Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

@NatureLover Have you found yourself feeling a bit cocky during the whole covid thing like... I've got this cleanliness thing down! I've been rehearsing for decades! 😂 Or is that just me?

Haha, @Escaped_Goat ! No, I don't feel cocky, I feel alarmed because everyone else needs sanitiser too now and I'm worried I'll run out! However a friend did tell me he thought I was at an advantage as I'm used to washing my hands so often every day. I hadn't though of it like that before. But it sounds like you are super-clean at home and with your hands, so you have every right to feel cocky. My situation is complicated by my hoarding, so my house is messy and not super clean.

I'm horrified to hear about the cook's hands in that experiment. <looking for horrified and alarmed emoticon> POSSIBLY TRIGGERING FOLLOWS: I can't use public transport because when I was a kitchenhand, the chef told us about a course he did which tested and found faecal matter on cinema seats, train seats, etc. He was telling us so no-one would sit on the tables. (I hope I haven't done a bad thing in telling you this?)

I hope that if you do end up finding that this aunt of yours is your birth mother, that she is willing to have a relationship. Either way, it would be heartbreaking news.

@NatureLover Haha no you haven't done a bad thing. I fully expect everything that I haven't personally cleaned to be disgusting. 😂

I sanitised the hospital tray table thingy after the cleaner left the room. 🙊 I don't know where she used that cloth before she got to my room.

Yes' I've seen people use filthy cloths to clean surfaces too. I need to know the exact history of what that cloth (and everything else) has touched before I can trust it.

Do you have different levels of dirtiness in your head? I have about 4 levels (it used to be 6) and everything I see and touch is slotted into one of those levels. It is e x h a u s t i n g.

It is SO good to finally be able to talk with another germophobe about these things!

I just want to check with a @Former-Member : how explicit can we be in talking about germs? I don't want to make anyone's germophobia worse. But on the other hand. I've longed for years to be able to discuss these things with people who get it, and plus I definitely want to know if the cook's hands were covered with germs (see the last 5 posts for examples). But I don't want to do the wrong thing. Thanks.

So sorry, @Escaped_Goat - I failed to mention that I understand you are fine with talking about germs explicitly. Am glad about that. My request to the moderators above was for the future and for other germophobes who might come along. I'm either unfortunate or fortunate (I don't know which) to have always been super conscientious.

@NatureLover I definitely have levels. I had a friend who would invite me over for coffee and to be honest I would have felt more comfortable having coffee in a dumpster and I would never have coffee in a dumpster. I'd always suggest meeting elsewhere. Then she started asking me to pet sit when she was on holidays. I'd go in and feed the animals and leave and go home and shower and wash my clothes. I'd still feel dirty so I had to tell her I couldn't do it anymore because of my chronic pain condition. I felt awful for the lie but it's not a truth you can tell someone and she found someone else who was fine with the dirt.
I felt bad like I was judging how she lived and I'm really not a judgmental person but I just couldn't deal with it at all.

@NatureLover It seems you too are okay with discussing germs. I'm not sure how common that is among germaphobes. I'm happy to explain to all and sundry about germs... don't get me started on food served on wooden boards or that trend of adhering foods to the outside of milkshake glasses. 😂

Hi @Escaped_Goat , yes, I'm fine with talking about germs explicitly lol. I totally agree about foods served on wooden boards full of old cracks. 😮 I wasn't aware of foods stuck to the outside of milkshakes. 😮 I have to sanitise my hands after touching door handles and also after touching my purse or money, my car, my outdoor clothes and my handbag. Actually I have a few nice cloth bags that I use as handbags, and I wash them after each use.

That's interesting that you have levels too. I agree about not being a judgemental person but feeling judgemental anyway...it's more that I panic if I'm knowingly exposed to possible germs and have no way to sanitise immediately. Such as after shaking someone's hand. I also panic if someone who is sick is around me, as I have severe asthma and can get very bad asthma if I get sick.

I'm sorry you have a chronic pain condition.

@NatureLover possible trigger image. I just simply wouldn't buy anything like this because a bunch of people had to have touched the outside of that glass before they stuck cookies all over it. Yes there is a glass with a milkshake under there.