Is it rude that I use a napkin or toilet paper to touch bathroom handles in public or other people's houses?
Last week I went over my mothers friend’s house and I asked to use the bathroom. After I washed my hands and everything, I tore a peice of toilet paper off the rack to open the door to leave when the lady’s husband saw me. He asked me what I was doing using toilet paper to open the door and I told him it was because I like to since a lot of people don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. He got offended and asked me some more questions about it. Then when I got home that night, I found out he told my mom about it and she told me it seemed rude to other people and not to do it anymore. Personally, I don’t think it’s really that rude but whatever.
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As long as you have not used the toilet paper first, no offense here.
At a public restroom: Totally acceptable
At an acquaintance’s house: Slightly rude
I do that in my own house, so i would completely understand your motives… =)
Some people would think you are implying that they aren’t clean.Just try to be discreet. If someone sees you doing that,I would just tell them that it is your habit to do so…then be prepared to get your house tp’d later that night. ;))
If you feel you need to do it, do it. Don’t let them see you do it. I’m sure you can figure out the moves.
Move to Japan, you’ll love it.
It would probably be more socially acceptable, and more effective on germs, if you came out of the bathroom as one normally would, and then used hand sanitizing gel.
Who would know? if it was public or a friend’s house! If a friend does know, oh my gosh…loll
Not something to be concerned about!
So, what do you do in public when they only have those air hand dryers?? Go back into a stall and get a bunch of toilet paper? I’ve never seen anyone do that.
Do like i do, i carry a small bottle of Purell Hand Sanitizer in my pocket. after i have finished my business, i bring out the bottle and no one knows the difference. in public and private restrooms.
@casheroo you should know that i am a strange person.
Also, I do not think it was rude, but instead of telling him the reason, you could have said it was just a habit you have from using public restrooms..and shrugged it off as that. Making it seem like he and his family don’t wash their hands was probably what bothered him, not the act itself.
@neverawake So you asked a question. You gave options. For the people who chose option b you seem a bit huffy. Did you think that everyone would agree with you? Why be angry with an opinion for which you yourself asked? @jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities , @lucillelucillelucille, and @The_Idler were all courteous to you in the framing of their replies. I also would have just suggested a travel sized bottle of Purell used discretely, it doesn’t have to be a major event. Sheesh. So really? Do you really plan to move to Japan?
@neverawake You don’t really know if they have washed their hands or not. My advice to you would be to keep doing it if you feel you need to, just don’t get caught. If you are caught, they will probably view it as rude.
What you’re doing isn’t rude at all! It’s fine to be careful
@Trillian Sorry, I didn’t mean to see huffy at all, and nope, i didn’t think everyone would agree with me. i wasn’t angry, sorry if it seemed i was. and i’m going to try what they did. and yeah, i did mean it when i said i was going to japan.
@casheroo i’ll have be sure to think before i act next time
I’d be willing to wager that your mother’s friend’s husband had not seen the Use-A-Paper-Towel-To-Exit-The-Public-Restroom trick done before.
It’s simple and arguably effective. Good for peace of mind, if nothing else.
I’d also be willing to bet that while dude might’ve been offended when he saw you do it in his home, he’s likely going to give it at least some passing consideration next time he’s in a truck stop restroom.
And if he does, that’s a little victory for you. ツ
I don’t get that practice at all. I’ve never, ever done it, and I’m never sick.
Well I do the same as you from time to time for the same reason, if people are upset by it, tough titty, I now more often than not use the hand sterilizing gel as has been mentioned by @john65pennington, better to be safe than sorry…... :-/
@robmandu And i’ll bet you that you’re right! besides, i’m sure he’s probably done sometime himself, hypocrite.
@neverawake that’s quite alright =P
It’s good there are more people who don’t want to lather their hands in all the wonderful microbes one might find in such places =/
Do you use napkins and stuff to open doors in your own house?
@Val123 Of course, it has become a habit. Especially when we have company. If I don’t feel like using tissue or something, i use the bottom tip of my shirt to. Plus, I put a sign up on both the bathroom doors in my house that says, “Must wash your hands after you using the toilet.”
Live dangerously. Touch the handle. Do you refuse to shake hands because you saw somebody coughing into his palm?
@bea2345 nah, only if it was a life or death situation i would touch the handle. and yes, i would refuse to shake someones hand if i saw them coughing into it. i’d most likely avoid them.
Clearly you do not live in the real world. There are times and occasions when these actions are expected, and even necessary.
@neverawake it really does sound like you have the right idea =P, i wish i could get the people i live with to conform, but you should see some of the disgusting stuff they do =/ awfulawfulawful
@bea2345 sadly, i DO live in the real world. this stuff is needed all the time, who knows where peoples hands have been.
