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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Poor hygiene makes me cringe - AIBU?

217 replies

Defenbaker · 07/09/2019 16:31

I've noticed that quite a lot of people seem to be clueless about basic hygiene, and I inwardly cringe when I see poeple doing certain things. For instance:

A woman served cake to people at a party. She served one slice then licked her fingers before offering slices to others (who all declined - think I wasn't the only one put off by that).
A cleaner at work picked up something dirty from the floor and threw it in bin, then emptied clean items from dishwasher without washing hands first. (She had disposable gloves on throughout, so perhaps as no dirt touched her actual hands she didn't think twice about it.)
A woman played ball with children in garden, then went into kitchen and began making sandwiches for people, without washing her hands first.
A woman in swimming pool changing room used a towel to dry her body off, then threw it onto the floor and dried her feet, before finally drying her hair with it. (I wondered how many people with athletes foot might have walked barefoot on that floor before she did that).

More generally, I hate it when people in cafes handle cash then serve/touch food without washing their hands first (it's widely known that there are lots of germs on money).

Maybe I'm more careful than some people, as I am emetophobic, which makes me very careful about food hygiene. Also I realise that there are germs everywhere, and children develop their imune systems by coming into contact with germs, so a totally sterile world wouldn't be ideal for humans, but AIBU to cringe at this sort of stuff?

Please share your pet hates here, re people's poor hygiene.

OP posts:
Abouttimemum · 07/09/2019 17:14

None of that would bother me but yes swimming pool floors make me feel ill generally. They’re awful!

SunshineAngel · 07/09/2019 17:14

People fascinate me sometimes, they really do. It's like my partner's son will eat things off my plate that I've left that because I'd dropped them on the floor. And my partner has a habit of rubbing the bottom of his shoes when his legs are crossed when sitting down, then eating things with his hands.

I once complained to my local Subway store as the woman making my sandwich answered the phone with her gloves on, and then never bothered to change them before finishing my sandwich. Imagine the people who use that phone, and the germs that could be on it.

blackcat86 · 07/09/2019 17:14

I dislike people that dont wash regularly. My MIL makes a massive deal about having to wash her hair every few days. Eh just wash it in the shower love! I do think you are more wary of germs than most though. I've just watch my 1 year old share her beaker with 4 other children (that we know and see regularly) and I cant imagine it will do her any harm

SunshineAngel · 07/09/2019 17:15

Just to add to my comment, I'm emetophobic too, so definitely notice more hygiene related issues than other people would! I am aware that the vast majority of the time I would be find if I ate things that I tell other people they shouldn't.

KUGA · 07/09/2019 17:15

DefenBaker, I am with you all the way.
See that kind of thing constantly.
Makes me cringe.

Abouttimemum · 07/09/2019 17:17

I also get absolute cringe when my FIL touches my baby. His fingers and nails are just awful.

Aridane · 07/09/2019 17:18

What on earth is wrong with the towel illustration- she isn’t going to get Athletes foot in her hair?

TrickyKid · 07/09/2019 17:19

Yanbu. The amount of parents that don't teach their kids to wash their hands after going to the toilet is one that really bugs me. And shoes on tables, I always notice this at soft play/trampoline parks. Why do people think it's ok to put shoes on a surface people are going to eat off...

RobinHumphries · 07/09/2019 17:20

People that put their dentures into the spittoon, yes we clean it after every use, but it still makes me cringe.
Or people that try and and hand me their dentures/ crowns etc before I’ve had chance to put gloves on

YaySeptember · 07/09/2019 17:20

If I'd have noticed the cake thing it would have bothered me but the others wouldn't have I don't think.

I dry myself with 2 towels (one for my hair and another for my body) but don't care how other people dry themselves.

I don't wash my hands loads, only after using the loo or if they're visibly dirty or sticky, because I get dry and chapped and sore skin that's worse the more they are washed. Anti bacterial gel is awful for me.

Our hygiene practises at home aren't bad - we have a sponge for washing up and a cloth for wiping surfaces for example and separate hand and tea towels but I don't go mad with the bleach spray and probably leave it too long between washing towels and cloths for some people on here.

In short, I'm neither lax nor uptight about germs and keeping clean. I rarely get ill.

Pinkblueberry · 07/09/2019 17:21

I agree that most of those things are pretty gross, but although I don’t do them I can’t say I would ever watch anyone closely enough to notice something like that about someone Confused I do think your own obsession with other people’s hygiene rather than their lack of it is what disturbs me more tbh. Weird to think someone might be watching me closely at swimming to check just in case I drop my towel before drying my hair...

