To think this is disgusting, filthy & gross

[Anenome]

..when shop assistants lick their fingers to hand you a carrier bag?

I totally hate it...I don't want a strangers spit on my shopping bag! I have started to take my own bags...but now and then I forget...and have to buy one...and to see various people slurp spittle onto their fingers in order to get a bag off the pile...yuk!

Spit carries germs! And even if it didn't I still dont want it on my stuff...so...AIBU or do you hate it too?

Oh the best one was when I went into a chippy and the guy licked his fingers in order to get a sheet of paper to put the chips on!

I told him...."Er...I cant have that now..your spit is sharing space with my food!"

Guy looked at me like I was crackers...maybe I am? Please enlighten me.

yes, you're bonkers. unless they have oozing sores and pustules around their tongues :o

I take it you never swim in public swimming pools then.....

Nope you're not crackers. A lady in the local market licked her fingers to get a paper bag to put my sweets in! I told her I wanted a new bag with different sweets and she got all offended and huffy so I told her to stuff her sweets.

I only wanted my sweets!

yabu. There are germs everywhere and you are still here :)

But how else do you detach one of those ultra-thin plastic bags from the others in the fruit and veg section? It's a serious question. You can scrape away at the things with your nails and they will not move sometimes ...until you dampen your fingertips.

YABU.. if you're so terrified of germs you should probably stay home.

Ahhh, a fellow OCD-sufferer?

oopslateagain
I did that once and the person accused me of being ageist! She was about 65 and she said it was only because she was elderly that I was complaining!

I dont go into pools no DH does...but they gross me out aswell!

Chill....I rub and rub them and one detaches....I also chuck that one away incase the person before me got their spit on it!

Odysseus...hadn't thought of that!

Huh?

The licked finger goes on the outside of the bag. Your food goes on the inside.

YABU. And stop buying that antibacterial hand gel as well, you're only depressing your immune system.

When I worked in shops we were specifically banned from doing that. We were given a damp sponge thing by the til so we could wet our fingers that way. Or blow on the bags to separate them though I'm not sure that's any more hygenic! Doesn't bother me personally though.

minipie

I know...but MY hand could touch the outside of the bag...eeew! Spit! No!

Profyaffle yes I saw that in Australia a lot...I was very approving of it ...not the blowing though...that's nearly as bad as licking. Yuk.

I'd recommend some CBT. It's really (and please don't be offended) not "normal".

I however am a fine one to speak.

Although I did put DS on the grass at the weekend, and also let him drink out of his beaker after it had gone on the floor. Ahhh small victory.

i open my bags by having a bunch of them in a pile and pulling my fingers down the first one.
It's harder to open the 1st one, but once you pick the first one up, you can then get the second one etc.

I also put all my bags on the door handle, so that i can pull it off and open easily.

i never lick mine.
(it is gross)

YANBU, but it's worse when people do it on paper forms, it absorbs the spit! shudder
I'm not germ paranoid, but there's a difference between a public phone or door handle (dry germs!) and someone's wet spit.

Also, whoever mentioned swimming pools, they put enough chlorine in them that there's not chance of germs surviving. And you can't see germs in swimming pools either, AND it's diluted over a large area.

I'm starting to sound weird too...

Yes. It isn't disgusting, filthy or gross. It might be unhygenic if the shop asistant had a communicable disease which I take it she didn't as she was working in a food store.

I can't abide it either.

I also hate it when people lick their fingers to turn the pages of a newspaper.

But I realise that I am unlikely to fall ill as a result.

Still icky though.

YANBU I know someone who died of carrier bag spit related infection

I haven't had that particular experience, but have had a cashier one time licking fingers to count out bills. I wanted to call the store manager, but I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, so didn't. I always wash my hands when I get home anyways, and wasn't planning on eating the money.

Not a fan of spit!

Odysseus...not normal? I thought it might be a bit picky...but not abnormal! Maybe I AM a tad odd about cleanliness...but never thought myself OCD....

I don't allow shoes in the house...that seems to be laughed at here on Mumsnet...

right....off to be weird and obsessive about my OCD now!

"wanders off shivering and worrying about possible OCD"

Great post OP.

You are truly as mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

Are you a mum Anemone?
My guess is no (given the volume of other peoples body fluids on you that that entails) but if you are I bet you have amazing systems for ridding the germs in your environment.

If you are a mum, what about that phase that wee ones go through before they are able to wipe their own noses, affectionately known as "green candles" during the winter months? How do you cope with that?

Oooh...other people are agreeing with me! Right...I don't have OCD....everyone else is mucky!

Skyrg there's no getting away from the fact that people wee, shit and puke in swimming pools.

What if a bit of unchlorinated bit gets to you before the chlorine gets to it? [boak face].

Fancy a swim?

One of my DD's employs the 10 second rule with food that's fallen on the floor.

She truly grosses me out.
She is however a 6 year old with a very healthy immune system.

Easywriter...I am a Mum...I have 2 DDs of 6 and 2.

I find the nose running ok...a my DD's are an extension of myself...so somehow I dont see their germs as icky.

It's other people's I can't cope with...apart from DH...I mean I would be REALLY weird then wouldn't I? I'd freak everytime he kissed me!

Anenome have you read "The Name of the Rose"?

You might enjoy it

BTW I understand your points but, yep it is a bit odd to be so upset about it. And a bit OCD (ex-sufferer of the cleanliness variety here).

To upset you further: money is apparently crawling with germs and a big H&S issue is sandwich makers taking cash for their wares then going on to make sandwiches without washing their hands.