A New Pet Peeve Discovered...

[kybearfuzz]

A lady I was working with had a nasty habit of licking her finger and then turning pages of documents we were reviewing. I've seen people do this before, but for some reason it never really hit me how disgusting this can be.

The documents were not freshly printed, but months old and had potentially been handled and written on by several people. The documents were also used in a laboratory setting, which means who knows what they may have been exposed to over time. I kept thinking of every person who didn't wash their hands that reviewed those or whatever and then watched this lady just lick her fingers every three or four sheets.

I admit that I have done this before, but usually only with freshly printed materials that I printed myself and picked up from the copier. This experience has changed that for me.

Ewwww....

Comments

[anziulewicz.livejournal.com]

Calm down.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I'm always calm... ish.

Funny you mention this.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

A buddy of mine was at a party; and he was commenting on how gross it was when women were licking their fingers, while enjoying their food. He was disgusted by it; but worried he was being a prude.

Not at all, I told him.

I then described how on a television program, there was a "manners expert," watching a dinner party. One of the women at the table licked her fingers after having a bite. Miss Manners instantly pointed out the error of her ways. Why was that bad? It was pointed out that while licking fingers was ok back in cave men days, it's not anymore. We have wonderful napkins to wipe our paws with; and should use them with glee :)

So no, your reaction was a completely normal one :)

Re: Funny you mention this.

[hylandr.livejournal.com]

I can beat that one. Someone I know was helping at a party and said he went in the back to check on the cake being sliced. The person slicing would cut a sliver and then lick the excess icing off the knife before slicing another piece. The person was obviously told to stop that and my person I knew avoided having any of the cake.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

SO with you on this. Ever since I started working with the health dept it has gotten harder and harder to tolerate such things, especially with all the new nasties popping up nowadays. I can barely make myself go to a buffet anymore... I spend more time watching what people do (or worse... their kids) than I do eating the food. It's downright nasty :P

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

I keep "Sortkwik" on my desk at all times because its an awesome way to go through scores of documents without having to lick your fingers or smudge your papers. I look at so many old documents, I can't imagine having to lick my fingers all the time. ew. I know where my fingers have been!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I need to buy some of that and keep it with me when I work.

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

Its really quite awesome. It does exactly what it says it does, and it does not smudge. And no licking things. Licking things is icky.

[hylandr.livejournal.com]

I was looking to see if anyone mentioned that stuff. If not, I was going to, tho generically since I didn't know an actual brand name. I remember there being some of that when I worked in the office of a supermarket.

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

Sortkwik is fairly common at a number of litigation firms I've been to. Considering how much paper I go through i find the stuff to be a more useful than a computer at times!

[anziulewicz.livejournal.com]

I believe in good personal hygiene, but I also think it's possible in this day and age to be a little too germ-phobic. Witness all the ads for disinfectant wipes. "Don't touch that boy's soccer ball, hon, I have to dunk it in bleach first!"

If I'm looking at a magazine at our local library, I'm not going to suck on the pages, but I might occasionally moisten a fingertip to more easily turn them.

Fact is, there are all kinds of common germs (viruses, bacteria, fungal infections, etc) around us all the time: In food, in water, on surfaces, in the air, and so on. It's why we have our immune systems. New things like colds and flus will come along from time to time, and our immune systems eventually learn to cope with those germs also.

As for the "laboratory setting" you mention, if there's a possibility of contamination with blood or other body fluids, I think your co-worker might wish to be informed of that. But for the most part I wouldn't worry too much.

Just my humble opinion.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I guess I've never thought of it that way, but in most settings we're doing this when we're alone. To do it in front of someone and then hand them the pages just seems.. nasty to me.. :(

[chrisglass.livejournal.com]

I do this all the time and never consider how fresh the print is.

That'd be weird!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I think that part of the reason I was a bit grossed out is that she had done this to the pages and now I was expected to flip through them myself... so essentially I was going to be touching some pages she had sort of licked (indirectly). Ewwww... sorry, but no...

[clintswan.livejournal.com]

germs = life

[polomex.livejournal.com]

But see, it's not even the germs that bother me. It's just an all-around ickiness. If I buy a book, no, I don't know how many dozens of people with whatever hundreds of germs on their hands have touched it before. That's what my immune system is for. But if I saw someone just up and lick the front cover, uh, no thanks, I'll buy the one behind it. It's just... ick. (Just like urine is a cheap germ-free way to kill athlete's foot. No thanks, I'll think I'll make a trip to the pharmacy instead.)

It's just a matter of courtesy and manners.

[spatts5.livejournal.com]

I'm a big licker and do it all the time (yes, I've set myself up for a barrage of comments - give it your best shot).