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.

But there's a world of difference between a swimming pool and someone putting their spit on the wrapper of your food! Even if they don't have any sores or anything round their mouth, would you really eat a chip if they'd sucked it first?

I'm not over picky if there's no food involved but if there is... eeewww.

Hellooooo OCD!

I have sometimes licked my fingers to get a note out of my purse, then felt a bit handing it to the shop person...I am very unfussy about germs, other than handwashing after loo and before eating, and my children and I have 100% attendance at school and work. I appear to be suffering from a bout of smugness though. Sorry.

Damping your finger to lift a piece of paper is not the same as sucking on a chip. Get a grip

some of you clearly don't have enough realy things to worry about

BalloonSlayer..yes...I don't like touching money really...always wipe my hands....when opening a door in a public place I will choose to push an area which is awkward as then it will be cleaner than anywhere else on the door...not sounding good is it?

Hmmm..is it bad to have this? Or just annoying? Do I try to stop it? Or accept it and carry on?

YANBU
they dont do it in Waitrose you know!

balloonslayer...why would I enjoy that book? Isn't it about monks? Do they have OCD?

Aeldredida yes...must stop going to that manky Co-Op!

Take your own shopping bags to avoid this!

Basically it's a problem if it interferes with your daily life. Eg, if you are late for work/school because you HAD to go back home to wash your hands because they felt contaminated. Or if you threw away a whole bag of food because you thought the bag had 'germs' on it.

I once wiped my cat down with a disinfectant-soaked cloth because my Dad never washed his hands after going to the loo and had been stroking her. Now THAT is over the top.

[Disclaimer: cat lived to a ripe old age and did not die of disinfectant poisoning the next time she tried to clean herself]

Oh "The Name of the Rose!"

It's a medieval murder mystery in which < spoiler alert > monks are being poisoned. It turns out that the poison was put on the corner of a page of a book they have all read and they ingest it when they lick their fingers to turn over the pages.

Thought you'd think it served them right

I have done things like that....I reguarly chuck mugs away if certain people drink from them....bleach will never make them ok again...so I chuck them...I don't know why it is certain people and not others...there are 3 people who semi regularly call by and I can't bear to keep a mug after they leave....I have never wiped an animal down but totally understand the need you had at the time!

Would you mind telling me why you said I might like The Name of The Rose....I am obsessing about it now!

oops...cross post!

Oh right! Ha! Well yes...serves them right!

what about snogging boys? I probably shared spit with most of the boys in my 6th form, and I'm still alive.

'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?'

I think they empty the pool if someone poos. Not sure.

Anyway, it doesn't bother me, I was making the point that swimming pool germs don't last long.

I don't think a lot of people posting on here understand OCD.. it's not really OCD to not like someone else's spit...

skryg No, it's being obsessive about something - the OP obviously has a "spit" obsession.

ROFL ElephantsAndMiasmas

Yes...a bit... I felt nothing but empathy for him...especially the boiling water on the toothbrush! That's very reasonable to me... but obviously not normal!

Right...am off to clean the door handle ...there's less than an hour before schools out and I need to don my mask and gloves before braving the playground.

anemone I personally think its worth addressing, and trying to "cure" it. I think of it in terms of what else I could fill my head with and have time for, if I didn't spend all day worrying and obsessing about daft things.

I understand OP! I am completely grossed out when my husband licks his finger to turn the pages of the newspaper. I get cross with him as it makes me feel ill and I want to read the darn thing after he has finished.
I know it's a little thing in the grand scheme of life and all that but it really bothers me. However I don't mind some of his other unpleasant habits, ie loud farting. Strange I know.

It's not an obsession to not like something. I hate people licking their fingers and touching bags... and I take the bag anyway.
If the OP immediately gets out hand sanitiser (I may have missed that bit!) then maybe.

You know those copies of Metro that you find on bus and Tube seats?

Well, I once saw a woman reading a copy and PICKING HER NOSE whilst doing so.

She then WIPED THE BOGIES on the pages of the Metro.

When she got off at her stop, she LEFT THE PAPER ON THE SEAT for the next person to read.

I am not really fastidious in any way but I don't read second hand papers any more,

Do you know, I spend no time at all worrying about this stuff and am hardly ever sick, not been to a doc's for anything not pregnancy related in the last 5 years.

The people I know who do worry about always have something wrong with them.

Am starting to wonder if it is a chicken/egg sort of thing.