Sometimes ignorance is bliss. For example, the fact that our phone screens, which we touch on the daily and press up against our faces, have millions of bacteria is something that it can feel good to forget.
Someone asked “What's something most people don't realize is extremely dirty/gross/unsanitary?” and netizens shared the worst examples. We got in touch with Leaders Cleaning Services to learn more. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
More info: TikTok | Leaders Cleaning Services

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Wearing your shoes inside the house after walking around all day stepping in who knows what.
Everybody I know. UK, late middle-age - we are not fussed about germs, because we grew up with them, and have developed immunity. We remove wet or muddy footwear.
Load More Replies...This always amazes me. I was brought up that it is RUDE to take one's shoes OFF in the house.
No need to downvote someone for sharing their experience.
Load More Replies...I have never been to a house where people took off their shoes. Nor do I know anyone who takes off shoes. I know this trend is growing, but in the US, taking off shoes is very rare.
Depends on the culture, and your parents' culture in the Western world. My parents are from Maghreb, you are not allowed in the house, past the entrance, with your shoes on. More or less same as in Japan.
Load More Replies...I’d never expect adults to take off their shoes at my house, if I’m having a party or just people over for dinner. I’ll just be sure the floors stay clean.
Load More Replies...You know what's grosser? Eating off the floor. Or licking the floor. (Which I assume you do, otherwise, why do you care if people are wearing shoes in the house?)
I had no idea there were so many germophobes and clean-freaks until I joined BP.
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Children, especially toddlers. I remember a pediatrics paramedic instructor once saying, "Forget aerosol sprays, just contaminate one ball in a preschool and that's it."
When my mom was a first year teacher she says she was sick with something or other for the entire year. By the second year her immune system had adjusted to handle it. But now that she's older she seems to get sick any time she's around one of the grandkids - who of course are just walking petri dishes. ;)
I substitute teach and I'm usually fine after a middle or high school shift, but after an elementary one I'm always sick
Ugh, children are walking germ factories. I don't know how I survived having 2 of them.
I used to be a teacher and i taught adults. They had disgusting habits like toddlers, nose picking, coughing with mouth open, using keys and pens to pick their ears. First year i worked i was always sick. People, young and old are disgusting
I pretty much regard them as walking germ factories, which is why I a) never want any children of my own, and b) don't want to be touched by any of them, ever. You know, in accordance with the logic of "you don't know where it's been". Same goes for strollers, for that matter.
When people lick their finger before turning pages or counting out money.
I hate it when cashiers lick their fingers giving back my change!!! I always snap! It's unsanitary for them too, but I can't stop thinking about all the germs on money even WITHOUT their saliva.......
In most stores I go to there's a small container with a wet sponge or paper towel for them to wet their fingers if they need to.
Load More Replies...In a book it's sometimes impossible to go to the next page without licking a fingertip, the pages just won't part. But I really don't believe it's that dangerous. Not half as much as e.g. a kiss
It's called an immune system folks. Stop sterilizing every damn thing. Let the kids build their immune response. I'm a boomer. Ate dirt most of my life. I never get sick.
Immune sys. OK. That don't include virus, fecal matters... see where I am going here mr Clean/ Doofnuts?
Load More Replies...Bank tellers used to have little foam pads on the counter, soaked in water, to wet their fingers hen counting large stacks of cash.
Load More Replies...My teacher licks them before giving them out. Its fine when its your own piece of paper but giving them out... She was doing this late COVID too.
The paper or money sticks together and sometimes it is hard to separate bills especially if you have fresh bills bills or your fingers are slick. What else are you to do. I don't like doing it either but if I have no choice I will lick my fingers. Most times I deal with a debit card anyway.
Bored Panda got in touch with the folks at Leaders Cleaning Services in New Zealand who have repeatedly gone viral on TikTok with their cleaning videos. We wanted to hear their take on what can help motivate someone to start cleaning a particularly sizable mess.
