The Home Bathroom Sink Dilemma

[LSLGuy]

Years pre COVID I sometimes encountered public restrooms in buildings managed by germophobes where there would be a special dispenser right by the door that dispensed little cocktail-napkin sized single sheets of extra flimsy paper towel material.

The idea is that after washing and drying your hands at the sink you grab one of these sorta-tissues from the door dispenser, use that to grab the filthy evil wet-from-previous-users door handle and pull the door open, then drop the soiled towel delicately into the wastebasket below the dispenser, preferably while wearing that look of genteel sneering disgust on ones’ face that one has while contemplating someone else’s dog’s shit on the sidewalk.

Eeew!!! Restroom doorknob!!?! ZOMG! Germs! [/sarcasm]

Sheesh. Talk about a (mostly) invented concern!

[puzzlegal]

My office used to have a trash can right outside the restroom door, for people who wanted to do that. You had to retain your paper towel from near the sink, though.

[DemonTree]

@puzzlegal

Wave to toggle between on & off is much better for a kitchen sink than the airport “need to keep wagging your hands or it goes off”. It’s nice when washing dishes to wave it off as I scrub, and then have it come right on at the right temperature to rinse. And “really turn hard off” is needed in a house with cats.

Sounds really useful, especially the coming back on at the same temperature part. Our kitchen tap is so hard to get to the right temp, and then you have to leave it running if you want it to stay there.

[Remember_me]

@Jim_B

So what is the solution to this (germ) dilemma?

Easy: I use my elbows and leave the door open.

[Senegoid]

@Voyager

I’m a lot more worried about the kitchen than the bathroom also.

Cecil agrees.

Does flushing the toilet cause dirty water to be spewed around the bathroom?

As Professor Gerba’s research would later determine, however, the bathroom was hardly the most dangerous part of the house, microbe-wise. The real pesthole: the kitchen sponge or dishcloth, where fecal coliform bacteria from raw meat and such could fester in a damp, nurturing (for a germ) environment. Next came the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen faucet handle. The toilet seat was the least contaminated of 15 household locales studied. “If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts,” the professor says, “he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and crap in your sink.”

Worth a look, just for Slug’s illustration.

[kayaker]

I carry a spoon in my pocket and use it to push the bathroom sink water off, among other things.

/LPT

[Bootb]

@elbows

Maybe you don’t have paper towel wherever you are, but there’s sure to be toilet paper in some form.

When I’m in a dodgy bathroom, after washing my hands, I grab a sheet of tissue and use that to turn the taps off. Toss it into the bin and leave. Easy peasy!

The toilet paper is close enough to the toilet to be contaminated by the droplets sprayed around by the flush.

[Kimera757]

I’ve got them at home. I use them to turn the faucets off and open the door, then drop into a recycling bin.

My mother uses a cloth, but unless it’s washed each and every time it’s used (impossible) it’s not actually sanitary.

We rent, so we’re not able to switch to touchless faucets.

[Kimera757]

I’ve forgotten how to multi-post, but I have to wash my hands after using the toilet, and for obvious reasons the washroom door is closed for privacy.

[DavidNRockies]

@Kimera757

We rent, so we’re not able to switch to touchless faucets.

This is a total threadjack, so … apologies … but …

In almost every place that I’ve rented, I’ve asked the landlord, “If I do the labor myself, would you pay for the part ?”

This has been things like programmable thermostats, locking handles for a gate, efficient light bulbs, a storm door, paint … lots of stuff.

I don’t remember ever having a landlord say no. It’s often the apotheosis of a win-win.

/hijack

[Thudlow_Boink]

@iamthewalrus_3

I think this is probably just silly advice. Unless your fingers were smeared with something when you turned on the knobs, there’s relatively little on them. It’s not like your hands are sterile after washing them. Washing hands cleans your hands, but not 100%.

I think you’re right, but I do understand the OP’s question. After all, when you use the toilet, you presumably get “boxer-shorts region” germs (coliform bacteria) all over your hands. Then, to wash your hands, you have to touch the knob to turn on the faucet, and some of those germs get transferred to the knob. After washing, you have to touch the knob again, and those germs get transferred from the knob back to your newly-washed hands.

Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? Plus: urine therapy!

It’s not something I worry about, but it’s not an unreasonable question.

[Dung_Beetle]

We thought you were just happy to see us.

[elfkin477]

@puzzlegal

But I do worry about the germs on that raw chicken.

Yup. I wash off the kitchen knobs after handling chicken, but don’t worry about the bathroom ones unless I’ve spilled something on them.

[Remember_me]

@Kimera757

washroom door is closed for privacy

I don’t need privacy for the “washing of hands” part. If possible, I open the door after flushing but before washing my hands. Of course, this depends a lot on the actual layout and if the doors close automatically. Sometimes it is not an option, but sometimes it is.