AIBU to not want the checkout girl to lick her fingers??

[KylieG]

Was packing my shopping today, and while i usually take my own bags...today i forgot. I was asked if i wanted some bags, and the girl quite obviously licked her fingers to separate them and then passed them over. Now, i know the best way to separate plastic bags is to do this, and have done it myself, but only for myself! When i used to work in a supermarket i was told during my training that this was not allowed due to hygiene reasons, i would never pass a bag with my saliva on to a customer!! After i watched her do this i bought some more bags as i couldnt face using these ones, i feel like im being silly, and then i think i have good reason! ??????

In Marks and Spencers the cashiers have special pots that they put their fingers into so they can seperate teh bags. No idea whats in the pots.

I suppose most food is prepackaged to within an inch of its life so it shouldn't really matter. Though there is some stuff like cucumbers that might not be. But not using the bags is pointelss anyway as she would have had saliva on her fingers which has then touched all your food.

yabu. i mean seriously

you probably get more germs handling the trollies/baskets/products you pick up

Just out of interest, what is the risk?

Someone gets a trace of saliva on a carrier bag into which food (generally very well packaged) is put. It's then carried home - maybe put in the boot of a car, or on the floor of a bus or something. Unpacked and put away. Food is cooked before being eaten, things that you eat raw are normally packaged, etc etc.

I am not being sarky I am genuinely interested in what the health hazard actually is, because I can't think of one. What can you catch? What can happen?

Unless you're going to eat the bag with a nice salad dressing, I don't see the problem?

Anyway, she's probably handled your plums after coughing into her hand at various points throughout the day.

This doesn't bother me much, I once saw a memo by the checkout in Asda reminding the checkout staff not to to it.

Last week in Morrisons the checkout man sneezed loudly, wetly and explosively into his hands. He looked startled, rubbed his wet hands together, and continued weighing the customer's loose produce. Nice.

Re the little sponge thing, I think it is just a damp sponge. We had them years ago when I worked in a post office.

You are being silly and paranoid.

i don't think it's a health hazard, just yuk.

i feel the same way about people that lick their fingers to turn pages.

I always wonder how squeamishers like the OP actually copulate.

yanbu It's disgusting! I always say something....it's rank!

My friend kindly pointed out once and got me reaching for the hand gel that the very same hands putting my shopping through have probably just handled the sweaty money from the front pocket of a blokes jeans only minutes before.
Not a lot we can do really. We're not exactly going to drop dead are we?

I got lectured by a customer for doing this last year, I'd never really thought much of it until that point!

There is another easy way which is the pull the bag handle from the bag slightly but then some people hate that too!

Can't win

Yabu.

I would imagine its more of a health hazard for her than you. Having worked in a shop your hands get filthy from handling money, etc. there's no way I would have licked my fingers!

Ye you can win pixie ask for a sponge like they have in post offices.
The worst one I had was in a chip shop when the man licked his fingers to lift up the paper he was about to wrap my chips in!

[faints at the memory]

Money. Money is the filthiest shit apart from shit so a bit of a lick from the checkout girl is NOTHING compared to the note or coins you handed her. CRAWLING with germs and drugz.

Lol but imagine how many killer germs will be lurking on the sponge after a few hours.

exactly, party

I'm grateful when the bags are separated for me. I WON'T lick my fingers to do it after touching the trolley and door handles. I place the bag between my palms with the open end just poking out and blow to separate it. Or I wipe my fingers over any frozen food packaging I've bought and use that to wet my finger tips.

I dont think theres a health risk as such... its just yuck!!!
Hadnt even thought about the fact that shes handling my food as shes putting it through the till.
Wonder if im becoming slightly OCD?????
Hand gel....here i come!!!!! LOL

Considering most of what you have in your carrier bags has possibly been manhandled, coughed over, sneezed over etc by 100s of other customers, a little bit of saliva seems positively hygenic.

this post is making me laugh so much!! ha ha eating the bag with a nice salad dressing i am weak here i need to get out more lol

Take your own bags then

Some twat had a go at me in the supermarket for licking my finger before taking a fruit and veg bag. I was probably spraying him with more germs by having to talk to him than there were on my bag anyway. He was ridiculous, and I was more than happy to point it out to him in front of his embarrassed looking wife.

Think of the amount of small child dribble and unwashed hand grime there will be on every supermarket trolley in the country. Does a minuscule amount of saliva on a carrier bag really seem that bad that you'd need to fret about it?

you have a very good point there!!!

my sisters friend took her baby to the doctors,she had impitigo,the baby seats are the main offenders in the spread of it. far more scarey things to worry about i think.

You are being paranoid.

I saw a volunteer lady in the hospital League of Friends separating slices of white bread from a loaf with a licked thumb. I found that a little off-putting!