“If the area in your house looks very messy and overwhelming, first and foremost, I would suggest motivating yourself with #cleanwithme or #cleaningmotivation videos on popular platforms. We promise, these videos work wonders and always give you a kick. Secondly, I would recommend starting with the hardest area and finishing it, instead of spreading your attention across the overall mess and keeping your rubbish bag next to you.”
In 6th grade we were tasked with going around our school using a cotton swab to collect bacteria samples and seeing what grew on a Petri dish.
People immediately went to the bathroom and began swabbing toilets, urinals, floors, sinks, etc. Turns out those were some of the cleanest places in the school. Those Petri dishes hardly grew anything.
The dirtiest? In order: drinking fountain, phone receiver, and the inside of somebody's mouth.
The drinking fountain news reached parents and they demanded answers. Turns out the drinking fountain wasn't properly cleaned since...ever? The janitors used a Stainless Steel Polish to clean it and that doesn't really kill any bacteria.
Honestly this is nothing compare to when my daughter came home and told us how a kid in her class had diabetes and the mother came to school and told the class all about it! Then she took a lancet and went around the class and asked kids if they wanted to see what it felt like to have their finger pricked ! And some kids let her prick their fingers, WITH THE SAME LANCET, not every kid did it and mine swore she didn’t let her , but it made the news! I’m pretty sure the teacher got fired, it was a big deal !
We did an experiment with the 6-7 yo to show the reason why they need to use soap to wash their hands. First, they all touched Petri dishes with bacteria-friendly gunk in it, labelled with their names, before break time. Then they repeated the process after break, then they washed their hands thoroughly with soap and did it again. We left the Petri dishes to do their work. After only a couple of days, the cultures had clearly grown, and not surprisingly, the bacteria after break time were the worst, and after cleaning their hands, almost nil. The biggest surprise? That one of the teachers had filthy hands before and after break time, and she wasn't even running around outside, eating her snack, or playing on the slides! Major embarrassment for her but a huge lesson learnt by the kids!
im a sweeper for a school and know that's not true, we use acid cleaners then polish for fountains and antibacterials for phone receivers
We hit up the elevator buttons in my college and the hand dryer in the bathroom. Gross.
Bet that teacher got fired. Causing a stir is more than frowned upon in US public schools.
So that would be acceptable in schools in other countries?
Load More Replies...We did something similar and it was the doorknobs that grew the most cultures. Also the handles on the teachers desk drawers. The fountain was nasty too.
I remember doing this; our community college fountain (beautiful, in an atrium) grew SO MANY different, dangerous looking fuzzy things. Just yikes.
The door handle on their classroom door is just as nasty as those water fountains.
Kitchen sponges.
These things are gross. Likely one of the dirtiest things in your home.
Don't get me started on mops. A friend of mine, during microbiology took a sample from the dorm mop and had it confiscated because it contained a strain of chlamydia.
After rinsing the soap out of the cloth or rag, rinse again in cold water. It will reduce the opportunity for bacteria to grow, doesn't eliminate it just reduces it. And hang the cloth
Absolutely. Wring it out to dry completely. You'll be fine. What's gross is leaving it in water in the sink overnight.
Load More Replies...I've told family/friends and my GF especially to CHANGE THE SPONGE if it smells or looks ratty! A pack of them only costs $1-$3 at $ Tree or used to at the .99 store..no excuse to have a sick old a*s sponge on the sink.
There's no need to create yet more garbage. Buy some bamboo sponges and throw them in the washer regularly. Landfill is full enough already.
Load More Replies...One reason I use dishcloths, and hand towels, in the kitchen and change them every morning.
Not only sponges. The same goes for anything you use in the sink, especially if it can hold water, like a sponge or a piece of cloth.
Buffets. My husband needs a kidney transplant. Afterwards, he will be immunocompromised for life because of the anti-rejection d***s. They gave him a list of things he can't do again after transplant, and eating at a buffet is on it. Even one that has a sneeze guard, even if it looks clean, even if it's vegetarian. No more buffets, Jimmy.
