Me: grabs both handles
Schrodinger’s washed hands
I would bet good money that both door handles are equally filthy, by nature of it being a school. Kids are walking talking germ incubators. We all are, but kids especially. And that’s before we even get into the kids who are intentionally malicious little bastards – I guarantee you, in some school districts, with some kids, signs like these would just be asking for an aspiring Poo-casso to smear their shit on the door handles.
Poo-casso
This got me.
The bottom one might be dirtier, with kids specifically wanting to “soil” it because that is “so funny”. And the group that does wash their hands don’t want to touch “the dirty one”.
I’d put good money on your take.
I would argue that the bottom would be dirtier, not because of kids reflex to be contrarian, but because human nature pushes people to prioritize themselves even at the cost of society. They may not wash THEIR hands, but they are not going to touch other dirty peoples handle.
Plus the bottom handle looks to be about the same height as my butt cheeks. If I can grab it between the cheeks instead of getting my hands dirty then I’m definitely doing that.
(No, not really, I’m not that talented)
So that’s why I saw that door with two separately labeled butt plugs on it instead of handles
You shouldn’t be touching any handles upon exiting a bathroom.
The door should be push to exit, so you can open it by pushing with your elbow.
I prefer airport style bathroom entry and exits … there is no door, just a walkway the gives privacy to the entry so that you can’t see inside from the hallway.
Takes up more space though
So’s your mom lol
Alri
I’m pretty sure there’s regulations against that, so you’re not pushing a door into a random passer by as you’re exiting the bathroom.
The foot hook handle thing is my preferred method.
I’m fond of the paper method. Paper barrier to protect me from the gross handle.
That might not be up to fire standards demanding doors in the hallway to be opened to the inside of the room.
Is that a thing?
Feels like something door closer makes irrelevant.
You’d think fire code would require exit always be push, because that makes evacuating smoother.
I imagine it’s because bathrooms have no point of egress, so the ability to block the bathroom door from the outside (intentionally or not) needs to be avoided at all costs for safety reasons.
Makes sense.
yay critical thinking!
Assuming the bathroom is in a hallway, having the door open into the hallway would cause the flight path to be narrowed which would be against (some) fire code(s).
After all, significantly more people would want to flee through the hallway than out of a room adjacent to the hallway.
If they opened outward, they’d block egress in the hallway, which would have equal or more traffick than any single room connected and will enough people in the hallway, you wouldn’t be able to open the door to escape at all.
For small spaces with limited occupancy, you can get away with opening into the room. Main exits are push, unless it opens onto a public sidewalk and not a stoop or something.
That would be ideal. I’ve also seen a few with weirdly discrete foot pedals. I like that idea, although the ones I’ve encountered haven’t exactly nailed the design.
My place of work installed those foot pedals around COVID time, and they work just fine.
I’ve also seen the ones that have the pull handle, plus the little piece that extends upwards so you can use your forearm to pull the door open.
Haven’t seen that.
You can also push a door open with a foot as you take a step forward.
It’s trickier than using an elbow, as it involves the balancing act of putting your weight on the door, which will give way, before allowing your foot to actually land. Do it wrong or with a door that’s much lighter than you thought, and you fall over as you deliberately shift your weight off the one foot you’re still standing on :D
I initially started doing it to push open doors while holding stuff with my hands, but now I kinda just walk into doors and open them with a foot as I do.
We’re talking of pulling doors open. Unless I misread, I believe you’re describing a method of pushing a door outwards.
I am.
How would a pedal that opens a door towards you work? Unless it’s like a handle for your foot?
Yeah it kind of is… The ones on the bathroom doors at my work place are a little metal plate at the bottom of the door with a grip on it, and a kind of… lip? I don’t know how else to describe it. You can probably find photos if you’re that interested.
But yeah, you kind of have to pause for a split second and brace, then you use your foot on the grip to pull the door open. After one or two times, it’s second nature now.
I just use a paper towel to grab the handle (if there’s not foot pedal. What’s annoying is when there’s no trash can near the door to toss the paper towel while exiting.
Out of idle curiosity about your username, I’d like to ask.
Dune, cryptography, or both?
I’m a Dune fan and work in security, so I’d say both!
Paper towel, always. No paper towels? That’s why you enter the bathroom with a napkin in your pocket.
I use paper towel and also use hand sanitizer to make sure no germs get through. I fucking hate public bathrooms.
what if I do the opposite
I saw shit smeared on a bathroom door the other day, hand dryers only, no paper towels, it was so gross.
first off, the clean handle should be on top. the nasty handle shouldn’t drip onto the clean handle.
second, as you are leaving a public bathroom, reach under your shirt/jacket (hopefully something untucked. ) use the fabric as a barrier for your hand and grab the handle with the front of the shirt/jacket.
