‘Germaphobe’ comes prepared for pandemic
“I’ve always been a person who buys in bulk for financial reasons, not for hoarding. I would buy my supplies every 3-4 months. So at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone was out of toilet paper and cleaning essentials, I was like, uh-huh. Two weeks before, I had bought my usual supply.
“When it was time for me to restock, I got pretty annoyed. I didn’t have access to what I needed because everyone suddenly had this interest in keeping their home clean. And the industry just wasn’t ready for this mass purchase of products.
“I’ve always been known as the germaphobe in the family. I’m the one who asks people to take off their shoes when they get to my house. They’re like, why? And I’m like, think about the purpose of your shoes. It’s to protect you from the outside. Why are you going to bring whatever’s nasty outside into my home?
“Even pre-COVID, I was the one who always had the carrying case in her purse from Bath and Body Works with the hand sanitizer. I always had Purell hand wipes in my bag. My ex-husband would get so annoyed with me any time we’d go to a restaurant. We’d sit down, and I’d be taking out the sanitizer and say, ‘Kids, give me your hands.’ And he’d be like, oh my gosh. Nobody thinks about how they just walked through the door and touched the handle that everybody else touches.
“When my daughter was a baby — she’s 11 now — I even carried mini cans of Lysol with me everywhere. I had portable changing pads that I’d take with me, and I’d clean off the surface before I put the changing pad down.
“I’m not clinically OCD or anything like that. I’m just very meticulous. I attribute it to my knowledge of what’s out there in the world and how dirty public spaces really are.”
— Jessica Ortiz
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