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Workplace issue: How would you handle this?

radcen

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We hired a new kid fresh out of college earlier this year. He's 25. Good kid. Nice kid. But, he's OCD about washing his hands. That, in and of itself, is fine. I find it curious, but otherwise really don't care.

What I do care about, is this ritual he does at the end of every hand washing. He is apparently afraid to turn the water off and get germs, so he cups his hands and splashes water on the faucet handles before he shuts them off. He will do this several times. In doing this he also splashes water all over the sink... and does not clean it up. That is the issue, the pools of water on the sink. It is not uncommon for someone to go in with something in their hand and set it down, only to have it get wet because he didn't wipe the sink when he was done.

I want to say something to him, but with today's uber-sensitive and uber-letigious work world I also don't want to get in trouble for being insensitive to his issue or "disability". (I don't think OCD is a disability, hence the quote marks.)

Here's the question: Should I talk to him, or should I talk to management and let them deal with it?

FWIW, he's a good kid and probably would work with us, and is just clueless, but ya never know.
 
are you his supervisor?

if yes, absolutely you should talk to him

dont make it confrontational

just lay out the issue, and have him come up with the solution

ie....he will stop splashing so much, or use paper towels after to clean up

shouldnt be a big deal
 
are you his supervisor?

if yes, absolutely you should talk to him

dont make it confrontational

just lay out the issue, and have him come up with the solution

ie....he will stop splashing so much, or use paper towels after to clean up

shouldnt be a big deal
I am not his supervisor.
 
We hired a new kid fresh out of college earlier this year. He's 25. Good kid. Nice kid. But, he's OCD about washing his hands. That, in and of itself, is fine. I find it curious, but otherwise really don't care.

What I do care about, is this ritual he does at the end of every hand washing. He is apparently afraid to turn the water off and get germs, so he cups his hands and splashes water on the faucet handles before he shuts them off. He will do this several times. In doing this he also splashes water all over the sink... and does not clean it up. That is the issue, the pools of water on the sink. It is not uncommon for someone to go in with something in their hand and set it down, only to have it get wet because he didn't wipe the sink when he was done.

I want to say something to him, but with today's uber-sensitive and uber-letigious work world I also don't want to get in trouble for being insensitive to his issue or "disability". (I don't think OCD is a disability, hence the quote marks.)

Here's the question: Should I talk to him, or should I talk to management and let them deal with it?

FWIW, he's a good kid and probably would work with us, and is just clueless, but ya never know.

A long time ago I had a consultant that would say that you should never employ a social case, as you will get enough of them in any case over time. But it does not sound too bad in this kid's case. Tell him that he is leaving a mess for others to clean up and that that won't fly. If he were brilliant, you would ask the cleaning woman to take care of it.
 
Why not get a hand blower?

Or, you could get him wet wipes for his office, saving a lot of time?
 
We hired a new kid fresh out of college earlier this year. He's 25. Good kid. Nice kid. But, he's OCD about washing his hands. That, in and of itself, is fine. I find it curious, but otherwise really don't care.

What I do care about, is this ritual he does at the end of every hand washing. He is apparently afraid to turn the water off and get germs, so he cups his hands and splashes water on the faucet handles before he shuts them off. He will do this several times. In doing this he also splashes water all over the sink... and does not clean it up. That is the issue, the pools of water on the sink. It is not uncommon for someone to go in with something in their hand and set it down, only to have it get wet because he didn't wipe the sink when he was done.

I want to say something to him, but with today's uber-sensitive and uber-letigious work world I also don't want to get in trouble for being insensitive to his issue or "disability". (I don't think OCD is a disability, hence the quote marks.)

Here's the question: Should I talk to him, or should I talk to management and let them deal with it?

FWIW, he's a good kid and probably would work with us, and is just clueless, but ya never know.

Bite the bullet and install motion sensing faucet. It's the 21st century for gods sake ;)
 
tell him you appreciate his need to be clean but he must use clean paper towels (placed by the sink) to turn off the taps as the water could cause a hazard if it splashes onto the sink and surrounding area and possibly onto the floor

and it is a safety hazard

make it easy for him to change his habit
 
Oh. Then it is difficult. Is his also your boss?
We share the same supervisor.


Bite the bullet and install motion sensing faucet. It's the 21st century for gods sake ;)
Old office building, in a rural area. I hear ya, but it's not my money.

They're talking upgrade to the whole building, but also probably for at least not another 3 years... and IMO that's optimistic.
 
Generic office memo about cleaning up in the bathroom and include not splashing water everywhere.
 
I thought about posting a sign in the restroom, but that seemed kind of passive-aggressive.

don't do that, it would cruel in the extreme

deal directly with the problem...go to your boss and talk about "best practices"

and ensure the paper towels are there, they should be anyway

I would never place my cleanly washed hands on the door knob of a washroom ever

nor would I touch the taps

our taps are elbow friendly otherwise...paper towels will easily solve this
 
don't do that, it would cruel in the extreme

deal directly with the problem...go to your boss and talk about "best practices"

and ensure the paper towels are there, they should be anyway

I would never place my cleanly washed hands on the door knob of a washroom ever

nor would I touch the taps

our taps are elbow friendly otherwise...paper towels will easily solve this
Agree the sign would be inappropriate.

