I just got a quick sandwich to eat on my lunch break in my town centre and I hate eating on the go so sat on an empty bench.
There were two other benches with just one person sat on their phone on them.
I had just started eating when two women sat next to me as close to me as possible and pulled out a big bag of crisps to share.
Both of them then proceeded to crunch the crisps as loudly as possible right next to my ear and were licking their fingers then both putting them back in the bag 🤢.
I normally have my AirPods or loop earplugs but was in a rush and had forgotten them today.
I didn’t want to move to sit next to someone on another bench and torture them by eating next to them so tried to just eat my lunch quickly and move away.
I managed about 2 minutes desperately fighting the instinct to snatch the crisps off them and throw them in the bin and scream at them to stop bloody crunching!
In the end I threw my sandwich away because I was too wound up to eat it.
It’s a good job I did because when I glanced back before walking away one of the women was pouring the very last dregs from the packet into her mouth like her life depended on those crumbs. There was no way I could have coped sitting next to that.
I swear my misophonia gets worse with age and I struggle to handle any situations in public with diplomacy.
I’m autistic and usually very shy but the rage has driven me to a tantrum where I’ve flounced off more than once.
I can no longer eat in a restaurant with friends after an incident sat at a table with a group crunching prawn crackers in a Chinese restaurant. I often have to eat in a different room from my DP and a man snorting and sniffing on the bus meant I had to get off at an earlier stop last week - I usually avoid public transport but my car was in for an MOT.
I know it’s not the other persons fault or rational but I do genuinely worry I’ll end up in trouble one day for losing my temper with people talking with their mouths full, throat clearing, sniffing or biting their nails.
I know I’m unreasonable but I wondered if people were in agreement with me that it’s cruel to sit next to someone on a small bench and crunch crisps into their ear?!
I just wanted some understanding and condolences from other sufferers and if anyone has any tips (except earplugs or moving away) for managing it then I’d appreciate it.
If the bench hadn’t been empty when I sat down to eat my lunch then I’d have sat somewhere else rather than subject someone to my eating noises but I suppose if you don’t suffer from misophonia then you don’t realise how genuinely distressing it is to be in that situation.