Are you a germ freak? What bothers you?

[Floogeldy]

Two things, among many, that bother me are:

1. Doors to public buildings and restrooms. If I have to touch the door, I try to touch it where I think nobody else has. If I'm in a bathroom, I only touch the door with the paper towel I just dried my hands with.

2. Groceries. While on the shelf, people have been breathing on them, sneezing on them, touching them, etc. . . . Milk cartons bug me especially. Sometimes I wash them when I get home.

The minute I get home from these circumstances I wash my hands with disinfectant soap.

What "bugs" you germ wise?

B-)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. Airports

Filled with people from all over the world carrying all different types/strains of virus and bacteria.

[HereSince1628]

2. Cloth kitchen towels...give me the heebee geebees

[skygazer]

3. Nothing really

I wash my hands often since I work in a grocery store and am handling money (one of the dirtiest things known to man) and am in contact with many people, with no idea how many may be ill.

I wipe off can lids and I wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly but I'm not obsessive about any of it. And I don't get sick often.

[Beaverhausen]

4. people who taste food while cooking then put spoon back in it

come on!!! that is just so wrong!

[Floogeldy]

7. So true!

B-)

[Goldmund]

9. No it isn't

The cooking will obviously destroy all bacteria.

[Beaverhausen]

21. only cooking at very high temperatures

just simmering marinara sauce isn't hot enough to kill germs.

[Floogeldy]

22. Campbell's soup, too, for me

I'm old enough to have heard many botulism alerts and recalls of Campbell's soup through the years. They always end the reports by saying, "boiling the soup for three minutes will kill the bacteria."

Every time I make that soup, I boil it for three minutes. :scared:

[Goldmund]

5. I'm totally the opposite

I touch everything and wash my hands whenever I shower -- unless I've touched something really nasty.

I'm as healthy as they come. And I could swear that one of the reasons why is because I'm not at all concerned with germs.

[mark414]

6. me too

i just never worry about anything, and i pretty much am of the mindset that nothing bad is going to happen to me.

and nothing does.

[Q3JR4]

8. ....

Used to be keyboards, other people's messes, anything I haven't personally cooked or watched being cooked, most things I hadn't cleaned or watched being cleaned, and during the flu season I carry around a large tub of hand sanitizer (in addition to keeping small containers in my car, in my room, in the bathroom, and in my office).

That list now includes doors to public buildings and restrooms, groceries, airports, cloth kitchen towels, and money (how would one clean that?).

[Taxloss]

10. Dog dirt. I'm really paranoid about stepping in it.

It really freaks me out. I love dogs, but can't believe some owners leave that stuff lying about on city streets. It's revolting. They wouldn't dream of crapping there, but somehow Fido is different.

[miss_kitty]

15. I am with you on the dog shit.

I HATE DOG SHIT. The last person I worked for (landscaping) kept telling me how all the yards we'd be working in were 'High End.' Well if she meant 'High End Dog Toilets' she was right about that. She would not make the customers clean up the dog shit in the yards before we got there. My previous employer made customers hire a dog shit scooping service, or they had to clean it themselves, OR they would not be serviced, but would be charged for it. It is disease and parasite ridden, and people get hurt slipping in it. Ack! :puke:

[miss_kitty]

11. Public phones

and the door handle prob? I pull my sleeve down over my hand to open-except when I am wearing short sleeves. Or I let a guy get it for me!}(

[Floogeldy]

14. Good call on the public phones

They disgust me.

[flamingyouth]

12. Ugh - the public bathroom doors get me too

I always open the door with a paper towel over my hand, or with my foot if I can just push it open. Pay phones freak me out too. :scared:

[graywarrior]

13. Greasy, slimy railings or public transportation graspy things

The ones you hold onto on a subway train or bus.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. Since I am a nurse, and well-versed in the germ theory of disease,

you might think that I'd respond to the world much as Floogeldy does. But I don't. I do wash my hands responsibly of course. I really think that germs are unavoidable for the most part. Therefore, I feel that the best thing I can do is to maintain a healthy immune system inside myself. I do that, and I am rarely sick. Your immune system needs germs in order to be strong. Children who are kept unnaturally clean usually get sick more often than kids who play in the dirt.

I do agree, however, with using a paper towel when opening a restroom door. Many people do not wash after using the facilities...ugh...

Otherwise, I don't worry about germs.

[scarlet_owl]

17. Public restroom doors and bowling balls.

I can't go bowling because I can't help thinking about all the disgusting things living in those little holes. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

[Floogeldy]

20. Bring a little can of Lysol with you

Give the holes a good spray before having some bowling fun. ;)

[SarahB]

18. Slightly germaphobic.

Not obsessively so, but I tend to exit bathrooms holding paper towels as I open the door and am otherwise rather hygienic (not to mention never eat bar peanuts). Lots of people are just gross. I work with lots of sick people, so at work there's a lot of hand washing involved (but rightfully so).

[Nikia]

19. My mother-in-laws lack of food safety

She leaves things out too long. It is even worse when she does this multiple times such as this scenario. She thaws steaks at room temperature all day (which is unsafe). Then she decides that we should go out to eat instead. Then she puts steak in the refridgerator. The next day, she takes the steaks out and leaves them on the counter while she gets other stuff ready. Then she prepares the steaks. If there are leftovers, she lets the steaks cool to room temperature before putting them in the refridgerator. Then she serves them as sandwhiches for lunch or wants us to take them home. Doesn't she know that meat, especially flavored only with fat(she uses bacon or butter), grows bacteria faster than anything else. I knew there was a reason that I liked well done meat.
She does this with other things. She seems to think that everything has to be at room temperature before cooking or refridgerating.

[Floogeldy]

23. I'm with you

A relative of mine makes great deviled eggs for the holidays. But she gets them out of the refrigerator in anticipation of serving and leaves them there until after we have eaten. I have no qualms about getting up and putting them back in the frig myself.