But now you have dry urine smeared over your sleeves.
Better than on my hands, but…
i didnt say sleeves. the underside of the bottom of your shirt. or go to a haberdashery and get yourself a hanky.
Ok. Your first one is “tomatoes, tomatos.” The second is my go-to solution of sorts as well: use a paper towel, open the door, and dump the paper towel in the nearest bin. This usually works more often than not.
I just open it with my feet. I helps with keeping by thighs flexible too.
I almost exclusively flush with my feet in public bathrooms
What is there to drip? Y’all pissing all over your hands or something?
the clean handle should be on top
I thought so at first too, but when you think about it, that’s the first handle everybody’s going to grab without reading the text, so that would defeat the purpose.
If you are lucky enough to have a paper towel dispenser, dry your hands with one, use it to open the door, then prop it open with a foot while you throw away the paper towel
My germaphobia is so triggered
🤮
I’d have to use a paper towel all the time, to open doors, and also use hand sanitizer to clean my hands. I’m that germaphobic.
I hate public bathrooms. HATE in bold
At least I know the top one is sanitized.
If they’re going to break the rule about washing hands they’re not going to follow the door handle one either.
I’ll just lick both handles to be safe
⬆️ Found patient zero, everyone.
That’s me actually after I have Sprucey lick my eyeball
Someone who’s too fuckin lazy to wash their hands isn’t gonna take the time to read anything in public.
Like a JRPG, the choice is an illusion.
The real answer is to use a paper towel to open the door.
Since 2020 I haven’t touched a door handle in public. Because that’s when I realized just how backward some people are (I’d managed to avoid learning that prior). I wrap my sweatshirt around my hand to open them, now. In the summer I have paper towels in my pocket.
And the reason school bathrooms can’t just have kitchen doors that you can back into to open from either direction?
Newer bathrooms here just don’t have doors. Just two right angles. Can’t see in from the outside, but don’t need to touch a door handle.
It’s perfect.
I recall there was a story from Predictably Irrational where the experimenters were trying to figure out how to get participants to avoid double-dipping tortilla chips.
Along with a control condition, they tried setting up a sign that said “NO DOUBLE DIPPING”, and I think they also tried paying people or getting them to promise not to double dip, stuff like that.
The thing they found most successful was to set up two bowls of dip: One labeled “For double-dipping”, and one “Not for double-dipping”.
They supposed that once they had to do a physical action where they sorted themselves according to “what kind of person they are”, they wanted all of their visible actions to be consistent with that.
Interesting experiment but who the fuck doesn’t just eat the whole chip at once?
I like a big salsa to chip ratio, so I break the chip into smaller pieces (usually 2) and dip/scoop each one. No double dip, good salsa to chip ratio.
Side note, I believe the mythbusters did double dipping, and as I recall, it’s really not a problem unless you stir or leave the chip in the dip/salsa for an extended period.
Did he stutter?
Double dippers, apparently.
“Restaurant style” chips are enormous. Far too big to shove in your mouth at once.
sounds like you might benefit from having a bigger mouth
It’s been a long time but I recall a study featured on Freakonomics where a national park tried different signs to get people to not steal rocks. Signs like, “Taking rocks hurts the ecosystem” and “Taking rocks is a crime.”
The only effective one was something along the lines of, “A million people visit this park every year and leave things alone.” Suggesting that telling people to do the right thing is less effective than peer pressure.
On the one hand, it’s depressing because people seem to care more about fitting in than being rational.
But on the other hand, it’s reassuring that we’re so eager to solve things collaboratively that we’re willing to set aside our own personal opinions.
Our relentless obsession with social connection will either be the thing that kills us or the thing that saves us. And I honestly have NO idea which.
This is a game theory scenario:
-
I’m too lazy too lazy to wash my hands or don’t feel it’s necessary. Upon encountering this door I see both handles and decide to follow their instructions and open the door for unwashed hands. My hands are now unspeakably filthy as filthy people following the signs have accumulated a ton of germs on this handle. I get sick.
-
I was my hands, follow the signs and use the washed handle. Unbeknownst to me some unwashed game theorists decided that obviously the handle for washed hands would be cleaner so they used it without actually washing their hands first. It’s now also filthy.
-
I didn’t wash my hands, I don’t give a fuck about signs, use the one most convenient for me.
My hands are now unspeakably filthy as filthy people following the signs have accumulated a ton of germs on this handle. I get sick.
Do you normally get sick when you touch a bathroom door handle? It’s not like people choose not to wash their hands because there’s a separate handle for it.
-
They should put 110V through the top one.
