Friday, July 07, 2006

I'm not a germ phobe, but I can't help but notice certain things people do in public that completely gross me out. The older gentleman with the receding hairline and thick frames digging for gold in his ear. The middle age banker type with the huge boil on his head. Or what about the times you accidentally sit in front of someone with a cold and periodically feel a breeze on your neck as they cough? It's not just the metro though. Spending a lot of time at a bookstore, I see way too many people sneeze openly on the spines, making no attempt to cover their mouth. At an old job I used to have a co-worker who would never wash her hands after using the restroom. She would then come out and dig her hands into the group candy jar. We eventually learned to hide the good stuff from her. A woman used to ride my bus route that had to have had some kind of mental defect. As understanding as I tried to be of her condition, it took every fiber of my being not to cringe or scowl as she picked her scabs (or nose) and flicked it out in front of her.When did we become so comfortable in our own worlds that things such as this are ok? When did my routine become such that upon exiting the metro, the bus, the bookfloor, etc, I immediately seek out a washroom to scrub my hands?

5 comments:

  1. Ew, an ex-coworker used to try to talk to me while cleaning her ears with a Qtip and once, during a meeting, she picked and then (omg, going to throw up) sucked it. (seriously, VOMIT!)

    I also had a friend who, after eating, would pick stuff from the back of her mouth, look at it, then eat it. That grossed me out.

    Oddly enough, people picking their noses doesn't gross me out, it just makes me laugh.

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  2. aw, man! i think i might not enjoy my lunch as much when it comes up as i did as it went down.

    i am ALWAYS catching people doing the most disgusting, embarassing, degrading things. i feel that this is my lot in life. the witness - at moments when people neither wish for or believe they have an onlooker.

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  3. Anonymous1:54 AM

    Gah! Nothing is worse than a non-handwasher. Just...WHY? It seriously takes minimal effort to wash your hands, as opposed to the amount of effort it takes to recover from hepatitis. Hmph.

    And, Scarlet, do you mean your co-worker SUCKED HER Q-TIP?!? No, no. It can't be. I must have misunderstood. Tell me I misunderstood, b/c I'm freaking out a little.

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  4. OH! Sorry, I left out a word. She picked and then sucked a SCAB.


    EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW!!!!!!

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  5. Anonymous6:27 PM

    I totally agree. People can be disgusting! I too had a co-worker in my office who NEVER washed her hands after walking into a stall in the ladies room. I could never understand it!

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