Ignore “PCman”:
Once you mentioned that you don’t properly protect against static
you immediately lost a great deal of authority as far as I am
concerned.
My experience is the same as yours - I’ve worked on/inside/building PCs since 1985 and I have NEVER killed any component with static.
As you say, touch an earthed metal surface and you are pretty much safe. And don’t wear anything that generates lots of static (nylon, fleeces etc.)