Why do so many pub/restaurant/public toilets require you to pull a handle when leaving?

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Flat_Fault_7802@reddit

I just stand in the toilet til the next guy comes in and walk out when he opens the door

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ThatGuyWired@reddit

I've been to a couple of pubs where, on the inside of the door, at the bottom they have a foot hook type thing where you can open the door without touching it.

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vikingraider47@reddit

We had these fitted at work during covid but they seem to pull your back when trying to open them. You dont really use your foot but your back opening a heavy fire door like that

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Hopeful_Durian_193@reddit (OP)

I wish they all had this 😂

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Honestly, they ought to be mandatory. If the UK can mandate light switches outside bathrooms because they must be an order of magnitude further away from the water than the room is big (but just around the corner of a door frame is fine? Okay then), it can mandate that public bathroom doors have footholds.

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GhostOfKev@reddit

Became popular during COVID. Never bother using them as I have an immune system

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oktimeforplanz@reddit

I stayed in a hotel that had these and they were great. I wish they were everywhere.

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Jess_7478@reddit

saw these all the time when I was based in the US last year

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Pigmy_Shrew@reddit

I often use my elbow to push down the door handle in such a situation as I also want to avoid touching the highly contaminated door furniture with my newly cleaned hands. 👍

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Toots1993@reddit

The elbow is the way!

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astromech_dj@reddit

Why is this a worry? I’m almost certain you don’t shuffle to the sink with your pants down to wash your hands before pulling them up.

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ExoticMangoz@reddit

Huh?

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ExoticMangoz@reddit

The problem is that the final act in the toilets is to touch the frankly pretty grim handle which every other drunk person has touched. The odds they all washed their hands are low. Regardless of what you did in the bathroom, you can’t wash your hands after you open the door to leave, so you leave with a dirty hand regardless.

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feathersmcgraw24601@reddit

But those same people are going back into the pub and touching all the other door handles, chairs, tables, bar etc. Sometimes it's easier to just not worry about it.

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ExoticMangoz@reddit

You’re right, that’s why I didn’t bother wearing a mask during covid. Better not to think!

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feathersmcgraw24601@reddit

Covid killed hundreds of thousands of people across the country and millions across the world. Fearlessly opening a toilet door isn't really comparable.

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ExoticMangoz@reddit

No, but I’m making the point that you can either ignore hygiene or make simple, positive changes.

The door situation impacts everyone that uses a bathroom, and who knows, maybe one day all the regulars will catch tape worm or a stomach bug. That could be avoided by making this simple, logical change, plus people who are rightfully grossed out won’t be anymore.

You could argue that you’ve never known anyone get ill from a bathroom door, but that’s anecdotal, and not washing your hands and then touching surfaces can and does pass on pathogens. No one in my immediate circle died of covid but I still wore a mask, because it works.

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feathersmcgraw24601@reddit

Yeah fair, but what is the simple, logical change? You can't have doors out swinging into corridors and besides, redesigning every single public toilet door in the country isn't simple.

And it bypasses my original point. Someone carrying norovirus on their hands leaves the toilet using the new hands free door system. They then leave the pub using their hands to open the entrance door and all of a sudden everyone has norovirus. Somethings just aren't worth worrying about.

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astromech_dj@reddit

We wipe our arses then pull our pants up before washing hands. The handle is the least of our worries.

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ExoticMangoz@reddit

But you can at least wash your hands after you’ve done that, so your hands are clean.

Handle on the door guarantees that everyone, even people who just went to comb their hair or smash a line of coke have shitty hands.

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astromech_dj@reddit

Your clothes are poopy though.

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Desperate-Leather811@reddit

I always assumed that in case of an emergency it’s easier to kick a door in from the outside, rather than try and pull it open

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swapacoinforafish@reddit

There's a coffee shop near me that has a push door to enter and so a pull to leave, which makes no sense to me. Surely you enter empty handed and leave with a drink so you'll want to use your body or free hand to push the door on the way out.

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27106_4life@reddit

After living in the states for a while, it always makes me wonder why so many of our doors open inwards, especially egress doors. Shops in the states always open out, so if there is a fire your door opens out, not in.

They do a lot of stupid things, but this seems one we should do

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Sltre101@reddit

Convenient you post this today. Was just in a restaurant that had communal sink areas but the male and female toilets were behind doors. So to get out to wash my hands I had to pull the handle that everyone, who can’t possibly wash their hands, has touched.

