Stop Using My Decorative Towels!!!

[mhsjax]

I guess I am in the minority!

The thing is, people will use the damp hanging towels instead of the clean and folded hand towel near the sink! I've even before left two or three folded hand towels near the sink... like at a hotel.

Maybe it is just my guests... maybe I am just crazy! Maybe I should hang the hand towel OVER my decorative towels!

Nope not in the minority, I can't believe that most people here would use the towels you have hanging. I have actually been in bathrooms and maybe they have forgotten to leave a towel out to use and I notice that they have towels like your hanging up. I won't use them, I f I have jeans on I just wipe my hands on my jeans or I go out into the kitchen and grab a paper towel. I can't conceive of anybody thinking that those towels are for use, And when there is a towel laying by the sink, It is for people to use to dry their hands. I just don't get it.

 

[tar heel]

Nope not in the minority, I can't believe that most people here would use the towels you have hanging. I have actually been in bathrooms and maybe they have forgotten to leave a towel out to use and I notice that they have towels like your hanging up. I won't use them, I f I have jeans on I just wipe my hands on my jeans or I go out into the kitchen and grab a paper towel. I can't conceive of anybody thinking that those towels are for use, And when there is a towel laying by the sink, It is for people to use to dry their hands. I just don't get it.

Uh, I'm afraid the two of you ARE in the minority. You agree with each other, but you don't have much company on this thread.

 

[lillygator]

well, I would want my guests using the pretty towels. I would not want them using a damp rag left on the counter....nor would I stick paper towels in there.

 

[mhsjax]

Uh, I'm afraid the two of you ARE in the minority. You agree with each other, but you don't have much company on this thread.

Well we may be in the minority here, but most of the people I know personally have the same feelings as the OP and I do. so I guess it all depends on the way you look at it, doesn't it?

 

[mhsjax]

well, I would want my guests using the pretty towels. I would not want them using a damp rag left on the counter....nor would I stick paper towels in there.

A hand towel is not a damp rag, and last time I checked, once you dry your hands on a hanging towel, it gets damp too. I don't know why people are getting so offended about decorative towels. I guess where I live it is very common. That is why they are called decorative, not for use.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Nope not in the minority, I can't believe that most people here would use the towels you have hanging. I have actually been in bathrooms and maybe they have forgotten to leave a towel out to use and I notice that they have towels like your hanging up. I won't use them, I f I have jeans on I just wipe my hands on my jeans or I go out into the kitchen and grab a paper towel. I can't conceive of anybody thinking that those towels are for use, And when there is a towel laying by the sink, It is for people to use to dry their hands. I just don't get it.

Yeah, imagine that. Hand towels for the use of drying your hands!

I do not get it. They're not pictures! They're not part of the architecture or sculpture. They're towels. They look nice, yes. Most people like nice looking towels. That doesn't mean they're meant to be preserved like they're the Mona Lisa!

 

[tonilea]

I'm sure my comment will show me "lacking", but if you don't want anyone to use them - my only solution is to frame them! Seems kinda silly to me, but it would afford your towels protection from your clueless guests. BTW, I would be one of those people who assumed that towels hanging in a bathroom for to be used!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

There is no way I would use a damp towel that is sitting on the counter to dry my hands. That is so gross. When we were kids my Mom put out the "good" towels for the guests to use. Sorry but to me there really isn't a thing as a decorative towel. They are towels. They are on a rack so that after you dry your hands they can dry. You can make them pretty (and we do too!) but their purpose is to dry things. I also cannot get over the fact that you hardly wash them to keep them new looking. IMO they are in the bathroom and should get washed regularly. Decorative or not. YMMV.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

Do you want to know their logic?

Towel on the sink = dirty towel not put away = DO NOT TOUCH!!! It could be clean, look clean, smell clean, and still I would not use it because I know that in my house wash cloths near the sink are usually dirty, so yeah.

I would also assume that because the towels are so nice you put them out for the guests. And if you went through all the hard would I mind as well it.

What would make me not use them? Decoritive Paper towers by the sink. If I see them I know they are clean, for me, and they are more convieniate to use. Also they wouldn't be wet from other people using them.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

Nope not in the minority, I can't believe that most people here would use the towels you have hanging. I have actually been in bathrooms and maybe they have forgotten to leave a towel out to use and I notice that they have towels like your hanging up. I won't use them, I f I have jeans on I just wipe my hands on my jeans or I go out into the kitchen and grab a paper towel. I can't conceive of anybody thinking that those towels are for use, And when there is a towel laying by the sink, It is for people to use to dry their hands. I just don't get it.

Did you just say you wouldn't use the hanging towel in a bathroom? 90% of the time that's why it's there. I have never been to someone's house where they put what should be a hanging towel on the sink.

Also, I would hope the hanging towels get washed. When you flush the toilet there is a spray, hence the reason bathrooms should be whiped down at least once a week. I would hate to know how many germs are on those towels!

 

[Northstar]

Wow. I've got to admit, like most people on this thread, it would simply not have occurred to me that the towels weren't meant to be used!

OP, I think this is one of those things where we assume our family's way is the norm and that "everybody should know" the unspoken rules, but most people have simply never heard of it.

Call me a barbarian, call me a yahoo, but the best way to stop me from using your decorative towels would be to tell me that you'd appreciate my not using them.

 

[mhsjax]

Did you just say you wouldn't use the hanging towel in a bathroom? 90% of the time that's why it's there. I have never been to someone's house where they put what should be a hanging towel on the sink.

