I always wash my hands, and I started doing the paper towel thing to open the door after I moved here last fall. The number of people I see in the library bathroom come out of the stall and immediately leave without even running a trickle of water over their hands (yes, soap is better, I know) is amazing.
So I exit the stall, turn on hot water, get some paper towels ready, get soap, wash, grab paper towels, turn off the faucet and exit the door. Most of the time there’s a trash can fairly close to the bathroom door, so I toss the paper towel in there.
t
OH OH OH! This is one of our favorite topics at work. I hate being in the bathroom and hearing someone open the stall door…and then the bathroom door…with no washing in between. I think it’s so GROSS not to wash. UGH. I always hope it’s not anyone who gets remotely close to my keyboard or desk during the day. YUCK.
Some of the restrooms here at work have those sensors that automatically flush the toliets. 
I love those. All others must be flushed with a good kick of the foot!
And definitely must keep the paper towel to open the door.
Non-handwashing woman chiming in to agree with Cisco – call it a fetish or whatever you want, but I am not about to use those filthy germ-laden sinks at work. I use enough toilet paper to kill a small tree, and I make sure everything goes bye-bye with as many flushes as it takes. But I am not about to put my hands in those sinks.
I don’t touch the bathroom door with my hands either, I use my elbow to push it open.
For the record, I keep that antibacterial gel stuff at my desk.
And along with my “I hate public restrooms” – I clean my desk all the time. Oh and please don’t touch my monitor with your greasy fingers, especially if you have your make-up on your hands.
Well, I’m kind of particular about whether I wash my hands or not. If I made a #2, I always wash my hands. But if I’m just taking a leak, and assuming I don’t get pee on my hands (which doesn’t happen all that often) there’s not much point. What has cecil said about toilet plumes regarding urinals? Because that’s what I’m using. Most of the urinals also have motion sensors; they don’t even flush till I’m a good seven feet clear of them. Some people might think this is absolutely disgusting,
And I try to avoid touching anything in public bathrooms with my bare hands. I usually open the door with my elbow and nudge the door open with my shoulder.
I don’t know if this will put you at ease or not, but hopefully the employee washed his/her hands in the food prep area before going back to work. When I worked at Burger King we had to wash our hands while in the restroom (namely for customer perception purposes) and then again once we returned to the work area. Perhaps the employee didn’t bother with the first washing, knowing he/she would just have to do it again anyway.
I guess some people just don’t really have an awareness for those things. When a friend of mine and myself did a project at the university we were working in a cleanroom. I always insisted to wash the hands before going to lunch.
My friend dried his hands with a crumpled up towel and I told him that the towel is constantly wet and cannot dry when it’s crumpled like that. Any bacteria present will not die in a wet towel. I preferred to let my hands dry in the air and then he mocked me and claimed that I would get my hands dirty again anyway, when I touched the handle of the door.
Well, he would have been right, if I wouldn’t open the door handles of public toilets with my elbow, heh.
If it’s so darn important to wash your hands after using the bathroom and so many people don’t, how come we’re not all coming down with e-coli every freakin’ day? It seems to me that, other than from impure water, the only e-coli problems I hear about are: very occasionally from restaurants (which is why you should wash your hands before handling food and wash vegetables), from food being served in places where animals have been (picnics and fairs), and children in day-care who should wash because they haven’t got the wiping thing down pat yet.
I can count the number of times I’ve taken a crap at work on one hand and if I do I sure as hell don’t go getting it on my hands. I think I know if I got any pee on my hands or not and if I need to wash, I wash.
I do wash if someone else is in the bathroom though so as not to cause them outright distress but I’d rather not. If no one else is there…forget it. The people who are concerned are going to waste paper towels opening the door whether I wash or not.
I believe Cecil touches on this in one of the articles. Something about how men touching their nice clean penises after touching the door (when someone before them didn’t wash their hands either) are introducing germs to a vulerable area. Although, that sounds like men ought to be washing their hand before they pee… Sadly, lacking a penis myself, I haven’t spent a lot of time pondering how this works.
I always wash, but the washing / pissing order changes depending entirely on what I am doing: If my hands are dirty or greasy (shop work), there’s no way I’m going to haul my pecker out with my hands like that, so I wash them first. After the job is done, I’ve already washed once, plus I’m going back to dirty work, so washing again seems somewhat futile.