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KBKuriations@reddit

Did it encourage you to make sure that you absolutely do wash your hands after touching the definitely-dirty door? I think I prefer this arrangement to having to open a door that other people have touched (with sometimes-unwashed hands) after washing my hands and then not being able to wash them again after that.

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Zavodskoy@reddit

A) You don't want people swinging open doors into peoples faces

B) It's much easier to break down a door that opens inwards if the person inside is unconscious and medical personnel need to get to them

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Sensitive_Ad_9195@reddit

I use a tissue

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Sudden-Candy4633@reddit

But then you have the dirty tissue in your hand until you find a bin for it. This is a situation where you can’t win no matter what you try.

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sjcuthbertson@reddit

There's always a bin in the toilet, just pop back in and dispose of it there /s

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Competitive_Pen7192@reddit

Take another paper towel or tissue to open the door with. In a pinch I'll use my little and ring finger.

And in case anyone is unsure, a good portion even the majority of men don't wash their hands after the toilet in pubs and clubs. It feels like I'm outing them as a man but fuck me is it disgusting. I've also seen colleagues at work emerging from toilets after shitting and not washing their hands.

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edman436@reddit

One time the handle came off in my hand and I had to wait for the next guy to open the door so I could get out.

Left the handle wedging the door open a bit so he wouldn't be stuck in there but it was a pretty awkward 10 minutes waiting there hoping someone opened the door.

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PM_ME_UR_SUMMERDRESS@reddit

My solution is to use my little finger somewhere I reckon most don’t touch.

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sock_cooker@reddit

Bit off topic but ok

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PM_ME_UR_SUMMERDRESS@reddit

I find this comment a bit weird.

The top is about pub toilet doors and the fact that you have to pull them to exit them. I was providing a possible solution to limit contact, and hopefully germs. On a discussion forum. Where responses aren’t limited any way.

Sorry. I find gatekeeping a bit weird.

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sock_cooker@reddit

Apologies. I was being smutty

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PM_ME_UR_SUMMERDRESS@reddit

lol. Crack on. Went right over my head. I’m the one that should apologise.

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beeurd@reddit

Yeah, I do that too, but we had this discussion at work once and it turns out almost everybody does the same thing.

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will-je-suis@reddit

Fair but probably the people who do it are the sort of people who also wash their hands

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PM_ME_UR_SUMMERDRESS@reddit

Oh. There goes me thinking that was a smart idea then.

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incrediblepepsi@reddit

Whoever does this probably washes their hands though

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AyahuascaMann@reddit

Yeah I hate it when I have just washed my hands then gotta touch that handle on the way out, it's grim.

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Neat_Magician_4563@reddit

Some places require you to ask for a toilet code to punch in to use the facilities. Down the big smoke.

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Jess_7478@reddit

The inside of my coat has been my saviour

or if I am not wearing my coat, the outer pocket of my hoodie

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curlybabyhair@reddit

I think it’s a regulation thing. I use my elbow and carry hand sanitiser to use after. Tbh tho sometimes I skip the sanitiser because I don’t want people to see me with it on my way out and think I’m using it in lieu of actual soap and water. Obviously way too in my head about it

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IridiumQuality@reddit

Jesus Christ please touch grass.

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bps706@reddit

Wtf does this mean?

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ResplendentBear@reddit

Doors only open one way? If you push it open with your foot/arse/shoulder on the way in, you've got to pull it on the way out?

(Also not sure if there's a regulation that toilet doors have to open a specific way. Otherwise pull to open, push to exit would be better for hygiene).

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Hopeful_Durian_193@reddit (OP)

I don’t want to touch the handle AFTER I’ve washed my hands 🤔

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ResplendentBear@reddit

Yeah, I got that buddy. Makes sense.

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niteninja1@reddit

historical building practices mostly

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Hopeful_Durian_193@reddit (OP)

Most new public houses have this.

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niteninja1@reddit

How new is new. If its pre pandemic it wont have been something even thought about

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Hopeful_Durian_193@reddit (OP)

It was to me 🤣

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NevilleLurcher@reddit

A lot of toilets open onto corridors and you don't want outward swinging doors taking people out who are walking the way.

Alternative is to rececss the door by c.900mm but that just wastes internal space.

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