Also, I would hope the hanging towels get washed. When you flush the toilet there is a spray, hence the reason bathrooms should be whiped down at least once a week. I would hate to know how many germs are on those towels!

they aren't hanging towels, they are called "hand towels" gee I guess the inventor of these made them for the OP and me. No one else uses them. For eveyone's info, I have a hand towel in the guest bathroom handing on a hand towel holder sitting on the sink. And this towel is further away from the toilet than my "decorative towels". Wow I didn't know towels could create such a problem. And I hope you are not implying that I don't wipe down my bathroom. I wipe it down once a day and clean it once a week. In fact my friends tease me about how clean I am.Also In my house a washcloth left by the sink is grounds for husbands wrath. So that doesn't apply to us.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

A wet towel that has been crumpled up on the sink all day will start to smell musky. Hanging up the towel you want used helps it to dry faster for the next guest. I would think someone in the family was using an unhung towel to wash up with. I do like the idea of the fancy paper towels for guests for sanitary reasons. Never thought of that!

 

[Liberty Belle]

they aren't hanging towels, they are called "hand towels" gee I guess the inventor of these made them for the OP and me. No one else uses them. For eveyone's info, I have a hand towel in the guest bathroom handing on a hand towel holder sitting on the sink. And this towel is further away from the toilet than my "decorative towels". Wow I didn't know towels could create such a problem. And I hope you are not implying that I don't wipe down my bathroom. I wipe it down once a day and clean it once a week. In fact my friends tease me about how clean I am.Also In my house a washcloth left by the sink is grounds for husbands wrath. So that doesn't apply to us.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought hand towels were meant to hang. That's what I put on my towel bar unless I have guests spending the night and then I'll add bath towels.

I just do not understand why someone would buy them and put them out if they do not want them to be used.

 

[JEmaryland]

This reminds me of an entry on PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2008/05/07/they-match-the-plastic-slipcover-on-the-futon/

 

[dbriggsq]

If you don't want people to use the towels, don't put them out - simple as that.

 

[KirstenB]

This reminds me of a funny situation between my youngest sister and brother. Youngest sister has really formal looking Croscill bedding and matching towels, complete with fringe, etc. My youngest brother stayed over a night at her house, and used all the "fancy" hanging towels, after his shower. This was after my sister told him there were tons of spare towels right in the bathroom closet.

The next time my sister came to our house, she was venting about him using the towels. Our dd was only 7 at the time, and said, "oh no he used the Croscill's"? Even at a young age, dd had the fancy towel gene!! (it sorta skipped me, and after 2 kids, any trace of it is gone!!)

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

I'm sure my comment will show me "lacking", but if you don't want anyone to use them - my only solution is to frame them!

what I can't stand is when they use the toilet paper...

 

[Liberty Belle]

This reminds me of an entry on PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2008/05/07/they-match-the-plastic-slipcover-on-the-futon/

How funny! And through that link I found this from Miss Manners:

GENTLE READER: Could someone please explain to Miss Manners how the guest towel got to be the great totem of modern times? She can't wait to hear the part about why people think it is more polite to allow their hosts to realize, when they clean up after the visit, how many hands they have shaken that were apparently never washed after use.
It strikes her that if people were to exercise only one form of self-restraint out of consideration for others, they might pick something better. Such as not scooting into parking spaces that other people are already positioned to back into.
Use the guest towels, folks. That's why they're called guest towels. And leave them crumpled on the rack or sink or basket, so the host can put them in the wash when you have left after a hygienic embrace.
Efforts to cure guests of this inhibition have been pitiful. Some hosts put out small terry cloth towels in the hope that guests will think they use them for quick baths of their own, and that therefore anyone is free to grab them. Or paper ones, with the idea that the guests will figure they can destroy the evidence of their transgression, although not, one hopes, by making these disappear into the plumbing.
There are even hosts who have gone over the brink themselves and go in for a horror they call a "decorator towel" put out to tantalize guests who are not expected to use it.

 

[Imzadi]

Nope not in the minority, I can't believe that most people here would use the towels you have hanging. I have actually been in bathrooms and maybe they have forgotten to leave a towel out to use and I notice that they have towels like your hanging up. I won't use them, If I have jeans on I just wipe my hands on my jeans or I go out into the kitchen and grab a paper towel. I can't conceive of anybody thinking that those towels are for use, And when there is a towel laying by the sink, It is for people to use to dry their hands. I just don't get it.

what I can't stand is when they use the toilet paper...

You know what this really smacks of? That the person with the decorative towels cares more about the way their bathroom looks than about their guests, who are human beings. Oh, they care what the guests think. They have this inaccurate idea in their head that the guests will be impressed and think, "Wow, what a great looking bathroom! "

But, what people are really thinking is, " I'm a guest here but this person doesn't want her guests to even use the "guest" towels. Wow, I guess she cares more about how this place looks."


Really: You put out great, beautiful towels and then expect the guests to use crappier ones? What does this really say about your sense of values and where you place people in relation to the towels? Basically the towels are there to impress the guests, but on a show level only. You don't want to spoil the guests, treat them well by having them use lovely towels.


You know, this thread has really changed the way I view towels and how I want to treat my own guests. I am going to go buy the most luxurious, soft, fluffy, wonderful towels I can find. Not to show them to my guests, but for them to USE. I want them to have the most luxurious experience when they come visit me. I want them to know I value them so much that I bought special guest towels specifically for them to USE. And I bought special guest towels specifically for THEM to use. I want them to know I think that much of them.

I guess, now I understand the concept of pulling out the good china for when the guests come over... of course, that is if the guests actually get to eat off of them, and they don't just get to look at them while eating off of paper plates.