I wash mine after loo, after nappy changes. Before prepping food (any food) and when I come in from outside.

Fomite transmission (from solid surfaces) is a major route of transmission of bugs. There's a really good video on you tube somewhere where they label someone's hands with fluorescent dye and then let them loose in an office. Within an hour pretty much every hard surface is contaminated. Touching your face or food after touching things like door handles, keyboards etc is a major transmission route.

You really should be washing your hands before prepping food.

Dh and I wash hands as soon as we come in the door. Also sanitise our phones every couple of days - stuff like phones and keyboards have many, many times more bacteria than the loo.

Before prepping or eating food, after loo/nappies, when coming in from outdoors is a minimum, we are both scientists and hand hygiene is sooooo important

Pre dd only after using the toilet or when preparing food...
Now I'm obsessed with germs I was my hands about nine million times a day. I also carry Clinnell hospital grade wipes which are meant to kill stuff including norovirus.
So now I wash or clinnell my hands: after going to the toilet, before eating and preparing food, after I've handled money or used a cashpoint or keypad, after I've held ds's hand when he's been to school, as soon as I get in the house, if I've had to use a pen to sign for a delivery - basically every time I touch something at the moment! I need help!

I do the same as Fomal and it stemed from hand wash trading at a hospital I worked at and noticing how many people don't wash their hands in public loos

If I'm just doing toast for example I wouldn't wash my hands special if I'd been holding a mobile. If I was cooking a proper meal with fresh ingredients then I would. Obviously always after loo.
I'm 39 and haven't died of germs yet

No I agree with u!! I've been trained to wash my hands In my job and the education behind why we do it, so I'm completely with u on this! My OH hardly ever washes his hands too and it makes me feel bad. He hates it when I nag him! By we have a 7MO and I don't want him handling the formula or making his food with unwashed hands! Who would??! Xx

Well how often do you clean your mobile? Those things crawl.

It's quite scary really. In my last job in a club the toilet was blocked with shit and bog roll. I summoned one of the dudes who unblocked it with his bare hand. He pointed out that his hands were just going to get dirty again so what's the point when he clocked my face and the classic 'germs are good for us' crap that le mings like to spout.

Off he trotted to serve behind the bar, pulled pints, flipped off bottle tops, sold crisps and other munchies... Watched something on someone's phone, shook hands with people and handled money.

I wonder how many people who grabbed that pint or packet ended up transferring that random blocked toilet into their mouths at some point or gave that mobile to one of their kids and how far did that money go from person to person.

Still, germs are good for us right?

I wash my hands a lot- when I come in, before food prep, after the toilet, etc etc. I am quite germ concious and I know that the pin machines and various things I might touch when I'm out and about have a billion germs on them so I like to wash my hands when I come in, it makes me feel fresh!

Growing up my mum was very grubby really - never did any housework and hardly ever washed her hands, not even after the toilet really! We were all frequently poorly with one thing or another and I'm sure it was linked. It's made me the opposite and I'm very house proud and a frequent hand washer!

I clinnell my phone every day and the door handles and the remote controls and the light switches...

I carry disinfectant wipes everywhere- put ds in the shopping trolley today for example but gave it a good scrub beforehand.
Ditto airplane seats/trays etc. I kind of assume the general public are festering unhygienic disease vectors. When I was in the subway in Hong Kong they have this little army of people wiping down the handrails etc. It made me inordinately happy

That would make me happy as well

Am I going to die?I was on the toilet having a wee 5 hours ago and my dp brought me a strawberry from the garden to eat. I told him to leave it outside and I would eat it when I finished. He said "you haven't got wee on your hand yet so take it". I took it and popped it in my mouth. It was delicious and I'm still alive at the moment

Wash my hands after loo.
Rinse my hands before preparing food.
Wash my hands after handling raw meat.
Rinse my hands at the end of cooking.

Wash my hands during food prep, particularly if moving between meat and veg (for example).

HOWEVER, not particularly anal about it. If the phone rings, or someone knocks at the front door i answer and then carry on food prep without forensically scrubbing again. The onle time i am sure to wash, rather than rinse, is if dogs have licked my hands not that i feed them scraps whilst cooking, you understand

I always wash hands when i come into the house, dont think you are being unreasonable.
I just wish more people would be more careful with hand washing, we would have far lower infection rates.

I always wash my hands on coming in to the house, and have trained everyone in the house to do the same! Always before food prep and all the other usual times.

troy no you'll be fine. Your own loo is actually one of the lower risk items.
Mobile phones, car keys. Jeyboards and keypads, lift buttons, Door handles, handrails and women's handbags - swarming with germs.