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Original poster

Just got shouted at in a coffee shop for coughing in public 🥴

894 replies

wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 15:47

I know I’m not being unreasonable here but I just need some reassurance! I was in a coffee shop after popping to the shops and got a tickle in my throat. I’ve had a cold all week but nothing too severe. I coughed and next thing I know an old man is shouting at me that I’m being selfish and should be self isolating at home, and “don’t I know the NHS is on its knees?!”

AIBU to think this is a total overreaction to a cough?!

OP posts:
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Original poster
wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:24

MoserRothOrangeandAlmond · 20/12/2025 16:23

As a fellow post nasal drip sufferer that can linger on for weeks I hear you!
Its and awful tickle and you just can’t stop coughing.

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It’s horrible. Thankfully I had surgery this year which means I no longer get horrible sinus infections as soon as it drops below 15 degrees but the post nasal drip just won’t go away

OP posts:
Original poster
wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:24

MoserRothOrangeandAlmond · 20/12/2025 16:23

As a fellow post nasal drip sufferer that can linger on for weeks I hear you!
Its and awful tickle and you just can’t stop coughing.

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It’s horrible. Thankfully I had surgery this year which means I no longer get horrible sinus infections as soon as it drops below 15 degrees but the post nasal drip just won’t go away

OP posts:
SheinIsShite · 20/12/2025 16:24

myhaggisblewup · 20/12/2025 16:04

Well, brownie points for wearing a mask,
Meanwhile in the real world, most people are not going to stay at home because they've got a cold nor should they. The country would grind to a halt if everyone did that.
Ffs when did people become so wet and pathetic? [ Immune issues / medical issues aside]

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When the government spent millions on scare-tactic advertising about "looking medics in the eye" and scared the bejesus out of millions.

Colds/coughs/snotty noses have gone from an inconvenient fact of life which rolls around every winter in 2019, to something which means you absolutely must stay out of circulation with in 2025, in order to "protect the vulnerable" who nobody gave two hoots about pre-pandemic.

MoserRothOrangeandAlmond · 20/12/2025 16:23

wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 15:53

It’s definitely not a nice cough but also, is a cough ever nice? It sounds a lot chestier than it is because thanks to ongoing sinus issues I get post nasal drip from even the most minor of hay fever.

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As a fellow post nasal drip sufferer that can linger on for weeks I hear you!
Its and awful tickle and you just can’t stop coughing.

Homepizza · 20/12/2025 16:23

wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:19

I’m just trying to imagine what my manager would say if I phoned in sick with a sniffly nose (not even blocked!) and a tickle cough.

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It wasn’t work though. You didn’t have to go.

toomuchfaff · 20/12/2025 16:22

So basically youve started this to reassure yourself that you coughing in a public place is absolutely fine and the man was a nutter who should be admonished and shouldn't have left his house?

Everyone telling you otherwise has been shouted down. Why start the post if youre not willing to listen to anything aside from your own view?

myhaggisblewup · 20/12/2025 16:21

showmethegin · 20/12/2025 15:57

Do you want the country to shut down every winter? Catching colds is part of living in a society. Obviously I wouldn’t be impressed with someone intentionally spreading flu or covid, but a cold? As someone else stated, your health anxiety is your issue alone

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100% agree

MoserRothOrangeandAlmond · 20/12/2025 16:21

liverpoolnana · 20/12/2025 15:52

I don't know how we can say, really, without hearing the cough. I mean, there's dainty ones because of a tickle, and full-on 'smokers' hacking', isn't there. (Not that I'm saying you are a smoker).

When I get a tickle in my throat it’s never a dainty cough! It leads onto a full coughing fit!
It can totally catch me off guard and I always feel embarrassed!

saveforthat · 20/12/2025 16:20

I have had a cough for about 18 months. It's metastatic lung cancer. It sounds absolutely awful but no one has actually commented yet, I just get lots of evil looks. I feel like buying a T shirt that says It's not covid it's cancer.

Original poster
wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:19

usedtobeaylis · 20/12/2025 16:17

Someone who has had cold symptoms can be contagious for a fortnight. Telling someone to stay home every time they have a cold is fucking bonkers.

I’m just trying to imagine what my manager would say if I phoned in sick with a sniffly nose (not even blocked!) and a tickle cough.

OP posts:
whyyyyyisitmonddayy · 20/12/2025 16:19

LadyKenya · 20/12/2025 15:51

You sound like you are still harbouring a cold, and should stay at home.