On the other hand, if I’m well dressed and clean (desk work), I have no problem touching the gear, but then feel I should wash afterward.
I’m interested in this oft-utilized, yet unknown to me, “elbow” technique.
I’ve always wanted to vent on these “foot-flushing” people, and now you’ve given me the chance. You’re not the only one that has mentioned “foot-flushing” here, but you’re the easiest target since you go through ALL those paper-towels to keep YOUR precious hands clean, and also claim to be qualified in “Infection Control.” (Hah!)
If you had to choose the most germ infested surface of the bathroom, I think most people would agree that it’s probably the floor. Luckily for everyone, it’s rather easy to minimize your contact with the floor as long as you’re not barefoot. (ick) BUT THEN, here come all these inconsiderate “FOOT FLUSHERS” who raise those nasty bathroom floor germs up to the toilet handle!
And YOU! YOU are the worst of the lot, because you go through ALL those paper towels to avoid contact with everything EXCEPT for when it comes to the handle on the toilet, where you could easily use the same method instead of most inconsiderately using your NASTY BATHROOM-FLOOR TAINTED FOOT. (Except maybe it would be toilet paper instead of paper-towels)
KNOCK IT OFF PEOPLE!!! THAT’S FRIGGIN GROSS!!!
(Infection Control nurse…BAH)
Not to mention the fact that using your foot to flush is more likely to break the goddamn toilet handle, making it impossible for anyone else to flush after that. STOP DOING THIS, PEOPLE!
Geobabe and Voltaire:
Do you two mean to tell me, that KNOWING a large chunk of the population flushes with their foot, you still reach down there and touch that nasty handle?
I’m proud to say that I have NEVER touched a public bathroom handle (my grandmother taught me the “foot-flush” the first time I can ever remember using a public bathroom) and I never will.
Even if I stopped, and Taters stopped, and everybody else on the SDMB stopped, there would still be millions of people out there that are going to do it no matter what, making it absolutely disgusting to touch a public bathroom handle under any circumstances.
Instead of us stopping, have you ever thought about taking it up?
The only thing my mother taught me that applies here is The Golden Rule. And I’M proud to say that if I am forced to use a public toilet, I use a nice wad of toilet paper.
The only variation to this is at the office, which I don’t consider comparable to most public toilets, where I think I usually use my knuckle. I have quite a few things I do with my knuckles back of the hand, elbow, etc. in the effort to minimize spreading germs all around. Regardless, I will be washing my hands properly and thoroughly afterwards. (My dad taught me how that’s done)
The only way I would consider using my foot would be if it was one of those toilets designed with a floor mounted foot-flusher. Maybe you monkeys so fond of using your FEET on HANDles should start a campaign to have all toilet HANDles converted to the foot pedal kind. That would keep us all happy.
Please, don’t reply back suggesting that I should modify my behavior. It won’t work. I will probably reply back with other things we should all start doing with our feet because someone else might also.
“as long as you’re not barefoot. (ick)”
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you the full extent of my disgustingness–I go in there barefoot sometimes, too. 
Does it involve singing “Yankee Doodle”?
Julie
Nope, no singing. It involves a lot of soap, water, friction applied by rubbing, and TIME. And only now do I realize how erotic that can sound…
Yup, you don’t rush a good HANDwashJOB !
I always thought that public toilets were meant to be flushed with the foot, the way they’re built and all. I mean, the flusher is just a little peg, and if you use your hand to flush, you have to put your face right down there by the toilet.
If the toilet has a regular handle, though, like the kind in houses and all, I’ll probably still flush it with my foot. Though I never feel the need to foot-flush at work, because our bathroom is spiffy, I wish all bathrooms were that clean.
Oh, man, this topic again…
I am fanatical about cleaning up afterwards.
My friend P’s boss never, ever washes her hands after using the restroom. She will, however, stand there and watch others wash their hands. P. will no longer eat anything that the boss brings to work, because God knows what she could be doing in her kitchen.
Yecch!
Out of habit and parental training I belong to the hand-washing school but it wouldn’t even occur to me to open the door using toilet paper, or to flush with my foot. A friend told me that if she used a public toilet no part of her came into contact with it, she would sort of hover over it rather then sit, or at worst she would liberally cover the seat with toilet paper and then sit on that. I was a little startled at the revelation.