work colleague who doesnt wash her hands!!

In the ladies loo I have a small amount of water in my hand and run it over the tap before turning it off - that's a tip from Kim and Aggie's book! You then have a temporary barrier between your hands and any germs...or so they say!. I always carry a tiny bottle of hand sanitiser too so if I am going to eat out I use that first. Hands are washed as soon as I get home and before unpacking shopping and putting it in the fridge. I'm not obsessive as I do feel we need to 'eat a peck' etc. but a friend caught MRSA out of the blue - 'told it was probably from door handles or similar - and was so ill, with awful abscesses on her face and neck, that I just feel the hand wash on arriving home and before handling food is the best way to help prevent. I have seen a man sneeze copiously into his hands, rub them together...and then open the door of the restaurant I was sitting in! Yuk.

I heard this a few weeks ago on the radio so I'm now a bit ' freaked ' out about all toilets. Someone said that they have a big thing about the flush handle/ push button , so they use the paper they've wiped themself with. I'm mortified everytime I now flush and have to use lots of ' clean ' paper to cover the handle. It's a terrible thought that lots of people may be doing this !

I worked in a bank and money is filthy I czn confirm. We continually washed hands and we all tried never to touch our own faces until we had washed our hands.
I work in a building where the toilets are shared with a large number of people and I feel they are never clean so it's handwash at sink also use wipes and hand sabatier.
We move from desk to desk on a weekly basis so it's wipes to clean desk, keyboard, mouse and phone before the day begins.

I had a colleague who never had a tissue so just sneezed into her hand and she thought that was acceptable - never gave a thought to what she touched afterwards! Seems we all have different standards.

I'm a bit obsessive about toilet germs so I hate it when people don't wash their hands or worse still let cold water run on them and dry them as if they've been washed. So they give the impression of washing when they aren't.

I have been known to wait for someone else to open the exit door so I can catch it with my elbow and not have to touch the handle. Other than that I use a piece of tissue or paper towel so I don't have to touch the handle directly.

That said, however, I don't know that approaching your co-worker is a good idea. You don't know how she'd take it and it could sour working relationships. Just be aware that you never know what's lurking around the toilets so be careful what you touch.

Whilst on this subject did anyone see the holiday show on the BBC the other day taking about cleaning in hotels. Turns out they found one hotel where the cleaner wiped the bathroom glasses with the same cloth she used to wipe the toilet so the glasses were contaminated with everything you can imagine. Just something else to think about for the germ obsessed like me

Pose the question "I always wash my hands after using the toilet, do you" But I would add it's a waste of time really 'cos of all the germs on taps and door handles. Having a hand sanitizer is a better hygiene option.

Leave some hand wipes on her desk and hope she gets the message

Be careful with this one, aGran2. The same could be thought of me because I use an antisceptic wet wipe whilst I am still in the cubicle. Started this when adverse comments came out about the use of hand driers. Maybe I should relview and do this at the basins. Never thought about other people's' thinking. Mmmmmm.......

I use elbows or a piece of toilet paper or a tissue.

Coins are surely great carriers and spreaders of germs - I always have the urge to wash my hands after touching money. When I was little, I never wanted to touch money; I think I was about 5 or 6 until I could bring myself to hold a coin.

And talking about people at work - there are those who empty the dishwasher and stand the glasses rim downwards in the cupboard.

The cupboard has been wiped out twice at the most in the whole 16 years I've worked there - I hate to think what has accumulated in that time. I have to wash the glasses before I can use them.

I also hate to see non hand washers, or people who simply give their hands a quick run under the tap after using the loo , without using soap, and then use a communal towel !

But I am too cowardly to say anything, just try to " tailgate " through the door behind someone else so that I don't have to touch the handle !

And think about all the times we are touching "contaminated " surfaces, e.g escalators, door handles etc, but because we haven't actually seen unwashed hands touch them, we tend not to think about it. As the saying goes, " we all have to eat a peck of dirt " etc

You find these sort of people in the ladies loo in a supermarket
Call me neurotic but I always carry wipes and a hand sanitizer with me when I go shopping and I wipe the handle on a supermarket trolley before I touch it.
Well you never know, better safe than sorry.

As disgusting and unhygienic as it is I don't think it's right for you to say anything. That's just my opinion.

You can give the tap a quick wash too, before rinsing your hands.

It's an odd thing, if the taps are the turning type, as opposed to swivel, if you know what I mean, then you turn them on with "dirty" hands, wash you hands, then touch the taps again to turn them off, thereby possibly picking up the same germs you've just washed off!

Apparently, computer keyboards can be five times as dirty as a toilet. It really isn't worth worrying too much about germs because as grannyknot says, they are absolutely everywhere and anyway you need to build up a certain degree of immunity.

I dont think its possible to compel a person to wash their hands
Just be careful when its her turn to buy the cakes for her birthday!

My sister has no qualms in letting people know that they have bad habits, she has been heard to bellow HANDS at departing backs. I have to agree with her when it is a restaurant or hospital.

I agree with Grannyknot. There are germs everywhere, and most of them don't come from your bum!

I use hand cleanser too because you wash your hands and then have to open the door to get out, it's ok with a push door you can use your elbow. Hand cleanser is my best friend I'm afraid

I use hand cleanser and must admit have thought I hope people don't think I haven't cleaned my hands I spray handles as well its habit after I had poor immunity

You not your.

It wouldn't be the first time I've seen this happen. I would say nothing, wash your own hands and if you can't open the door with your elbow, use your hand sanitiser afterwards.

"Polite Notice" - those are so annoying! When they went up in the toilets where I used to work, there were mutterings about the "hygiene police".

far north is right, there's no point, because she may ignore you, and or others may also not wash their hands.

The point is, there are germs everywhere. If it bothers your, use antibacterial gel.

Say nothing, it really is not worth it.

If you say something to this woman she may be annoyed and is unlikely to change her ways anyhow.
Even if she did start washing her hands, there are probably others who do not so it wouldn't solve the problem.

You are right, it's revolting!