To be annoyed when people dry their hands on the tea towel

[clapback]

Is it just me does this bother anyone else?

They're for drying dishes not for drying hands!

YANBU = Dishes only
YABU = Dishes, hands, who cares?

Anything other than a fresh tea towel for dishes is rank. What happens between drying dishes and being laundered doesn’t bother me.

Do you wear medical gloves before picking up a tea towel then?

Tea towels in my house are purely for drying hands, carrying hot plates or bowls through to the other room, and mopping up spills. I've never dried crockery with a tea towel.

I haven't either, our tea towels are used the same as yours, who dries up crockery and cutlery these days?

No, I don’t. I was just explaining how washing your hands doesn’t get rid of all bacteria and how the same bacteria then proliferate on towels used to dry hands, in response to some posters saying it doesn’t matter because their hands are clean. I’m not talking about risk, I’m merely referring to the science around the hygiene element. HTH.

YANBU. Spot the difference people!

One of those belongs in the bathroom.

I can’t imagine noticing or caring 😂

I'm with the OP on this one. I do have teenage boys so my opinion is definitely biased.

Are you my mother?

I'm assuming those who say hands are clean when being dried don't live with a small boy. Or indeed don't have any knowledge of microbiology and sterility.

We never dry our crockery with a tea towel. We let the air dry them as we dont use our dishwasher anymore, its been redundant for a couple of years now, so we just put the dishes on the drainer.

I'm assuming those who say hands are clean when being dried don't live with a small boy. Or indeed don't have any knowledge of microbiology and sterility.

I think when we say clean, we don't mean "sterile". I wasn't aware that you needed a knowledge of microbiology and sterility to use the word "clean". 🙄

We have a dishwasher but I still wash things like pans up. They're dried with the tea towel and hands are dried on the hand towel.

Using a towel to dry dishes that has been used on hands is pretty gross imo.

But I think hand towels in general are pretty skanky if they're shared. I absolutely refuse the one at work (I use the hand dryer instead) and the one in my kitchen gets washed every few days.

Both look rather disgusting and far dirtier than my tea towels ever get all week. Though to be fair I don't have a qualification in microbiology and sterility.

We have one for hands and one that's a tea towel. Drives me mad when people dry their hands on the tea towel!

I do wash my hands properly. But not every time, depends what I've been doing just beforehand. I'd prefer the skin not to be red raw and peeling which it would be if I washed my hands any more frequently.

I dry my hands on a tea towel.

I don't dry dishes at all. Wash up, air dry, put away.

Tea towels are for drying hands in our house!

I agree.
I used to be a stickler until I realised that the wet hands have been washed with soap and water and are therefore clean.
I still always have a tea towel and a hand towel in the kitchen though.

A great many people do not wash properly though. They shove them under the tap, often no soap. So the grime is just wetted and wiped on the tea towel.

Have only read your OP but my dh not only takes a clean tea towel out of the tea towel drawer to dry his hands but he then PUTS IT BACK! Wet! Unless I'm in the room, in which case it goes in the wash.

I have a dishwasher so my tea towels are just for hands and to mop up an occasional water spill

And then you pick up the dry dishes with those same hands.

Most of us are pretty clean and wash regularly, so unless you work in a slaughter house and don't wash after finishing, I can't see it's a big deal.

The human microbiome has more bacterial, microbial and fungal cells (39 trillion) than human ones (30 trillion). Humans have evolved to live surrounded by all these non-human cells and whilst washing is a good idea, fretting about drying one's hands with a tea towel is, imho, extreme.

Yes, of course I then pick up dry dishes with those same hands, or even food too. People can shoot me if they wish, but I promise that nobody has yet died in this house, nor become seriously ill.

We have a tea towel for drying dishes that didn’t go in the dishwasher (pots & oven trays etc) and also have a hand towel…for hands.
I don’t like it if someone uses the tea towel for hands.