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Do you use hand sanitizer stations in / outside stores?

Hand sanitizer stations - yay or nay?

  • Yes

    Votes: 270 86.5%

  • No

    Votes: 42 13.5%
  • Total voters
    312
BeI

BeI

Member
Dec 9, 2017
5,974
A lot of times when going to stores you will often see a hand sanitizer "station" of some sort, whether it be a proper foot pedal dispenser or simply just a lone bottle of sanitizer on a table. 95+% of the time though, it is just a jug of sanitizer that you have to physically put your hands on to use, which I tend to find very off-putting because lots of people have put their hands all over it, and hand sanitizer isn't as effective as soap and water anyway. I'd rather use my own.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid a bit. What do you all do?
 
Seirith

Seirith

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,309
If there is a no touch one then I use it going in to the store and on the way out, if not I use my own that I always have in my purse.
 

DeltaRed

Member
Apr 27, 2018
5,746
I use it. Worrying about other people putting their hands on it is like not washing your hands in a public toilet because other people have used the sink.
 
mhayes86

mhayes86

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,244
Maryland
I keep a travel one on me, but if I forget mine then I'll use it. If it's empty, usually my wife is with me and we'll use her travel one that she keeps in her bag.
 
Bigwombat

Bigwombat

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
3,416
For sure. I'm not as paranoid as I was at the beginning of the pandemic but you gotta be sensible. Give me that hand lube especially when it's free.
 
OP
OP
BeI

BeI

Member
Dec 9, 2017
5,974
Omar310 said:
Who cares if other people touched it, you're about to sanitise your hands anyway?
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The point is that hand sanitizer won't necessarily get rid of everything, and I'd personally rather not go around touching the one thing that potentially more people have touched than anything else.
 
big_z

big_z

Member
Nov 2, 2017
7,794
If I'm going directly from home to the grocery store then no because i haven't touched anything that isn't mine. I always wash my hands before I leave and when I get home from habit.

There's been a few times I've had to go to the bank and use the atm and try to use it there but it's always empty. Feels gross man.
 
Soda

Soda

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,856
Dunedin, New Zealand
BeImonkey said:
The point is that hand sanitizer won't necessarily get rid of everything, and I'd personally rather not go around touching the one thing that potentially more people have touched than anything else.
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Hand sanitizer is quite effective if used properly. You're overthinking this. I do agree if you've just gotten to a store after recently washing your hands at home and touched nothing in public between the home and store, there's probably no reason to use the sanitizer. Otherwise, using it won't harm you.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is basically nil by contact anyway, though.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,611
I usually carry a portable one with me, even before the pandemic. In my experience the public hand sanitizer dispensers that you have to touch are always empty lol But otherwise if it looks full I'll use it.
 
Possum Armada

Possum Armada

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,630
Greenville, SC
A: always carry portable sanitizer. If you plan on skipping the sanitizer station inside a shop, please open yours and put some on in view of staff. That shows a level of kindness and respect that these workers rarely see now days.

B: Most stores are cleaning the sanitizer stations hourly if not more frequently. I clean ours 4-6 times an hour.
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,135
BeImonkey said:
The point is that hand sanitizer won't necessarily get rid of everything, and I'd personally rather not go around touching the one thing that potentially more people have touched than anything else.
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Honestly whatever can get through sanitizers is probably the kind of thing that can kill you in minutes.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
Only when I can use them without touching them with my hands (for example with my elbow). But that's the case in 99% of all stores and companies I've been to. I also have a bottle of sanitiser in my car.
 
OP
OP
BeI

BeI

Member
Dec 9, 2017
5,974
Soda said:
Hand sanitizer is quite effective if used properly. You're overthinking this. I do agree if you've just gotten to a store after recently washing your hands at home and touched nothing in public between the home and store, there's probably no reason to use the sanitizer. Otherwise, using it won't harm you.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is basically nil by contact anyway, though.
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To be fair, I think most of the times I'm coming straight from home and it would be the first thing I would touch. I just generally find it annoying that during a pandemic, there hasn't been more of an effort to prevent you from having to touch things that are probably touched by hundreds of different hands a day, whether it be hand sanitizers or touch screen self checkouts, or keypads to put in your pin number.
 
Soda

Soda

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,856
Dunedin, New Zealand
BeImonkey said:
To be fair, I think most of the times I'm coming straight from home and it would be the first thing I would touch. I just generally find it annoying that during a pandemic, there hasn't been more of an effort to prevent you from having to touch things that are probably touched by hundreds of different hands a day, whether it be hand sanitizers or touch screen self checkouts, or keypads to put in your pin number.
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It's a fair criticism. Personally, most I've seen are touchless (put your hand under and the sensor detects your hand and ejects sanitizer) or I can pump easily with the back of my hand. I can't think of many that require me to touch with my fingers or palm.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,958
Yeah but not religiously. If I feel dirty, like, if I have a sense of having dirty hands I will.