I hate buffets for this exact reason. I went to an event the other day, and the caterers had provided a massive buffet without any serving utensils at all. There were things like crisps, tortilla chips, mini sausages, carrot sticks, cheese cubes, olives (!) and sliced up pickles, all to be served by sticking your hands into the bowl. I haven’t made a complaint yet, as I’m associated with the group who hosted the event, but I keep thinking if I should. Edited to add: thanks for the replies. I like the idea of writing to them with “suggestions” initially, rather than a complaint. If I then find out that it happens again after, I can always escalate.
Make a suggestion to get tongs or use other utensils. Kindly bring it up how unsanitary it is people using their fingers picking up food like that.
Load More Replies..."...even if it's vegetarian." I don't see the relevance of whether or not the buffet has meat.
If the meat goes off it can cause illness , meat goes off quicker than most other things and is more likely to name you I'll
Load More Replies...Well, yeah…. For one, you never no who touched everything and secondly, you don‘t really know how long everything has been there….
When I was in grade school, the nuns warned us to avoid what they called "occasions of sin". I could not for the life of me get that concept until my first buffet.
My husband had a kidney transplant and is immunocompromised. He just read this and wants to know who told this person he could never eat at a buffet. He was told not to share utensils, but never told buffets were taboo. However, what with Covid-19 being a thing, I think most buffets and salad bars are no longer with us.
I laugh when people ask for whatever is on tap at a bar. Enjoy your mold!
Load More Replies...Years ago our family went to a buffet for lunch. A little girl walks up, unaccompanied and put her fingers into the pudding and scooped it into her mouth, and was going for a second scoop when someone stopped her. That was the LAST time we went to a buffet.
“If you have a bed, make the bed first; it gives you a feeling of accomplishment that you've already done a "significant" amount of cleaning (just tricking the mind). So once you've finished the area, you could either continue next time with the rest, or most likely, this will keep the motivation going,” they shared.
Hand air dryers in restrooms. Those Dyson air blade ones are the worst apparently
I swear restrooms are getting worse. That tilted table used as a feeble excuse for a basin, and a hand drier that blows high pressure air directly onto it, spraying dirty water everywhere
Well, if you wash your hands thoroughly, it's not spraying dirty water everywhere.
Load More Replies...I understand that they're a lot less wasteful than paper towels and probably cheaper, but no thanks. I absolutely despise bathrooms with no alternatives.
I don't understand this one... Is it the air being used that's the concern? I don't touch these when I use them. I've heard new codes require air hand driers to use outside air. I don't know how these are installed.
During the pandemic some studies concluded that these type of devices were actual germs spreaders, and that it was more sanitary to use sheets to dry hands.
Load More Replies...the sign above the hand dryers in the picture just confirms even more that its extremely unsanitary. when i was little, my mom told me its recycled air and that there's poop particles in them, and now when ever those turn on in my school bathrooms, i try not to breathe
anything that sucks in air. Like hand dryers. How about vacuum cleaners? OMG, or your robot vacuums?
I hate those gyson dryers. A local grocery store went total Tyson dryers. They don't have paper towels in their bathrooms any more. This is a major grocery chain store too.
Not washing their hands every time they use the restroom. Even if you haven't actively gotten urine/feces on your hands from yourself, you have touched dozens of things that other people with urine/feces have touched before you by entering that room. Also, this is your chance to keep your hands clean from the thousands of other surfaces, doorknobs, and light switches outside the bathroom.
And the bathroom door, and the door after that, and the nearest handrail/ armrest... it goes on.. there is poop and pee everywhere and we are mostly all fine... this whole feed is a little alarmist... Try to be clean... but go bowling... you'll be fine... if people were getting their fingers amputated or dropping dead after bowling or the library those activities would probably not exist anymore...
Load More Replies...That is why if I have to use a public restroom, after I wash my hands I will only use one or two fingers to grab a door handle to open the door. Still try to grab the handle as little as possible.
at the beginning of the pandemic, soap was suddenly sold out in germany, no matter what kind. didn't people wash their hands beforehand? i always wash my hands, my dermatologist always says i should wash my hands less. i just wonder how i should do that
I think it was panic buying, like the toilet paper thing. I mean, surely people already had soap in their houses?
