coffee cups in the office or not?

[tulip]

We have bottled water down where I work, as there are no sinks or kitchen nearby on this floor. The problem I have with that is, my being a germaphobe, I wonder what sort of critters may be incubating in the holding tank before it's pumped out. And are they sterilizing the reusable bottles? can I trust the hands that handle them? *shiver*

Wow. I would have thought that bottled water would be okay for a germophobe. I mean, it's standardized and mechanized and regulated and inspected and verified and and so removed from anything organic. Have you considered distilled water? Not sure how tasty it would be, though.

[Blueberry]

Wow. I would have thought that bottled water would be okay for a germophobe. I mean, it's standardized and mechanized and regulated and inspected and verified and and so removed from anything organic. Have you considered distilled water? Not sure how tasty it would be, though.

I wonder if she means the refillable 10 gallon jugs that come from a water company and go into a dispenser? The dispensers on those worry even me a bit. Of course, I drink tap water from a Brita - so go figure

[tulip]

Oh, thanks for clarifying that, Blueberry. I still don't see the issue. But then, I drink tap water from...the tap (!). I guess I have other concerns that take up my attention, time and energy.

Back to the topic, the rare times I go out for tea or coffee, I prefer to sit down and enjoy it in a real mug or cup, not disposable. Luckily, I rarely have to get a to-go cup since I've made slowing down a priority in my life.

[nikkoblu2]

Oh, thanks for clarifying that, Blueberry. I still don't see the issue.

We have a big jug on a dispenser here at work and the water company comes and takes the empties and brings us nice clean, full bottles. I believe the issue is definitely the spout on the dispenser. I see ladies fill their small-necked bottles by inserting the spout into the bottle so they don't spill any water. Ya gotta figure the inside of your water bottle has your own germs on it and when it comes in contact with the water spout they rub off...as well as everyone else's germs.

I use a wide necked bottle and hold it below the water spout - figuring the inside of the water spout should be relatively clean. I get sick pretty easily - colds and viruses - so I try to take the extra measure to not pick up stuff my body might not be able to fight off.

[jessmarimba]

I can't speak for you guys' dispensers, but we had to clean the inside of one of ours for some reason and it was pretty nasty. Granted, it'd been in use for probably 8 years without being cleaned and the carpet around the dispenser was quite disgustingly moldy from us dropping several of those giant bottles over the years. We were probably breathing a lot more funk than we were drinking.

[badger]

yeah, it's not the actual water inside it, but the dispenser and the bottle that's holding the water. One of the guys here have worked at a bottling factory and he said he wouldn't trust the spout to be clean, as that's where people grab them to handle them.

And the dispenser has a hot water option, which I'm assuming is some supercharged heater thing that instantly heats it up, but whenever you get heat and moisture, well, things start to grow...

I took apart the very top part of the dispenser once, and had to wipe it down because it looked like the water was just sitting there for no reason. I was commenting on it never being cleaned, and I guess the person who's in charge of it heard me as a technician showed up the next week to clean it.

I would much rather prefer tap, but we don't have a sink nearby!