The NHS has now said that self-isolating during the winter actually harms us more than it helps. Sure, stay home when you’re actually very unwell- flu and Covid, and of course stay away from the elderly, but you’re very ignorant. Lockdown saved lives immediately from Covid - but long- term wise lowered immunity. People in the aftermath got a lot sicker from simple colds! they hadn’t been exposed to viruses for a while, and their immune system struggled.

anyway, the NHS is on its knees due to mismanagement. It’s really that simple. They should be able to manage the usual yearly sicknesses - I mean, for god’s sake - flu season happens every year.

if we stayed home for every sniffle nothing would ever get done.

Megifer · 20/12/2025 16:19

Fearfulsaints · 20/12/2025 16:15

Only a week does sound a bit potentially contagious.

But I dont know how the man knew it wasnt asthma or cystic fibrosis or weeks after the cold or just a tickle.

Probably will still be contagious, and was possibly contagious before symptoms started fully 🤷‍♀️

SheinIsShite · 20/12/2025 16:19

UneAnneeSansLumiere · 20/12/2025 15:54

He was absolutely absurd. He must think we're still in 2020. What an idiot. He should stay at home if he's so nervous.

A lot of people have never moved on from that.

Dominoeffecter · 20/12/2025 16:18

Some woman coughed in my face in the butchers this morning, disgusting!

usedtobeaylis · 20/12/2025 16:17

Someone who has had cold symptoms can be contagious for a fortnight. Telling someone to stay home every time they have a cold is fucking bonkers.

Fearfulsaints · 20/12/2025 16:15

Only a week does sound a bit potentially contagious.

But I dont know how the man knew it wasnt asthma or cystic fibrosis or weeks after the cold or just a tickle.

rainbowunicorn · 20/12/2025 16:14

LadyKenya · 20/12/2025 15:51

You sound like you are still harbouring a cold, and should stay at home.

Last time I had a cold the cough persisted for over 3 weeks. Do you seriously think that people should nit go out for that length of time?

XenoBitch · 20/12/2025 16:13

I don't have a cold/bug, but if it is cold, my nose streams and I keep sniffing so I probably look like I have a cold.
I wont be avoiding places to appease stranger's health anxiety.
If someone is that vulnerable to bugs right now, they are the ones that should be avoiding crowded places.

Original poster
wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:13

Sesma · 20/12/2025 16:08

These people which are so vulnerable should really be avoiding crowded places and maybe getting an online shop

Exactly. If you’re vulnerable surely the onus is on you to protect yourself? It’s winter! If we all stayed home every time we got a slight sniffle the economy would go under

OP posts:
comfyshoes2022 · 20/12/2025 16:13

EddyNeddy · 20/12/2025 15:58

I wouldn’t admonish anyone coughing in a public space because there are a million reasons they could be coughing that don’t make them contagious, but I do think you are behaving incredibly selfishly to be hanging out in enclosed public spaces when you know you have a bug less than a week before Christmas. You don’t need a coffee after Christmas shopping - that is a want, not a need. When I have a mild virus and still need to run errands, I wear a mask and I stick to essential tasks/places.

Edited

Agreed.

Original poster
wildgreyocean · 20/12/2025 16:13

Spidey66 · 20/12/2025 16:08

Oh good Lord! I've had a very mild cold all week. Tickly cough, mild sinus congestion. I've not stayed home. I've gone to work, gone shopping, met a friend for lunch and walked the dog. Aside from anything else, a bit of fresh air and exercise helps.

Exactly like me. It’s been so minor. It’s left me feeling exhausted but that’s because of other health issues I have going on. I’ve not even passed it to my family who I’ve been around all week!

OP posts:
Catpiece · 20/12/2025 16:11

Went to the theatre on Thursday. Had some bloke sitting in front of me coughing. I got some tissues out of my bag and held them against my mouth and nose. What I really wanted to do was punch him in the back of the head.

ahhasthcuei · 20/12/2025 16:09

LadyKenya · 20/12/2025 15:51

You sound like you are still harbouring a cold, and should stay at home.

😂good 1

Spidey66 · 20/12/2025 16:08

Oh good Lord! I've had a very mild cold all week. Tickly cough, mild sinus congestion. I've not stayed home. I've gone to work, gone shopping, met a friend for lunch and walked the dog. Aside from anything else, a bit of fresh air and exercise helps.

Muffsies · 20/12/2025 16:08

LadyKenya · 20/12/2025 15:53

I would not dream of shouting at someone coughing, but the amount of Adults who seem incapable of covering their mouths, when they cough, or sneeze is something to behold.

There's a special place in hell for people who cough and sneeze on busses, all over the head of the person in front.

I always use tissue, bow down and sneeze/cough in the direction of the floor.

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