Load More Replies...I have quite a bit unfortunately. Good teaching moment for my son. That dude just took a steamy one in there wiped his butt and walked out. That's another reason you wash your hands well after the bathroom and don't put random things in your face
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Flushing with the lid open
This!! Always put the lid down before flushing to avoid unwanted splashes!
I’m so adamant about doing this. The toilets at my work don’t have lids though, so I flush as I’m leaving the stall.
Load More Replies...So many people don't seem to realise that's what the lid is for. Faeces everywhere!
That's literally what the lid is for!! I hate when people come to my house and leave it open. Savages! ;)
Yeah I watched a video and saw how bacteria spread around when you don't close the lid. I got our bathroom done recently and got the flush put behind the lid so whoever uses the bathroom have to put the lid down first to be able to flush! 🤣
That buffet I worked out makes the servers clean the bathroom in the morning. The ones who are helping you at the buffet and making your drinks. We all thought that was disgusting.
Two senior employees, one male, one female, were arguing at work one day about whether the men should put the seat down when they're done or the women should put the seat up when they're done. (Men: women = 1:1 at the place.) They turn to me as the tie breaker. I said neither. Everyone should put the lid down!
I remember my brother bringing this up many, many years ago - long before I saw a video that illustrated this point. Needless to say, I'm grateful to have heeded his advice.
I have to reclean my bathroom after I have guests over, a lot of them do this.
We also wanted to hear their take on the topic here, of items that are a lot dirtier than one might expect. “Everyone is different; in my opinion, the most neglected things are handles and light switches. Toothbrush chargers are another big one, as well as anything very below or above eye level. If you pay attention to skirting boards, chair/table legs, toilet bases, or lighting/chandeliers, high shelves, and high mirrors, you'll find that these things are not cleaned in a long time in most houses. But that's why people call us!”
The space behind your ears if you don’t specifically clean behind themu/Puzzleheaded-Bet1328In cosmetology school the amount of elderly people who came in with black gunk built up behing their ears.
They really werent kidding when they said to not forget to wash behind your ears.
Am I the only one who wondered why they'd be looking behind someone's ears to find out more about stars and galaxies out in deep space?
Maybe .... but some of us know cosmetology is the study and application of beauty treatment. (Thank you, Google!) :)
Load More Replies...I've a thing about greasy ears and hair. It makes me feel sick
black heads do not come from poor cleanliness. someone has probably not been paying attention. if you are too clean, you get black heads faster than someone who is not so clean. when cleaning, some pores are closed and black heads form. this is the body's own skin fat that clogs the pores and then oxidizes on the surface, which is why it is black.
Many fountain soda dispensers and bar gun dispensers never get properly cleaned/sanitized and harbor molds, fungi and bacteria. Drink up!
Our restaurant always melts down and cleans the ice bins once per week, and the fountain nozzles get cleaned every night. The bigger ice machine is a different story though. We melt that down and clean it every once in a while.
I worked at Cracker Barrel. Long ago. Every night we took all the spots apart and soaked them in I think carbonated water.
The chipotle I worked at actually took these off nightly and cleaned them. That's the only place I ever worked at that did this.
Interesting. Every actual restaurant I've worked at cleans the nozzles nightly. However, I also worked at a gas station that did not.
Load More Replies...I worked at a buffet and evernight we took the nozzles off and sanitized them overnight and rinsed in steaming hot water every morning.
Bar Gun is a fountain soda dispenser hose with a trigger nozzle at the end to fill up soda at a bar, usually for mixed drinks. 2230732.jpg
At my work, I'm literally the only one who cleans the soda machine.. the amount of nasty mold and gunk that builds up when I'm off for a while or haven't gotten a chance to clean in a while is disgusting.. I try to get others to clean it, because I have a lot to do and can't always do it, but no one does..
How about bars and restaurants that pour draught beer and never clean out their lines. You would not believe the sewage that builds up in the lines. Only bottles for me and no glass
at one of my early fast food jobs i had to clean and sanitize the soda fountain nozzles every night. there was always some gunk in there. years later i was eating at a fast food place and the nozzle fell off the soda fountain while i was using it and it looked gross. so i took it to the cashier at the counter and said "hey, the nozzle fell off the coke and it looks like it needs to be cleaned before you put it back on." the cashier responded "those come off?"... blech
Hotel rooms
Yeah, I shutter. We travel a lot for business. I just keep reminding myself to be thankful of the nights shelter.