Pitterpatterpettysteps · 07/09/2019 17:21

All of those examples are grim. Things that make me cringe include people who calmly place their hands on the handrails on the tube, or rest the side of their faces against the seats on trains. Or use a manky old cloth to wipe a surface in their kitchen and then start preparing food on it. Or make a ham sandwich, picking up the ham with their fingers, and then open the fridge door with the same hand... oh god, I could go on all day...

PuppyMonkey · 07/09/2019 17:22

I think for anybody using a public swimming pool, putting towels on the floor is the least of their hygiene worries tbh. Shudder.

CrystalShark · 07/09/2019 17:22

Finger licking is my bugbear when it then means other people are forced to either eat something with saliva on or go without. I would have been inwardly raging at someone licking their fingers serving cake. It’s so bloody selfish.

I always get the sense if you mentioned it theyd say they hadn’t even realised they were doing it but I’m not convinced. Surely you realise you’re licking your own fingers. I have a friend who does it constantly with almost any food, I don’t eat out with here anymore cos the sight and sound of her being unable to keep her fingers out of her mouth every thirty seconds makes me feel genuinely sick.

redchocolatebutton · 07/09/2019 17:22

she isn’t going to get Athletes foot in her hair?

athletes foot is s fungal infection that can, theoretically, come up on any part of your skin.

MouseInATelescope · 07/09/2019 17:26

Depends on the person but I'm VERY OCD with hygiene which I think is much better (and better example to my kids) than being lazy with it.

Those examples made me feel like I want to shower!

Twinkletoenails · 07/09/2019 17:28

The chef regularly double dips. A kitchen assistant takes his shoes off and has bare feet in the kitchen sometimes and then see him touching his feet at break time and then goes back to chopping veg without washing hands. He also picks his nose.

raisinseverywhere · 07/09/2019 17:28

I would also notice all these things. And in cafes when they clean the table and then clean the chairs with the same cloth.

My DM used to use the same cloth to clean the kitchen and the bathroom/toilet!

Sparklyshoes16 · 07/09/2019 17:30

Totally agree @Defenbaker YANBU we went to a cafe this morning and the girl sneezed into her cupped hands and carried on handling/wrapping the cutlery into the napkins! She was about to hand me some cutlery when I said can we have clean cutlery please her reply was it is clean it's just come out of the dishwasher.

I quietly asked the owner if we could have some more cutlery which had just come out of the dishwasher and was still wet...when she spoke to the girl I heard her say "omg it was just a 'dry' sneeze". The owner looked horrified and put all the cutlery the girl had done back through the wash! We weren't the only customers who asked for new cutlery!

At DH work he went to the loo for a pee whilst washing his hands someone was in a cubicle having a no.2 when finished the guy walked straight out without washing his hands and handled the door then DH noticed this guy handling cups and a kettle in their kitchen after...just gross!!...an email reminder went out about remembering hygiene standards in the office...ie no eating at desks, washing hands after using the toilets, using the D10 spray etc on surfaces with the paper wipes not the manky dishcloth, putting dishes in the dishwasher...they got this in after the sink was always left full of dishes that had been left there for weeks!! beggars belief they have to be reminded!

Pippapotomus · 07/09/2019 17:31

DD once had some food snatched off her plate by a nephew who then dropped it on the floor. Sil picked it up, blew on it and dropped it back onto her plate. She genuinely couldn't see why I changed dds whole plate for a new meal.

Another time same Sil knocked over a sugar canister. Picked up a used dishcloth from the sink, scooped up the sugar and deposited it all damp and gross back into the pot.

I will never eat at her house if that is how she acts in front of others.

Snowy111 · 07/09/2019 17:33

I agree with you

When I read your Title the first thing I thought of is people who don’t know how to brush their teeth properly and you can actually see plaque on their gum line Envy

I have to confess I do taste food I’m cooking and double dip the spoon Blush

arethereanyleftatall · 07/09/2019 17:34

Adding to all the anecdotes of hygiene vs illness...
I would do all those things off your list, and worse probably, without a second thought. Wouldn't register whatsoever if anyone else did it.
I have worked for 28 years now and never had a single day off due to illness.
My dds would also probably do those things, copying me I guess, and have also not been ill enough to have a day off school since they were about 5, so 6 years ago.

TheMustressMhor · 07/09/2019 17:34

I think it's because you don't like being sick that you notice all these things OP.

To be fair, nobody likes being sick.

Snowy111 · 07/09/2019 17:36

My MIL once washed pork chops (not sure why!) over a bowl of soaking salad leaves so the porky water went over the salad Envy. I genuinely thought she was trying to bump me off Grin

HappyHammy · 07/09/2019 17:37

I can't bear it when you buy fresh mince and the assistant puts their bare hands through it and squidges it up to a ball before putting it in the bag, I return it when I see that and when you buy fresh food in a shop and they take your money without washing their hands first.