Are you a germ-o-phobe like me?

LOL - you are worse than I am... I always have a small bottle of Purell in my purse to clena my hands. I always clean the cutlery in a restaurant before I use it; I inspect the glass carefully to make sure that it does not have any marks on it before - funny, eh?? I don't like other things too as I do think and feel they are dirty that is why I insist on 'nice' places to eat and always carry a sanitizer in my purse,car, office etc. :)

My mom used to be really picky about the restaurants we would eat at. I used to laugh at her and thought she was crazy! I never really paid much attention. Now I am my mother, but I take it a step further and check the website of the health inspectors and read the reports on the restaurants before I go!

I freak out when my husband drops something on the table from his plate and he picks it up to eat it. Gags me! You see how they use the same old nasty rag to wipe down the tables. Some use bleach and water, but the same rag. How is that solving the problem? I place a napkin under my utensils and won't use them if they touch the table. I haven't gone so far as to wipe the salt and pepper shakers though. Never thought of that one. Good one to bring up though.

As crazy as this sounds, I hate eating out. I'd rather eat in my own kitchen any day of the week...at least there I know things are clean, no one is spitting in the food, or grosser yet, licking the spoon and putting it back in the pot. I have seen ppl do that at restaurants. I have seen workers go to the restroom and not wash their hands too. One of my foster kids worked at 2 different fast food places and in both places they dropped ppl's food on the floor, picked it up and passed it out in the order. Talk about gross. I've seen workers that cough, sneeze and scratch themselves around food. No thank you, I'll deal with the extra work and cook for myself. LIVE IN PEACE

God bless you, Karen! I love this discussion. You could do a series of posts on germs. I would love it! I have OCD. When it comes to germs, I am overwhelmed by them. When I go out to eat or even if it does not involve eating, places are not clean enough. I am very insiteful. I bring with me hand sanitizer. Most of the time If a place is dirty, I will send it back. Or I will find a clean one nearby. Sometimes they have the plates on the table and there are several of them. If the silverware is dirty, I send it back. I do not use salt and pepper shaker, as I am not a fan of salt. However, there are other reasons not to use it. People are wicked today. People of all ages. You have no idea what a customer might put in a salt or pepper shaker.

Jinx. :o) I carry around aloohol wipes witih me too. AND in the car we also keep the baby wipes package, adn almost every time after coming out from anywhere, and back into the car, we wipe our hands adn throw it out in each of our little trash bags on the sides of the car (inside). And at the gym, if I am to touch any weights or machines like that, I litearlly put on plastic (medical) gloves! I look really funny though. For a period of time, I only had the bright purple gloves, adn was in the gym lifting weights with bright purple things on my hands. :o) Better safe than not. By the way, I am posting so late, as I just found you and liked your postings, so looked up your discussions. So late hello!

i'm not a germ-o-phobe but of course i don't like germs, too! i don't bring any of those wipes when i go out. i just don't eat foods that are sold on the streets. the last time i ate that was i think 3 yrs ago.. it's so delicious but, after a week, i had a fever. from that time on, i have never eaten any foods that are sold on streets and until now, no fever recurrence yet :)

Sadly, this is very common. But it is impossible to wipe and disinfect everything you touch...the door handles in and out of the restaurant, the cooks dishes he's preparing your food in (whos to say he washed the bowl out that he mixed your food up in), ect. I rarely eat out b/c of this and although I don't think I'm a germ o phobic I have heard of some of the things that they do to the food while preparing it (sneezing-coughing-spitting on it, dropping it, peeing in foods, not washing their hands and scratching themselves, not to mention when you find fingernails, bandaids, hair, ect. in it. Nope I'd rather cook whatever it is right in my own kitchen...then if I get germs their my own. :) LIVE IN PEACE

That is really true to some restaurants and fast food chains. We can never have a complete or total assurance that its utensils, tables and the like were very well cleaned up. Not unless we are dining to a retaurant of a five star hotel. But I guess not even all five star hotels are that meticulous in terms of their utensils and equipments. You are right karen, we better have that small bottle carried in us whenever we are out might be to dine in or not. "Prevention is better than cure".

Well I hate to break it to ya but I used to work at a restaurant for 4 years as a server and have seen first hand at what a sloppy job the bus boys can do at cleaning tables. The times when I was really busy I would always try to go behind the bus boys and do another wipe down of my tables before they got sat again. I just always thought how clean the table the customer was sitting at had a reflection on my service. But after working in a restaurant and seeing first hand how sloppy things can get I get pretty paranoid myself.

I used to be a bad germophobe. Friedns, co-workers, and family made fun of me. I just wouldn't eat out at restuarants for fear of the germs and uncleanliness. I am working on getting over this issue now. But I do understand where you are coming from.

I'm don't think I'm a germ - o - phobe. I do like things clean enough. I don't bring wipes with me. Sometimes I don't wash my hands (because I didnt' touch anything) and eat. I'm not too picky on about the state of the table. As long as its not stick and looks clean I am fine. However I make sure I don't touch the table if I am going to be eating with my fingers. One thing I do about turning off taps after washing my hands. I collect water in one hand and use the other to turn it off. Then I pour that water over the fingers that I use to close the tap with. That's for any taps, anywhere. In toilets, I put tissue over my hand before I open the toilet doors to exit the toilet. For cutleries when I'm in the restaurants, I ask for a glass of hot scalding water and I dip the cutleries in the water to kill of germs. For other things, I don't really bother about because I remember I have good immune system that will kill off the germs.

I'm not quite as bad as you, but I am well on my way. It is always in the back of my mind in any sort of public place, and that is the one nice thing abotu winter: wearing mittens. It doesn't matter if I touch the elevator button, or the handrail, or the doorknob or whatever, because right before I sit down to eat, I can whip off my gloves. Even going in and washing before I eat doesn't really help, unless I can get back out of the bathroom without touching the door, etc. You just know those places are caked in god knows what, and I keep trying to tell my kids this, especially when we go into the city, because they are practically rolling on the floor and licking it. No wonder they are always catching something!

wow well I don't blame you though people have all kinds of health issues that you can catch now days

well,i really hate this kind of thing,but i belong to this classification also... i dont know how to avoid it

It sounds like you have it bad. I worry about touching things to a point. And I do carry them little wipes just incase. But I dont go around wiping salt shakers.LOL And I surely wouldnt bring a bottle of alchol with me. I think your best bet is to stay home.LOL

Whenever I go out to eat, I always insist on hot water to soak the utensils that I will use. Apart from that I make sure my children hands are clean. Reading through discussion, I cannot help it but I think you might be suffering from an obsessive fear of contamination by dirt and germs. But do not be alarm because you are not alone, there are so many people who has this. Have anyone ever told you that?

Yeah I'm very much a germ-o-phobe. Even if I haven't TOUCHED anything and my hands feel the tiniest bit dirty I have to wash them. If I know someone hasn't washed they're hands or kissed their dogs or anything like that, I won't touch them.

thats right u cannot rely on the cleanliness of the Hotels I can assure as per my past experience I uswed to work in CCD and Domino's Pizza