I travel with a huge cotton towel to sleep on and warm throw, XL T-shirts to cover the pillows and wear socks at all times. My bare feet never touch a hotel room floor. 2 plastic placemats from the dollar store beneath my incidentals and cosmetics. Wipe all surfaces n the bathroom with wipes. It sounds crazy, but hotel linens and surfaces are not clean
Booked hotel by Heathrow airport London UK. woke up saw what was crawling on my sons bed. Shook him and my wife. we drove home to Chester.
Just leave your UV light at home... and remember: everything is gross! :)
The bedspread is hardly ever washed. I cringe when I watch movies/tv shows and the people just lay down on them. They are nasty AF. The rugs in hotels are seldom cleaned, just a quick vacuum to get the dirt off. But, think about the shoes that have trudged across the floor. Ewww. And take a good look in the bathroom, the corners. They are not given the proper attention for the traffic they have. I refuse to use a hotel pillow, I wouldn't get that close to a stranger, so I am not laying my head on it.
The swimming pools are usually maintained very wel, unless you're in some crusty motel. Hygiene inspectors come down hard on hotels if their pool is unsanitary.
Load More Replies...Just don't think about it... and whatever you do, do NOT use a UV flashlight to see all the...."spots"
“But what we would like to note is that people worry most about cleaning the toilet, but actually, kitchen and bathroom sinks and tapware hold way more bacteria. These are what people disinfect properly less frequently. Definitely prioritize your sinks,” they shared with Bored Panda.
Cash
One of my coworkers used to work in a bank. She has told us how they handled stacks of bank notes, and how their hands always got dirty to the point of becoming black... just from touching cash.
Can confirm l used to work in a bank, during training we learned that when tested bank notes were positive for ; cocaine, saliva, blood, urine, faeces and semen. 👍😉
Load More Replies...Yikes. In Germany many employees in bakeries for example are wearing disposable gloves because they touch food. But they take your money with these gloves as well. So: useless.
Each country has their own smell on money, and fun fact, American money has nearly every paper money remains of coke on if. Source: I worked for an armored car company / worked with cash recyclers
One of my family worked in a bank for some years, and developed an allergy to the paper bills. Has to wear gloves to touch them even now, many many years later.
Items like cash are what's known as fomites. A neutral object that can transmit micro organisms.
Oh gosh, seeing people put a bank note in their mouth while still looking in their purse/wallet!!! 🤢
Out of every 4 banknotes, on average more than 3 will test positive for cocaine or another d**g (mostly cocaine)
There's an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike works in the money cleaning department of a historic hotel. Enlightening and disgusting.
Your phone screen is probably dirtier than a public toilet seat. Better start cleaning it regularly!
Doing that will destroy the oleophobic (anti-fingerprint) coating on the screen. If you must do this, use a screen protector, which is replaceable.
Load More Replies...Nice, getting your phone drunk.
Load More Replies...I use clorox wipes on my phone, same as I clean the toilet seat with! :)
Restaurant menus
I always wash my hands after I order for this VERY reason.
Load More Replies...Sauce bottles on the tables, salt/pepper shakers...Folks lick their fingers and then grab these things. Just gross!!!
Whenever I go to a bar or restaurant I look at the menu, place my order and THEN head to the bathroom to wash my hands and wait for my food to arrive :)
New clothes. Often, those clothes have been made from fabric that is dusty or has been sitting in a dirty warehouse. Then the completed clothes are left sit in a dusty/dirty warehouse, often with rats or bugs crawling on them. Then they are handled by sweaty workers with dirty hands who load them into various containers or trucks. Then—for clothes sold in a store—there is a good chance you are not the first person to have tried on that item of clothing.
In short, when you get a new item of clothing, run it through the laundry before wearing it.
