"They Are Disgusting" — Woman Warns Why You Shouldn't Use "Public" Paper Towel Rolls

If we all could name one household item that’s used throughout the home and beyond, paper towels would be at the top of the list. Some people use the essential to clean up messes around the house, to pack daily lunches, and sometimes to cover food in the microwave.

As such, most people believe that paper towels — in and out of the home — are typically safe to use. Unfortunately, one TikTok user has us rethinking things. In a viral post, a woman shared that public paper towels are actually disgusting to use. Here’s the scoop.

We can’t have nothing! In an Aug. 17, 2023, TikTok post, creator Inside Out (@geminigemini1982) shocked users after revealing in a stitch post that paper towels in public settings are disgusting to use.

In response to creator Taco Reacts (@TacoReacts), who asked about company secrets that we shouldn’t know, Gemini left TikTok stunned with her answer.

“Paper towels at restaurants, department stores, and grocery stores, they are disgusting,” Gemini said. “And it’s so crazy because I see people snatching a piece of paper towel off and they use their foot because the door is so disgusting. You probably would have been touching the door with your bare hands and drying your hands on your clothes.”

Gemini then recalled her experience working in a warehouse with horrible conditions.

“I used to work in a warehouse that stored those paper towels,” Gemini said. “And it was just piles of paper towels. Oh baby, rats, roaches, spider eggs, everything.”

“And when we would get ready to pick them off and send them, we literally would just dust everything off,” Gemini said. “If they were stained, you would touch them with a little bit of water and that would take away the poop look or where spider eggs were or whatever."

She then shared that workers would “blow it off, give it a second, it would dry clean and then we’d ship it off.”

Gemini ended her video by saying there’s nothing wrong with touching the door, basically alluding to the door being cleaner than the actual paper towels provided in public settings.

Nothing we learn on TikTok about the world we live in shocks most people anymore. So, when Gemini blew the whistle of dirty public paper towels, folks online were understandably outraged. In fact, it sounded the alarm of folks pointing out other everyday items we use that can be harmful to our health.

“Same thing for envelopes. Roaches like to eat the adhesive on the flap, so don’t lick them to seal them,” one person shared.

“I already don’t use the air dryers. Now I can’t use the paper towels?” another user asked.

“This is why I always wash and dry my hands followed by hand sanitizer. Washing to get rid of external dirt, and sanitizer to get rid of germs,” another user revealed.

Based on the information shared in this TikTok video and by users in the comment section, it’s best to take proper action when you’re in public spaces.

Govern yourselves accordingly.