I think I've become a germaphobe

There's a pizza place up the street that I loved to order from. But one day I went in to pick up a pizza and after the woman took my money and made change, she went right back to making pizza dough… without washing her hands first. I hoped for the best with my pizza, but haven't been back since.

Is that really considered being a germaphobe? There's no way I would have ordered anything from there. I don't like people breathing, sneezing, coughing around my food/drinks or touching my food with their bare hands. I wash my hands a lot and shower at least twice a day. There are other germ issues too. However, I thought this was normal.

Ever since I was a bartender, I will never order a mixed drink from any bar. It's so disgusting. People drop fruts on the floor that they cut up and put in your drink...bartenders never wash hands in between handling cash, dirty glasses, etc... the ice buckets are never cleaned.

I don't understand how more people dont get sick from bars. And, it's not the alcohol - only 70% alcohol really kills germs. Maybe a few germs are susceptible to lower percentages.

OP that doesn't make you a germaphobe. It simply means that you are using your head. I got the creeps just reading your scenario.

That is why I never want to see how my food is prepared. I have been in restaurants where you can see them putting your food together while you wait at the counter and I look away because I don't want to get grossed out. I rarely order delivery and once I ordered a pizza and the guy who delivered it was gross and greasy. I tried to tell myself that the delivery person usually isn't the one who actually makes the pizza but it still put me off from it.

No, OP, what you showed is common sense. I wouldn't eat there either and I am not overlying concerned with becoming sick. It is important though to wash your hands and avoid situations where people sneeze on your food. Air droplets are a main source of transmission for some pathogens.

Well, then, with all respect, all six of you might want to get used to the idea of growing all of your own fruits and vegetables, milling all of your own grain and baking all of your own bread, raising and butchering all of your own livestock, etc. etc. etc.

This is the price we pay for living in modern society. SOME kind of food-related grossness, just about everywhere you go.

If it's any consolation, I've had food poisoning exactly three times in my life. And I'll be 59 in July. AND I'm still here.

And, for some reason, I'm suddenly in the mood for take-out. Hmmm . . .

I suck anon dick through gloryholes at steamworks, and I haven't gotten oral chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea, hiv, or syphilis...but it doesn't mean it's not still kinda gross R7.

R7 True we cant control everything but if we see someone sneeze on our food, it's probably a good idea not to eat it. Kind of a no-brainer, eh?

OK, R8. I'll take my chances with food poisoning, and you'll take yours with Gaetan Dugas' Disease, I guess.

Old Man: Why do you keep hitting yourself in the head with a hammer like that?

Young Man: Because it feels so good when I stop!

[quote] I know it’s ridiculous, but I just cannot picture myself eating anything out of there again, or anywhere with gaps in the food cover

NOT ridiculous at all. Don't blame you one bit.

I like to see who's making my food and how and I don't trust any set-up where you can't watch what they're doing. You never know who might be up to something nasty, so I want to watch.

R7

It's probably much easier to go through life not being concerned about these things, however, I don't think that I could stop worrying about food-related grossness(or grossness in general) even if I truly wanted to. Perhaps I am a germaphobe. Again I just thought my beliefs about hygiene and cleanliness were normal.

I was visiting Montreal and stopped into Dunkin Donuts. The counter chick sneezed, then wiped/picked her nose. Then she put a thumb imprint in my croissant. I left the croissant on the table. Otherwise, I just stood dumbstruck. I was too disgusted and dumbstruck to do anything like throw it away, order another, or create a scene. Nothing!

Too muwsch breead.

I don't order diet Coke at steak houses that serve it with the straw already unwrapped (and I love diet Coke with steak). I'm sure that whoever puts the straw in the glass touches the top of it. I had never thought of it before, but once the thought crossed my mind I stopped drinking from unwrapped straws.

I've become aware of these things after having gotten one cold after another over the course of a couple of years.

Me too, OP. Bad enough WWI, but then Nazis. Now they're crashing planes into mountainsides. I really dislike them.

I would have left, too, OP.

I've been in take outs, some that I've been going to for years, and saw unhygienic things like staff sneezing, hauling out trash or whatever then touching people's food and stuff. I never went back.

I never buy food from street vendors, there is no place to wash their hands. I've watched the two guys who run the news stands on the West 4th Street A platform come out and wash their hands and feet over the side of the platform with bottled water then go back and handle things.

It was so 3rd world (they were Indian or Pakistani) and everyone (of all reaces) on the platform were grossed out.

I am not a germaphobe by any means, but gross is gross.

I try to remember to wash my hands when I return home at the end of the day.