Not as common as you would think. Many people do not launder things before they wear them.
Load More Replies...To prevent creases, as well. You'd want to wash all of that off before wearing them.
Load More Replies...Oh, and new sheets smell awful. It's the que for you to wash before using.
I got a mysterious rash after trying on clothes at a department store. Not prone to rashes. Doctor wasn't all too concerned. I didn't like it but have to chalk it up to price you pay to live in society.
I buy a lot of fabric and that and my clothes get tossed in the wash first thing before anything else. I have a shirt that gave me hives even after I washed it and five washes later it was finally actually clean. It was a really cute shirt...
Bowling ball finger holes.
Books at the library and keyboards. Source: Used to work in a library.
Books really attract dust, but I doubt they could harbour harmful bacteria for long.
Having a Kindle solves this problem. The only germs on it are mine. :) But I do disinfect it once a week since I touch it so much.
Your keys, you never wash them, drop them a lot, use them with filthy hand... etc... and just think how often parents give them to their babies to play with.
Never let my kid play with my keys. I prefer a ball to sharp metal objects.
I do wash them. Regularly, every few days or so. Is that weird? I ... always did that, since I can remember having keys.
I don't consider it weird, on the contrary! But it surely isn't common... I put them into a ultrasonic cleaner every other week. Also belt buckles (metal only, no colours), my glasses and jewellery (metal only, no stones or leather) have regular "baths".
Load More Replies...we had plastic keys that we played with. our mother cleaned them every evening. i never got a real key from her
I worked at a store with an reward card. The amount of people who let the babies chew on the key ring card and hand me said card was disgusting!
Your keyboard. It's hard to clean, and is used almost constantly
I also clean my keyboard with Clorox wipes once a week. Same with my mouse and mouse pad.
Fast food ice
my first job was in fast food and i cleaned the inside and outside of the ice machine as part of my regular duties, a few times a week. then i went on vacation for a week and when i came back the outside of the ice machine had maggots on it from spilled soda getting trapped between the ice machine and the drive through cash register station. so i knew no one had cleaned the inside of it while i was gone either. ugh.
Hospital ice is no better. Whenever I'm hospitalized, even if it's just overnight, I have water with no ice. That stuff tastes NAAAAAAASTY!
This is confusing since ice melts. Are we saying the water used is bad or is it the ice creation that traps stuff in the ice?
Ice machines also contain water, and when they aren't cleaned properly (and most aren't) mold grows in them. People also don't often follow safety procedures and end up touching ice while scooping, or just letting the dirty handles/parts sit in the ice. The ones on soda machines are even worse--factor sugar into the mix, and you get mold and often bugs attracted to the sugar.
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The condiment bottles at a restaurant.
I remember seeing a post about the mouths that Wetherspoon cutlery had been in and although I rarely go to one I never order anything I can't eat with my hands.
Yeah but it's been washed it's been through a very hot dishwasher.
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Drinking from canned beverages without cleaning them off. You have no idea what's been touching that can before it touches your lips.
So far didn't catch anything bad. Nor did my parents. Excuse me for not being paranoid.
I've seen cans with droppings on them, from birds inside the warehouse.
I wash cans/tins of anything, including beans and the like, before I open them. Because ew! 😬
This can cause you some serious problems...long life products... warehouses...rodents (I like them but so does leptospirosis)
Your steering wheel. Think of all the things you touch when you're out and about then get back into your car and transfer it all to your steering wheel. Especially the gas pump.
I saw a post about gross things boyfriends/girlfriends do. The picture of the steering wheel belonging to the girlfriend who picks her nose while she's driving... sweet jeebus.
since covid, i get back in my car and immediately dispense hand sanitizer from the pump bottle in my console and i leave extra on my hands and smear it on the steering wheel
Ladies, if you bring your bag inside the public bathroom stall with you, don't set it down on the floor. Especially if it doesn't have little metal feet(s).
Many of us don't realize how dirty the floors in bathroom stalls or public area's actually are.
In some cases, the floors are more bacteria ridden than the toilet seats.