And we do have paper towels right there. The soap and paper towel dispensers are motion-sensed, too, but the faucet is not.
 
Agree the sign would be inappropriate.

And we do have paper towels right there. The soap and paper towel dispensers are motion-sensed, too, but the faucet is not.

he's young he just may not have considered that he merely needs to turn off the taps with a paper towel

our garbage pail is also by the door so we use the paper towels to open the door and then toss said towel into the garbage
 
We share the same supervisor.



Old office building, in a rural area. I hear ya, but it's not my money.

They're talking upgrade to the whole building, but also probably for at least not another 3 years... and IMO that's optimistic.

I think I would go with _sal in #9 above.
 
I thought about posting a sign in the restroom, but that seemed kind of passive-aggressive.

We get emails all the time about bathrooms, cellphones, and scents in the workplace. Not that anyone ever listens because the bathrooms are always a mess, people always on their phones (as I write this on my phone at work ;)), and half the people seem to bathe in perfume before work. And not the good perfume but the musky, smell a mile away kind.
 
I am not his supervisor.

Then tell his supervisor to handle it.

Or grow some balls and say, "Would you please wipe up the water after you splash it all over the counter?"
 
don't do that, it would cruel in the extreme

deal directly with the problem...go to your boss and talk about "best practices"

and ensure the paper towels are there, they should be anyway

I would never place my cleanly washed hands on the door knob of a washroom ever

nor would I touch the taps


our taps are elbow friendly otherwise...paper towels will easily solve this

You germophobes boggle my mind. I seriously don't get it.

There's jizz all over the handles, sure, I ain't touching them either. But standard faucet handles at work? Generally can't find anything wrong with them.
 
You germophobes boggle my mind.
I seriously don't get it.

There's jizz all over the handles, sure, I ain't touching them either. But standard faucet handles at work? Generally can't find anything wrong with them.
(removed)
...suffice to say when people turn the facet on their hands may contain urine or feces as they have just come from using the toilet, if you clean your hands and touch them, you have contaminated them again

you people who are completely ignorant of basic hygiene boggle my mind

take a health course and educate yourself
 
(removed)
...suffice to say when people turn the facet on their hands may contain urine or feces as they have just come from using the toilet, if you clean your hands and touch them, you have contaminated them again

you people who are completely ignorant of basic hygiene boggle my mind

take a health course and educate yourself

Right, but you turn them on and then you wash your hands. Provided there's not an actual clump of poop on the handle and it's visually clean, I'm not going to concern myself with worrying about some microbes that humans have spent millions of years building up resistance and immunities to.

Attempting to avoid everyday microbes isn't "basic hygiene", get a grip.
 
Right, but you turn them on and then you wash your hands.
Provided there's not an actual clump of poop on the handle and it's visually clean,
I'm not going to concern myself with worrying about some microbes that humans have spent millions of years building up resistance and immunities to.

Attempting to avoid everyday microbes isn't "basic hygiene",
get a grip
.

good thing science understands bacteria better than you do

don't go into medicine, you will kill your patients with your bacteria laden hands

oh and by the way

it's happened... yup one of the best ways to spread bacteria in a hospital is poor hand washing

good luck there skippy
 
good thing science understands bacteria better than you do

don't go into medicine, you will kill your patients with your bacteria laden hands

oh and by the way

it's happened... yup one of the best ways to spread bacteria in a hospital is poor hand washing

good luck there skippy
Well, it doesn't specify, but the OP didn't make it sound like he works in a hospital, and neither do I. So looks like I'm all set, chief.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk
 
We hired a new kid fresh out of college earlier this year. He's 25. Good kid. Nice kid. But, he's OCD about washing his hands. That, in and of itself, is fine. I find it curious, but otherwise really don't care.

What I do care about, is this ritual he does at the end of every hand washing. He is apparently afraid to turn the water off and get germs, so he cups his hands and splashes water on the faucet handles before he shuts them off. He will do this several times. In doing this he also splashes water all over the sink... and does not clean it up. That is the issue, the pools of water on the sink. It is not uncommon for someone to go in with something in their hand and set it down, only to have it get wet because he didn't wipe the sink when he was done.

I want to say something to him, but with today's uber-sensitive and uber-letigious work world I also don't want to get in trouble for being insensitive to his issue or "disability". (I don't think OCD is a disability, hence the quote marks.)

Here's the question: Should I talk to him, or should I talk to management and let them deal with it?

FWIW, he's a good kid and probably would work with us, and is just clueless, but ya never know.

Since you're NOT his supervisor, don't make a big deal about it. Just tell him he should wipe down the sink with paper towels when he's finished washing his hands. If you can tell him as he's walking away from the mess, it might be helpful.

Don't be nasty. Just something like, "Hey, how about wiping down the sink for the next guy?" If he doesn't do it. Forget it. It's really not that big a deal. And I doubt if you're the sink police . . .
 
How would splashing water on the faucet clean it off? Tell him that he needs to use soap too.

Then tell him that leaving them wet is a breeding ground for zika and west Nile.
 
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