@fathippo Thank you :) Yes, it can be quite frustrating when people don’t cooperate with you on things like this to make the places we inhabit healthier. it is awful :(
Personally, don’t see anything rude about what you did! Think the adult here has the probllem, not you!
@BoBo1946 Thank you! That’s what i’ve been thinking ever since!
@neverawake first of all, he had no business coming in the bathroom. Geezzzz…and to call your mom!
Would roll his yard asap…loll..well, they would know. Wait a couple of months and roll it good…
@BoBo1946 I know, it’s not my fault he saw me. Yup, some people just like to get me in trouble.payback will be coming to him :)
Yeah, LOTS of toilet paper this time…Lmao!!!
@BoBo1946 YES, i will be sure to do that! hehe!!
Loll..just wait a while…he would know if you did it in the near future!
@BoBo1946 you don’t have to tell me :) besides, i’m the master of pranks!!
@neverawake Do you get sick a lot or something? Oh, and, BTW…..this is something I had to learn the hard way….it’s Fluther etiquette to answer as many people in one post as you can, rather than individually. Just FYI….
Wow that’s great, you’ll probably only get food poisoning about 95% as often as I do.
This is like sterilizing (washing in boiling water) every bottle of beer you drink, just in case there is some rat piss on it from the warehouse or truck or whatever. If you start doing that (Bad beer has made me ill so many more times than… ahahahah…. touching a door!), you are definitely fucked up in the head.
What are you, stupid or just really young?
OK, look sorry, I don’t wanna be harsh, but you are just being silly. Yeah it is rude. The only people who do this are stupid or squeamish (usually women, who also don’t understand).
Seriously, I know biology and chemistry, I’m fascinated by all this stuff, and believe me, using tissues to open doors isn’t gonna save you from anything.
In a hospital, yes, in a public toilet, fine, in your friends house though? In your own?
That’s just silly, and yeah, rude.
When you kiss a girl, do you make here swill&gargle a lil bit of mouthwash you carry around with ya!?
Just in case she just ate some nuts from the bar, which some guy touched, who hadn’t washed his hand? Drank from a dirty bottle? Didn’t wash her hands!?
What are ya gonna take yourself a swab and send it off to the lab, before you kiss any girl?
Good luck with that…
I agree with @Val123 and @The_Idler although maybe his response was a bit harsher than mine would have been!. It may not be rude but it is a bit obsessive. I’m all for being hygenic but that is taking it to extreme. There are germs everywhere, we can’t avoid them and, believe it or not, they aren’t always a bad thing. Relax a bit.
I was putting the risk in perspective. You’re far more likely to get something nasty from a kiss, and there’s nothing reasonable you can do about it.
@The_Idler Very true. Physical relationships are a bit icky if you really think about it!!!
@neverawake It’s ok! I got YELLED at when I did it in the beginning. On the website that I came from it was considered courtesy to respond to each person individually. But, not here. It’s no biggie.
@Leanne1986 When you REALLY think about it, physical intimacies are horribly unsanitary and icky! So…..just don’t think about it! :)
@neverawake That’s a good point for you…what do you do to avoid “germs” when you’re with your SO? Or on a date?
@The_Idler no i don’t make them gargle mouth wash. sheesh, i’m not that crazy about it. plus, i don’t date girls who don’t wash their hands, so that’s out of the question. i only do these things when they can be avoided, i don’t go that much out of my way if it can’t be helped you know. all this may sound stupid to you, but it just can’t be helped. besides, my relationships aren’t even that serious in the first place
@Leanne1986 i don’t mind they people talk to me harshly, i’m actually kind of used to it. and i don’t mean to be obsessive about it, i can’t help it. germs may be everywhere but i still like to take extra precautions. as for relaxing..i’ll try.
@Val123 i do things that must be done in order to avoid these..germs. it doesn’t matter who i’m with.
My point is that it IS rude, because the “risk” is minuscule, compared to, say, kissing someone, eating anything you haven’t personally sterilised, riding the bus, entering a hospital, etc.
Fair enough in a public toilet, but in someone’s house you imply that you consider it extremely likely that they have left some nasty shit on their door handle, precisely because you don’t take precautions in a thousand other situations, where you are far more likely to get ill.
If you wore a mask all the time and sterilised your beer and your girlfriend’s mouth, they’d think you were just a hygeine freak, but if you don’t take action in those far more risky situations, they’ll think you consider them to be especially unhygienic. Which is somewhat offensive.
Oh and get ready for a boring life of ridicule, if you think you need to vet every girl you want to get it on with, to make sure she’s ‘clean’...
@Val123 i to keep it to a minimum, if that’s what you mean.
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