I hang mine on the door handle, if there are no hooks… but mostly there are (for your jacket)
It really is an art form using toilets with nowhere to put your bag other than your lap.
Load More Replies...Went to the restroom at a grocery store once and there was no hook so I set it on the sink and it fell into the sink, then the motion sensor turned the water on 😂good times
"Many of us don't realize how dirty the floors in bathroom stalls or public area's actually are." Who is this "many of us"? It's a TOILET FLOOR ffs!
Right? Japanese people have special house shoes only for bathrooms!
Load More Replies...Ew, I think we all know not to put our bag on the floor of a public restroom. If there's no hook I just keep it over my shoulder while I'm using the toilet.
I always use something called a “Heroclip “ (not just for ladies). It’s brilliant because you can securely hook your belongings almost anywhere.
this way you can feel free to lick the bottom of your purse as we are all want to do from time to time...? We are all covered in Bacteria all the time and it wouldn't be good for you... Not saying put your bag in a puddle but... honestly people's concept of avoid bacteria is really out of touch with reality... I hang my bag on the hook if there is one, if not I find a dry space away from the toilet... no ebola yet.
Not too long ago I was waiting in the queue at a public toilet. I saw the cleaner unblock a toilet with a plunger and then put that plunger directly on the floor of a stall. Diseases or not, I’d rather not put my bag in pee/cr@p, carry it around and then bring it home with me.
Load More Replies...Lay seat protectors (two or three) down first. With people walking and peeing on the floor, you don't want a biological surprise later.
Clean under your fingernails. Use an old toothbrush if you have to. Don’t use the same brush for both.
hard to find ones stiff enough, but eventually I did
Load More Replies..."don't use the same brush for both" Is VERY good advice, and the kind I hope most people don't need
I can't stand long nails for this reason. A lot of people don't even wash their hands so goodness knows what's under the nails
Door knobs
Everything that needs to be touched to operate, especially in public.
Load More Replies...I spray Lysol on the doorknobs once a week. I sound like a germaphobe don't I? :P
1) the filters inside your dishwasher should be washed frequently. I wash/scrub mine once per week.
2) the kitchen sink strainer/stopper can be disassembled and you can clean the upper part of the rubber stopper which will make you gag because it’s so scummy.
My dishwasher has a 'sterilize' cycle. There are dishwasher washer tabs you can run empty once a month. That said the manual for my GE dishwasher does say clean all the filters out once a month.
Movie theatre seats
Ha, seriously. I say we just do what we can and not turn into Monk.
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Here's something no one thinks about - luggage. You're dragging your suitcase, and maybe an attached tote bag, across sidewalks, floors, maybe airport bathrooms...then what? Handling them when putting them in the overhead bins on the airplane (which makes the bins pretty gross, too). I'm still shocked when I hear people say the set their luggage on the hotel bed. Airplane seats are gross, too. Nothing gets sanitized between flights, so there could be all kinds of germs on the armrests, tray tables, etc. I've seen people put their bare feet on the tray tables! The other day as we were deplaning, the girl next to me got up and her seat was wet from crotch sweat.
I'm one of those weirdos who now carries lysol wipes on the plane and wipes everything down as well as puts a mask on as soon as I start down the ramp. I don't care what people think of me lol. I used to always get a bad cold or something after flying. Once I started this, I haven't been sick once after a trip. Not getting sick is worth the stares imo.
That coffee pot/ keurig at work. No, they don't clean it, they only remove the old pods.
I manage our office and am Barista trained from a previous job, our coffee machine is cleaned every night and descaled regularly
Not barista trained, just get icks, I cleaned the office Keurig on the regular and was the only one who know how to unclog it. Coming back from holiday could suck
Load More Replies...You can buy a cleaner to run through the machine. It looks just like a coffee pod.
I see the same thing going on at my church. Two Keurig machines, and no one can be bothered to get a Brita for the filtered water, run an 8 oz. rinse through afterwards, or even descale every two months. It's only a matter of time before one or both machines give up the ghost. Glad it's not my circus, not my monkeys.
Your belt because you tighten it right after taking a dump before you even have the opportunity to wash your hands
Same goes for the button, zipper and waistband of your pants, unless you shuffle to the sink with them around your knees.
