AIBU to ask why you don't wash your hands?

[sadiekate]

People who don't wash their hands after they go to the toilet.
People who don't wash their hands before preparing/eating food.
People who don't wash their hands after changing nappies.
People who don't wash their hands after putting the bins out.
People who don't wash their hands after handling raw meat.
We all know we are supposed to do these things. And yet lots of people don't. If you don't, why? I promise I'm not intending to criticise anyone, I am just genuinely curious to know, given the risks not washing hands entails, why it isn't a habit for so many.

I agree with you OP. I just think some people are just really skanky.

Hard surfaces like door handles and trolley handles are not good environments for germs to thrive. Neither is a toilet seat, that's why they are made out of hard plastic and not soft material. And if something like urine is dried on the person's hands then it's not going to transfer anywhere either.

I can't bring myself to get upset about microscopic poo particles TBH. If it's microscopic you can't smell or taste or notice it. Most people don't have serious diseases which are going to make you ill. And most healthy people's immune systems can cope with a couple of microscopic particles of e coli because that's what an immune system is for. If you have a weaker immune system then you would of course need to take different steps to compensate.

I do wash after using the toilet except in the middle of the night.I won't worry too much as urine is sterile(unless you have a uti).
Don't wash after bins,do after meat prep,gardening or just because I think they need it.If there are bugs going around then always before eating and DD does this because I used to drum it into her when she was at primary school(where I noticed them being marched class by class straight to the dining room so if one got norovirus most would.

It's thread worms I worry about most. My son has came home from school several times with them which means we would very likely have caught them too. Didn't find any but it just gives me the heebies 🤢

Oh and for all the reasons listed I also struggle to eat at other people houses lol

Again (because of OCD) I wipe cutlery (as secretly as poss because part of me is slightly embarrassed about the OCD but it keeps me calm) and bring hand sanitiser/anti bac wipes with me just in case

I think I've always been quite aware of germs even before OCD, observing others in public (I.e what they do after using toilets, sneezing/coughing etc) and just how I was brought up.

To all those that say they mostly wash hands if the 'feel/look' like they need to >> you can't 'see' germs, so how does that work? When my partner comes home from work (train driver) and at a glance they don't 'look' dirty but my god when he washes them...

I feel genuinely sorry for people with such a high level of anxiety and fear of germs. It must be really difficult to go through life constantly aware and monitoring your own and other people’s behaviours beyond a basic sanitary level of hand washing you feel is right for you. The disgust and shame (trying to shame others to force them to do what you think they ought to be so it’ll reduce your anxiety and make you feel less grossed out and at risk) responses are very strongly linked to attempting to reduce anxiety so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that feelings are running so high around this topic! Must be a shit way to live though, knowing that you can’t control other people and no matter what you do or where you go you WILL come into contact with germs, bacteria, etc.

We are teeming with bacteria in our normal state.

Grim.

I wash my hands several times a day—always after coming in from outside, after using the loo and before preparing food.

I haven't had a cold for over 15 years and put this down to good hand hygiene.

Some germs are good for us, but bacteria, viruses, dirt and faeces aren't!

Germs are bacteria and viruses

No, bacteria and viruses are types of germs, as are certain types of fungi, protists, and prions.

I work from home. I don’t wash my hands every time I go for a wee, nor do I flush. Awful waste of water.

I do of course wash my hands in public toilets, before preparing food and if I use the loo for changing sanpro etc.

This again.

Answer:
They do not wash their hands because they have not got the first idea about basic hygiene.

don't wash my hands after going for a wee at home. After all, they haven't touched anything dirty!

Have you flushed the toilet? If so, given that germs get transferred when wiping, the handle of the toilet has faecal germs from people who have done a poo previously. Definitely not clean.

Walkingona thanks for saving me the trouble, you just posted what I was thinking.

How do the germophobes cope with knowing that you have a biofilm all over your body, not to mention lice in your eyelashes and eyebrows?

People who do not wash their hands after using the loo are skanky. Even children are taught that at school - obviously not at home, in some cases.

I just ate a handful of dirty strawberries picked straight from the ground at our allotment. They were gritty but so so good. My hands were also very muddy!
I seem to getting along alright.

Like JudoChop I will also wipe my cutlery if I eat out. I have OCD as well.

My main worry is parasitic infections such as worms. A lot of posters don't seem to care about this. How often have some of your children or yourselves had threadworms?

But as others have said people have different standards. But seeing some of the comments on here I will continue to be careful. As I have to hot desk at work I will carry on thoroughly wiping down desk, keyboard, phone etc, before using them.

Because they like spreading Norovirus, colds and flu I imagine! It's really selfish even if they have good immune systems, not everyone does!

People should at the very least think about strangers that are immunosuppressed who are forced into being exposed to their germs.

If you don't wash your hands in a public toilet but do touch the flush, door handle etc. then you are not only keeping your own fecal bacteria on your hands but picking up germs from anyone else who has touched those surfaces with their hands too! Those people might have had Norovirus on their hands or flu etc. If you then go to buy something in a shop/cafe the germs on your hands then transfer onto the items you handle, the trolley/basket, the card machine/your cash and then onto the next person's hands - mouth etc.

Apparently 90% of infections that people label as "Food poisoning" are actually strains of Norovirus so that either food handlers have not been careful with handwashing and have given their customers Norovirus OR People mis-attribute their sickness to food poisoning when really they've just picked up Norovirus while out and about (e.g. from public loos!).

Ninchninch . Absolutely vile!

What I want to know though, do you ever check your poo for any worms which you must surely have by now. People can have them for years without realising they have them. Which is a bit unfortunate for others they come in contact with or prepare food for!

I don't wash my hands before I eat, but I do in all the other circumstances mentioned. I'm not at all sure a clean person needs to wash their hands after a wee, men aren't touching anything other than another bit of skin and I'm not touching any skin at all. I only do this because my mother taught me to always wash my hands after a wee over 50 years ago. Where do all these diligent hand washers stand on the issue of oral sex?

@Pinkyblinder

Why is that vile?
It's food grown in the ground. Picked and eaten. My hands were muddy but I didn't lick them clean!

When you grow your own food you realise that a little bit of dirt on a piece of fruit isn't going to hurt you.

It's not like I shat on a strawberry and ate it!

We all have different standards and beliefs but to call other pps disgusting and vile is just completely unnecessary and unpleasant.

Ninch has got it right

Like I said earlier lethal, it’s just a nice opportunity to gloat and feel superior and denigrate other people under the guise of being ‘clean’ and therefore superior. Cleanliness next to godliness and all that.

I swear some people seem to take a bit of delight in being able to call other people with different standards vile, gross, and disgusting, oh and skanky too.

But I doubt they’d appreciate being called those names by someone even more fastidious than them who thought they weren’t doing enough and could be washing more.

years ago, when swine flu first hit, dc's nursery implemented a rigorous but simple handwashing regime.
the instances of d&v went down a lot. it was really noticable.
just through regular handwashing.