Acceptable or Unhygienic?

I am AMAZED we have made it to our ripe old present ages.
Have some people NOTHING more serious to worry about?
My DH has been on immunosuppressants for the last 20 years so his immune system is basically non existent.
I am not obsessive (or all that great) about housework, but we ain't died yet!

This thread is bordering on the neurotic!

How about the dentist? They put on fresh gloves to poke around at your teeth, but before they start they first use their gloved hands to adjust the light shining into your mouth. Look closely at the light and you can see all the smears and splatters from drilling the last ten paients.

I would prefer to have food,cakes etc. served to me by freshly washed hands rather than plastic gloves, which may have been used for who knows how long. When i see those (usually blue) gloves I cringe. They always look grubby yet people seem to consider them hygienic. If I am helping with refreshments at an event I give my hands a good wash and I've never made anyone ill.

No one has mentioned the outside caterers who take money from you, (known to be great germ carriers), then happily handle the burger buns that you then eat. I never buy food from these establishments. Far too risky with that lack of hygiene.

Yes, she does wear gloves MargaretX and I hope that she sterilises the equipment between patients!
She is very good indeed so I am sure everything is done meticulously, not sure of the reason.

Ah, I have just googled it and saw this online:
Some dentists prefer not to treat patients with active cold sores as the affected area may be painful, and may crack and bleed during dental treatment
so it would seem more for the patient's safety and comfort than hygiene purposes.

jalima doesn't the dentist wear gloves? Mine does as do is asistants.
I think this thread has shown up so many people worryinag about hygiene and germs. I'm clean and I like to be clean at home but in Supermarkets I accept that there are germs. Everyday we handle money, coins and notes and they have been everywhere. In relation to that I dont mind children or dogs sitting in shopping trolleys. My food is wrapped anyhow.
Our bodies can fight germa. It does them good to kee up fighting them, as we are all grandparents then we have reached a certain age anyway and our sytems must be used to fighting everyday germs.

Stansgran I think I would have asked cabin crew for tissues and just given them to the chap!

Poor DH was sitting next to a young man on the plane last week. Young man had a state of the art phone ,pooter and shocking cold but somehow couldn't afford a packet of tissues let alone a proper pocket handkerchief. He sniffed fruitily and constantly ,sneezed abundantly and blew his nose between his fingers then wiped them on the seat or the tray. Fortunately it wasn't a full plane so DH moved but we taxied for 40 minutes( bloody Heathrow) and he was ready to scream. Does no one else remember
Coughs and sneezes spread diseases
Trap your germs in your handkerchief?

Haha I d rather have someone elses pillow, than a slobbery dog round my chops

I think we all have a line we don't want to cross in terms of hygiene. It's not always sensible but just personal idiosyncracies. I don't worry about germs from my three dogs but do have a thing about pillows,not really a phobia just me.

Yes, that is something new, I hadn't noticed it before on the questionnaire.

'Do you have a coleslaw, if so we are unable to treat you'.

Or a 'coleslaw' as they said on The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds!

Really? Haven't seen it on my dentist's questionnaire. They wear surgical gloves anyway, don't they?

When I went to the dentist last week I had to fill in (yet another) health questionnaire and there is a declaration on the bottom of the form that says the dentist will not treat anyone with a cold sore.

'their hands' not 'there hands'... oops

Ithink I have been living in a parallel universe to all those of you getting anxious about germs lurking everywhere!

Normal hygiene routines should keep you all safe! Not sure how dog shit on shoes, tranferred to trollies, then onto carboard/plastic packages is then somehow ingested!!

I have stayed is many hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes, friends houses and have yet to contract any disease as a result of pillow sharing!

And as for sharing food, using hands/ 'personal' cutlery..I trust my friends to have good hygiene and anyway I often kiss them when we meet so any germs to be shared have probably done so! I am used to eating 'communally' as that was what often happened as a child..but then washing routines are very strict in most Arab and Muslim households.

I would not eat from open bowls of 'nibbles' in hotels/bars as I have no idea who has put there hands where before helping themselves.

I do have a condition that jeopardises my immune system but really cannot get too obsessed and fearful about something that happens so rarely!

... but the people I was talking about with the pillows are young fit not with sore necks or anything and even brought them to my house where I always put clean bedding on for anyone even for a night so for me it was offensive, your own family toting pillows around the world simply for hygiene purposes

Just caught up on this one, I started putting my shopping into trolley in add a and found at the checkout it was covered vomit. Yuk. The assistant just shrugged and I didn't know what to do so I just carried on and washed my stuff at home. I did ask the customer service staff to have the trolley cleaned but I font know if they did. I also worked doing in store demonstrations where you cook meat etc and let customers taste, nice and clean on outside but the little disposable dishes had been all over the floor when I set up my stand thst morning

With pillows I do take my own which is a small neck roll. Deep pillows crick my neck something dreadful. The polystyrene balls in the right amount just supports the neck nicely. I have fashioned my own pillows to suit.

Some of those small plastic trolleys with a handle than extends to allow you to wheel it are disgusting. I couldn't find one to use outside our M&S Food yesterday. They all had visible junk, such as abandoned receipts stuck to the bottom or side with who knows what.

I'd have thought a blow-up one would be rather uncomfortable - like trying to sleep with your head on a balloon...

I find hotel pillows too hard/large in general and can never decide if I need one or two.

Goodness...

Pillows on holiday?
I take a blow up one, weighs nothing , if, for the squeamish, you can cover it with a light towel.

Go back and suggest they invest in a garden wheelbarrow, caretaker. They could order one from Tesco Direct and maybe even get a discount - and club vouchers.