Load More Replies...watch straps. always clean them, especially after doing sports, my watch strap is always disgusting after the gym
Wearing shoes indoors especially on carpets
always take shoes off at the door. have slippers for guests. which are washed when they leave
I take off my shoes if my host asks me to, but that is certainly not the default.
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Escalator hand rails. They NEVER get cleaned, ever.
That is not true. I live in Vienna/Austria and I've seen them getting cleaned. Granted, I do not know how clean the water in the bucket was, but the hand rails did get wiped down.
I saw one at an airport somewhere (forget where) that had these little UV light things at the top and bottom of the escalator that bathed the handrail. Don't know if it works, but someone was thinking.
Might be the one at Macy’s in Herald Square in NYC. I haven’t been there in a decade, but I hear it still works 🤯
Load More Replies...Which reminds me. If a (typically outdoor) toilet has stairs and the stairs have a handrail, DON’T TOUCH the handrail.
There's cleanliness, and there's pathological germaphobia. Being exposed to à reasonable amount of dirt and germs won't kill you, unless you are severely immuno-depressed. On the contrary, it will help you build your immune system and train your body to recognize those germs and fight them. Or you won't ever be able to leave your house without wearing à mask, and wiping everything you touch with antiseptic.
Some (actually nearly all) of these make me wonder how some people even get out of the house each day. Do they wear surgical gloves and masks all the time? And carry anti-bacterial spray to use on every surface the ever come into contact with?
I grew up thinking that if my hands aren’t visibly dirty, they are clean. I have survived.
You're not wrong, we need to stimulate our immune system. However most of us survived because of modern medicine too. Many harmless, easy to cure diseases today could have killed our ancestors. It's tough to balance hygiene and keeping in touch with a reasonable amount of bacteria.
Load More Replies...And yet, here we are…NOT dying from touching an escalator hand rail…spreading Smuckers on our toast, at the Diner…it’s almost like a little exposure improves our immunity.
I used to watch/endure those OCD cleaning programming with my wife. They'd test a kitchen top and make disparaging remarks at how dirty it was and then bleach it to within an inch on it's life and sound amazed at the resulting ZERO. My wife got fed up with me sighing at their stupidity - we don't all have stainless steel kitchens in our homes and if you bleach anything, it's pretty much kills everything (including colour and common sense it seemed).
The only thing I would say is, wash your hands, and ignore this stuff. You survived this long without stressing this stuff. Also, you are the #1 germiest thing in your life.
There's cleanliness, and there's pathological germaphobia. Being exposed to à reasonable amount of dirt and germs won't kill you, unless you are severely immuno-depressed. On the contrary, it will help you build your immune system and train your body to recognize those germs and fight them. Or you won't ever be able to leave your house without wearing à mask, and wiping everything you touch with antiseptic.
Some (actually nearly all) of these make me wonder how some people even get out of the house each day. Do they wear surgical gloves and masks all the time? And carry anti-bacterial spray to use on every surface the ever come into contact with?
I grew up thinking that if my hands aren’t visibly dirty, they are clean. I have survived.
You're not wrong, we need to stimulate our immune system. However most of us survived because of modern medicine too. Many harmless, easy to cure diseases today could have killed our ancestors. It's tough to balance hygiene and keeping in touch with a reasonable amount of bacteria.
Load More Replies...And yet, here we are…NOT dying from touching an escalator hand rail…spreading Smuckers on our toast, at the Diner…it’s almost like a little exposure improves our immunity.
I used to watch/endure those OCD cleaning programming with my wife. They'd test a kitchen top and make disparaging remarks at how dirty it was and then bleach it to within an inch on it's life and sound amazed at the resulting ZERO. My wife got fed up with me sighing at their stupidity - we don't all have stainless steel kitchens in our homes and if you bleach anything, it's pretty much kills everything (including colour and common sense it seemed).
The only thing I would say is, wash your hands, and ignore this stuff. You survived this long without stressing this stuff. Also, you are the #1 germiest thing in your life.