It's funny, but when people observe me washing my hands, my friends then line up to wash theirs.

Was she Chinese R13 ?

I won't go to buffets anymore. Adults sneezing, little kids picking their noses and touching things, ugh

In most restaurants/diners the wait staff makes the salad, using their hands. They also cut the lemons. Many even scoop up ice with their hands for your drinks. They are constantly handling money and if short on bus boys pick up dishes with food that others have eaten usually with their fingers in the plate.

This is one of the reasons I hate eating out or getting take out.

Also I read the most germ ridden thing at most McDonalds are the beverage machines (hot and cold). They are never cleaned including the ice machines.

A friend who worked at an Applebee's I Staten Island was told if something expensive drops on the floor, like a stead, to pick it up and serve it anyway. If it has stuff stuck to it rinse it off and reheat. He said it was also common practice for staff to eat fries off plates before they are served.

I eat in restaurants all the time and I never get sick. I can't remember the last time I was sick.

R18, I do that too. One day I realized that I've been doing it unconsciously for years. I think it is because whenever we kids came into the house, the first thing my mother said was, wash your hands. She also made us wash our hands before we sat down to eat. She was not a germaphobe at all.

I ride the subway daily and work in a hospital, I can't remember the last time I was sick. I think an important factor is that I wash my hands several times throughout the day.

The dirtiest things in life:

A bottle of ketchup at a restaurant. It probably has never been cleaned.

The other items that stay on the dining room table in a restaurant, such as the salt & pepper sellers.

A restaurant's menu which has passed through many dirty, grubby menu.

Oh Lordy, you might as well go straight from your restaurant to the Emergecy Room.

You're an idiot.

I was once sitting next to a sneezer during a Church service. He caught his sneeze in his hand, just before the sign of pease when we shake hands, l imagined that his hands might still wet, ugh! I discreetly moved to the rear of the church before the sign-of-peace.

I wash my hands several times a day as well. I used to work in a hospital and it's a habit.

I have hand sanitizer in the car, at the office and in my bag.

I've noticed a lot of people don't wash their hands after coming out of the bathroom stalls and that includes restaurant staff.

[quote] had never thought of it before, but once the thought crossed my mind I stopped drinking from unwrapped straws.

You still have to touch the straw wrapper that the server touched in order to take the wrapper off. You do know the vast majority of illness is contracted through hand contact, right? Therefore, your hand touches the servers "germs" when you remove the wrapper. You're contaminated. Now you're going to use your contaminated hands to feed yourself.

I once took a tropical Atlantis land vacation, which means a week in an all inclusive hotel in the tropics.

The staff, especially the food-related employees, all doned hospital masks for the week. The Atlantis vacation manager stated that it wasn't because we were a Gay group, it was just how they always served food to anyone.

I've been back there, and nobody working there had on a mask. So I guess the masks were to protect the staff from the Gayness germ.

Yes, and that's why there's fecal matter all over everything r28. It's so gross.

A restaurant waiter once told me that it was their policy to serve a soft drink with the unwrapped portion of the straw in the glass; and with the wrapper remaining on the top half of the straw. He said it was Massachusetts state law to keep their grubby hands off the straw.

I have a friend who does the most annoying thing when eating out with friends. She unwraps the straw with her dirty unwashed hands and sticks it in other people's soda as if they can't handle this hugely difficult task on their own.

She has no kids and she's about 60 so it's not like she got in the habit doing it for children. I just end up drinking my drink straight from the glass if she does this. WTF the soda machine and ice cubes are dirty and moldy anyway and the lemon probably has blood on it from servers with poor knife skills.

Oh and if I have to send something back (only if it's really, REALLY bad, I never order the same thing because I know I will just get back what I sent to the kitchen. Of course I'm sure it does come with some spite spit.

R8 I have not only suck anonymous dick I have rimmed more hairy asses than I can count.

Except for catching a vaginal yeast infection from a woman in the early 80s, I have never had an STD or food poisoning.

I condone you, OP.

I couldn't believe the study that said there was shit everywhere on every surface. Now it is been reported that shit is even in the beards of lumbersexuals. I thought the look would die out a week after that article. I was never into them, now I'm completely turned off by them.

How someone can take a dump and not wash their hands is incomprehensible.

[quote]Now it is been reported that shit is even in the beards of lumbersexuals.

it wasn't a study, just heresy, you queens are the most gullible people on the planet.

I would have been turned off to eat there, too, op. I prefer to choose when strange men project bodily fluids all over me, thank you very much!

It was a study, shit face R37, done by microbiologists.

heresy?

it was a pile of crap, you idiot, don't fucking believe every goddamned thing you see on buzz feed, you queen!

