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Comment by henvic | Hacker News Reader

I rather use my own t-shirt to dry my hands than use a hand dryer. It should have been years since I last used one. I hate it since a child.

Automated paper towels dispensers should be the rule, not some fancy air blade thingy.

If I'm healthy, it is also good for the environment.

I never liked hand dryers both because of noise and the risks of spreading germs. I'd only use them on a brand new restroom, then never any more.

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I've always used my clothes over an air hand dryer. You know they have to be nasty because of all the water blown off hands that are likely only marginally cleaner than before washing, and that nastiness gets aerosolized and spread around the entire bathroom. The front and sides of my pants to wick enough water away so I can use my hands while they air dry the rest of the way: problem solved.

I'm most concerned with touching the handle/door with a bare hand. Too many people don't properly (or worse, at all) wash their hands after using a restroom. Therefore, I stick with the paper-towel grab.

The step-handle is a nice solution to this, sometimes.

I almost always wait for someone to open the door if there's no way to do so without touching nasty door handles. Or find a tiny piece of paper to use and discard afterward. Or hold the door with my feet while I clean my hand after opening the door with it, if possible. When I go to restaurants sometimes I carry a paper napkin if I have been to the place and know it's complicated to get out without touching anything. Yeah, I'm that paranoid with it...

* Heck, I even change clothes when I get home before seating in my bed or sofa.

Seems legit

People won't touch the restroom door handle, but they'll touch every other surface in the facility without a second thought. Walking through a bathroom door doesn't magically make hands clean. The good news is if you have a healthy immune system you can touch anything, including the bathroom door handle and you'll be fine.

I've never understood why more restroom doors don't open out. It's empirically better if you can just push the door open with an elbow.

It should be an international standard that: * rest rooms have never-empty paper towels * rest room doors have a trash can next to them

or simply restrooms with no doors like most airports

If there's no lock/handle, I 'kick' the door just to avoid touching it.

If I'm wearing long sleeves, use my shirt sleeve; if I'm wearing short sleeves, grab the bottom of my shirt and use as a glove. I've seen too many people drop mega-bombs in the stall, sound like they're making a hash of the cleanup, then explode out of the stall and walk right past the sinks. Why would I wash up just to get feces on my hands from the door handle?

Please use the paper towel grab. Don't disrespect your shirt like that, which will still be on you wherever you go the rest of the day until you change it.

> If I'm healthy, it is also good for the environment.

"Patient Zero" doesn't usually exude symptoms until it's too late.

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