I was in Denny’s just the other day and was thinking (all these thoughts as I was standing in front of a urnial).
When I enter and leave a public restroom, I amways make a point of not touching the door where everyone else touches it, like right in the middle. I wil reach higher, or use the foot kick plate at the bottom and open the door with my foot. Also, I never flush urnials, not unless the flush handle is located low enough to hit it with my foot.
My thinking is, that the flush handle is the very next thing that a person touches after he has touched his package. Just wondering, is this considered weird behavior, or normal. I am just trying to avoid as many nasty germs as possible. (Yep, I wash after- every time…lol).
Warm regards,
Parisx
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“The gene pool could use a little chlorine.” - Parisx
I do the same thing, except I will often flush the urinal with my elbow. I dunno why, 'cause the hands are going to get washed in just a second, but it may be the next morning until I get around to washing my elbow. Also, I don’t really care about touching the door as I go in because I just assume that my hands are as dirty as anyone elses on the way into the bathroom. I used to use a paper towel to open the door as I was leaving, but sometimes theres no trash can by the door, which meant that I often just had to drop the paper towels by the door. This made me feel like I was making a mess, so I quit doing it.
Well, I’m a woman so I don’t use a urinal, but I have similar bathroom quirks. I flush with my foot, but I can understand why men can’t (unless he’s REALLY flexible!). You guys have the added “ewww” factor of having to touch your package and then touch the flush handle. ::shiver:: To get out of the bathroom, I sometimes use a part of my clothing–coat, shirt, etc.–to open the door if I can’t use a paper towel.
Either this is normal behavior or all three of us are weird.
They have these amazing things in public restrooms called “sinks.” After you flush the toilet or urinal, your next project is to go to one of these sinks and turn the “faucet” so that “hot water” appears from the “spigot.” Then get some “soap” on your hands and “wash” them. “Rinse” the soap from your hands and then “dry” them on a “paper towel.” Then use the towel as a buffer between you and the germs on the door as you push it open, and dispose of the towel in the nearest wastebasket. Or in the alternative, open the door by walking out backwards and pushing it with your big paranoid ass.
Or in other words, yes, you are all completely weird. Get over it. I doubt anyone’s ever died from being exposed to germs in a Denny’s restroom.
I have absolutely no public restroom quirks other than avoiding the toilet that is filled with poop. When the seat is covered with pee I wipe it off with toilet paper. I never squat. I use my hand to flush.
If you are in a Denny’s, I think that germs in the bathroom are not the most serious thing to worry about.
No bathroom quirks at all here. I flush with my hand (errr. I use pull the flush handle with my hand), I touch the sink when I wash my hands, I touch the door handle on my way out. I try to avoid a seat with too much piss on it, but, only if another one is convenient.
How gross to you people think it is when someone, usually a man, takes a newspaper or other reading material into the stall with him. Some people I know will refuse to even touch it after that. I won’t grab it right after he comes out, but after a while, the “Ick factor” has diminished to the point where I might read it. I never take the “office paper” into the can with me.
Heh…I’m with you, Parisx, I don’t touch the door where everyone else has been touching it either.
I mean, I just washed my hands. What are the chances that most people who touch the door handle on their way out haven’t washed?
In really filthy restrooms (a la “Trainspotting”), I use paper towels as a buffer for everything I touch. Of course, in those pits there usually isn’t any.
However, I don’t walk around with my hands up in the air like a surgeon after a scrubbing…that would make me look like a freak. Well, it would identify me as the freak that I truly am.
Count me in as one of the “weird”. Just thinking about what the person that opened the door before me touched before they put their hands on the door gives me the heebie-jeebies. I always wash my hands but not everyone does. Just to prevent the “ick factor” I use a paper towel, or part of my clothing to open the door as I am leaving the bathroom. I wish all bathroom doors pulled open to enter and pushed open to exit, that way I really could just “open the door by walking out backwards and pushing it with my big paranoid ass.”
*** OTTO***
How did you know my ass was big? Are you following me?
I think everyone is forgetting something. When you turn the sink on you are using the hands that touched your “parts”… then you wash your hands only to RETOUCH THE VERY SAME SKANKY SINK KNOB!!!
For those of you playing at home, how could I resist posting to my second favorite topic?
Please, for the love of God, people, quit flushing with your foot! Unless it’s an actual foot pedal, that handle is not designed to stand up to the kind of force you can exert with your leg, it’s designed to be flushed with the hand. It’s one of the biggest nightmares of maintenance people, because “kick-flushing” causes those handles to break, and those puddles you find on the floor sometimes are frequently the result of leaks caused by the practice. Any germs you might pick up from touching the handle will be taken care of by hand-washing. Seriously.
That’s why you dry your hands then turn off the sink with the paper towels if you are that paranoid.
I’d be more concerned about the practice of the people preparing the food that my practices while I’m in the bathroom. Just because it’s law, doesn’t mean the employees actually do it.
Sorry, Geobabe, nothin’ doin’. I always flush with my foot.
Well, except at Fuddrucker’s. They have these really high flush handles. When I’m there (about quarterly), I use a piece of toilet paper to flush the toilet.
Oh my God, don’t get me started on common food preparation methods. You think the bathrooms in the places are bad? Just take a tour of the kitchen while they are touching your food
I agree, but it isn’t always the fault of the previous user. At my place of work we have auto-flush urinals which are triggered when the user steps away, or at least they’re supposed to work. They don’t have a manual override flusher, either. When they don’t flush, I have little choice but to leave my deposit there unflushed for the next person to look at. It seems to happen mostly when I am wearing a black shirt, as if the sensor isn’t able to “see” that I am there. If I am the only one in there (people would wonder what I was doing if others were present) I will make two or three more attempts to trigger the auto-flusher by stepping up to the urinal and back away again or by waving my hand in front of the sensor, but these methods don’t seem to work. Today I was on the receiving end of this situation. I stepped up to the urinal only to see that it had not flushed for its last user who was still in the restroom washing his hands. I noticed he was wearing a black shirt, too. Fortunately the adjoining urinal was vacant and flushed, so I moved over to it.
Thansk everyone for your replies. I thought that I was weird. I’m not paraniod, but try to make an effort to avoid germs whenever I can.
One more bitch… what’s the deal with the paper towel dispensers? I mean, why in the hell would someone mount it up so high or even above elbow level? When reaching up above elbow level to tear a paper towel off, the water just runs down your arm.