There's this hardware/general store near me that has homemade sanitizer from high proof isopropyl alcohol and whoever made it really went in hard on the juice, because the shit STINKS and stings my cuticles like hell. I kinda love it.

I try not to think really hard about COVID on surfaces and what not. Early on in the pandemic I was terrified of it, just not knowing how it transfers or how likely it is tha tryou'll get COVID from a surface... back then I was wearing gloves everywhere and I remember having to get gas and I forgot my gloves or ran out of them or something, so I was using napkin to hold the pump and something happened and the napkin fell off or something, and all I could think for the whole day was "Well... that's it... I just infected myself because I'm a goddam idiot..." and I thought about it for like 24 hours, then finally got over it and decided it's not healthy for me to obsess over tiny micro-interactions like that.
 
CDX

CDX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,476
The stores around here have no contact automatic dispensing ones, so you don't have to touch anything.

I use those.


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Alvis

Alvis

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,223
Spain
Here in Spain most of the ones I've seen are activated with your foot, it's cool
 
Masterz1337

Masterz1337

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,782
Not usually. With covid it's basically more of a feel good thing than actually a preventative measure. Like unless you touch your face right after or stick your fingers in your nose, you are pretty unlikely to get it. I'd I'm going out, I'm more concerned about the person breathing into the air than I am what they touched. I do wash my hands when I get home and everything though, and cary hand sanitizer. I'm just not super vigilant about it.it's something like 5% of cases are transmitted by touch,
 
Dr. Giggles

Dr. Giggles

Member
Oct 31, 2017
428
I never use them. I carry some chlorox wipes in my car. I wipe down my steering wheel and anything I touch after I leave stores. I honestly never even use sanitizer since i always wash my hands anyways
 

Zelas

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,020
Not unless I have to. I just keep awareness then clean thoroughly when I'm done.

Omar310 said:
Who cares if other people touched it, you're about to sanitise your hands anyway?
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There's risk involved because your hands need to be saturated and friction applied for 20 secs plus and nobody I see uses enough for that.
 
Wallace Wells

Wallace Wells

Member
May 24, 2019
4,838
I use my work's one every time a customer who isn't wearing a mask hands me stuff to scan or pays for stuff in cash.

my hands are starting to feel the brunt of it now
 
Vapelord

Vapelord

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,826
Montreal
BeImonkey said:
A lot of times when going to stores you will often see a hand sanitizer "station" of some sort, whether it be a proper foot pedal dispenser or simply just a lone bottle of sanitizer on a table. 95+% of the time though, it is just a jug of sanitizer that you have to physically put your hands on to use, which I tend to find very off-putting because lots of people have put their hands all over it, and hand sanitizer isn't as effective as soap and water anyway. I'd rather use my own.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid a bit. What do you all do?
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Here in Canada your not getting in the store if you don't use the hand wash station period so yeah I am using them.
 
LuigiMario

LuigiMario

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,933
Masterz1337 said:
Not usually. With covid it's basically more of a feel good thing than actually a preventative measure. Like unless you touch your face right after or stick your fingers in your nose, you are pretty unlikely to get it. I'd I'm going out, I'm more concerned about the person breathing into the air than I am what they touched. I do wash my hands when I get home and everything though, and cary hand sanitizer. I'm just not super vigilant about it.it's something like 5% of cases are transmitted by touch,
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Yep also if COVID was easily transmitted via touch we would have seen way worse spread than we have.
 
CatAssTrophy

CatAssTrophy

Member
Dec 4, 2017
7,609
Texas
I use my own.

In Houston it seems most places are still using either that smelly homemade tequila shit or it's so watery and runny that it gets everywhere and makes a mess. All of them leave a gross residue on my hands though so I just avoid them.

Only exception has been guitar center- they have the real deal hand sanitizer bottles with the real deal gel in them that don't smell gross or leave my hands sticky. They were using tequila before though.
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,588
No. I wash my hands when before leaving home and when arriving. What's the point of doing it at the store if you're going to be touching stuff there. My hands are already fucked enough from washing them so much and winter.
 
BasilZero

BasilZero

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
36,343
Omni
I typically wear gloves and don't touch my face/body or shake hands or anything

When I get back home - after disposing the gloves, I go straight to washing my hands with soap

I mainly use sanitizer at work
 
JoxxerTheMighty

JoxxerTheMighty

Member
Oct 26, 2017
342
Typically don't use the store offerings, I use mine when I get back to my car, especially if I had to use a community pen to sign.
 
Keyser S

Keyser S

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
8,480
I am more annoyed going into a store that has every door and window tightly shut and the heating turned to max
 
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