At least the hipster with the shitty beard didn't prepare your sandwich

I would be the only one not eating at potluck office parties. I don't know what people do in their kitchens. Just one of many reasons I'm glad I don't work in an office anymore.

[quote] I don't know what people do in their kitchens.

they, cook, gladys, they cook. get over yourself.

R41-

Most of these posters still think Obama deserves to keep his Nobel "Peace" Prize.

Facts don't matter.

[quote] I would be the only one not eating at potluck office parties. I don't know what people do in their kitchens. Just one of many reasons I'm glad I don't work in an office anymore.

Little Maddie helped Mommy make the party sandwiches this time. She's growing up so fast. She can even wipe her own bum now.

I had some flashbacks after reading the thread. I went to a Subway in a small town. The woman started walking to the counter, coughed like she was loosing a lung, then tore off a piece of paper, and spit a throat bugger into it. She then dropped the piece of paper on the counter in front of the food. She asked, “what can I get you?” All I could come with was “Oh, my God. Nothing.” I suspect that I sounded like Mary Richards. Then, I hightailed it out of there.

Burger chain, a few years back. I went there for lunch. It was packed in there. I went to the bathroom, peed. Went to wash my hands. The faucet handles had been removed from the sink. Thus, no way to get water to wash my hands without a pair of pliers. It dawned on me that if I couldn’t wash my hands, the employees couldn’t either. I got the hell out, scrubbed my hands at the next restaurant.

Kind of off topic. There’s a restaurant chain around Jax, Florida named Famous Amos, known as Flamin’ Anus to family. I was driving along late one afternoon, had to stop at the light right in front of the restaurant. They have windows all around the front, so I could see the place was packed, with the patrons seated along the highway side enjoying the view out.

A man comes around the corner, walks in front of the restaurant where all the people were looking out. He kept walking along, projectile vomiting as he made his way down the street. The looks on the faces of the restaurant patrons were incredible. I saw forks going into mouths stopped in mid-air, drink glasses that stopped before they met the lips, horrified looks that had to be accompanied by loud gasps, women covering their mouths with their hands, and a little girl who had to be screaming. I was laughing so hard, I missed it when the light changed and had to endure some horn honking. If only we’d had cellphones with video recorders back then.

what's happening between r8 and r34? germ-slut competition?

I eat out or get takeout regularly and have for years. I've had food poisoning one time and that was over thirty years ago when I ate a bag of trail mix that I purchased at a health-food store, and I vomited all night. I haven't had trail mix since then, but I've never gotten sick from any other food, which would be from the store, someone's house, and restaurants.

R49 must be big as a barn

I had friends who were germaphobes but then had no trouble getting on their knees and blowing, getting spit roasted, dp'd and having loads blown up their innards by multiple guys... go figure.

I'd have to agree with R2. OP's example just seems like common sense not a true germaphobe - who probably wouldn't order even if he never saw anything to set off bells.

[quote]nd shower at least twice a day. There are other germ issues too. However, I thought this was normal.

not normal.

We have a bakery here that has been in business for 40 years, oh my gawd they make the best bread, so many varieties of breads. Desserts that are to die for, cream pies, Napoleons, cookies, brownies, all so delicious. One day I'm standing at the counter and this skinny crippled up old mouse casually walks across the foor without a care or fear. That did it for me, I could never go back. If that mouse could live to a wizened old age in that bakery his kids and grandkids could be sporting the hantavirus.

Likely not, get over yourself

Never sit in your bedroom with clothes on you wore outside

Deli meats cause colon cancer. And not just red meat: Deli turkey too.

You're worried about the wrong thing.

The more germs you are exposed to the better. Bubble-boys are evolutionary dead ends.

Once I went to Subway to get lunch. I wanted to use the men's room first, and just as I was entering, I passed one of their sandwich artists on the way out. As I entered, I could tell by the smell that he had left something.

I was so disgusted by the thought of this guy making my sandwich that I washed my hands and left.

I went to culinary school and have worked in a few restaurants. I won't work in a filthy kitchen. Most (should be all) restaurant workers should have completed a Serve Safe course in food safety. However, it all depends on the management and head chef how kitchens are run. All equipment should be broken down and cleaned daily, if not weekly. Anyway, I once ate a taco truck and had long black hair in my tostada. My partner and i got take out from a fancy restaurant a couple of months ago and he ordered their chicken salad and was sick for 2 days afterwards. We were surprised because in the past its never been a problem, but someone didnt wash their hands that day.

NEVER EVER look in the kitchen of a restaurant, especially Chinese and Mexican.

Oh my