to ask where you stand on loud public nose blowing

[5Foot5]

I genuinely don't know whether IABU and squeamish or whether I have a point.

Fair enough when you have a cold or congestion or your nose is blocked for whatever reason you need to blow it. I have heard there are different schools of thought as to whether clearing your nose regularly helps or hinders recovery. Personally, when I am in that situation I like to have a good "clear out". However, when I do this I always take myself off to the toilets, do what I have to do and then flush away the used tissues.

Partly this is for hygiene reasons as I don't think it is very nice to dump really snotty tissues in the bin and I certainly don't want them in my pocket. But partly it is because I assume the others around me don't want to hear all the revolting sound effects.

But there is a bloke who sits near me, about my age I would say, and I don't think in all my 50 years I have ever heard anyone blow their nose with such vim and vigour as he does. He really gives the full performance, one nostril at a time with such force that it sounds like he is trying to blow his head inside out. Usually he will have several goes before he is satisfied he has finished - though of course the performance will be repeated in due course if he has cold.

Now those of us who have sat near him for a while have sort of got used to it and just suffer this in silence, but whenever someone from a different office is nearby you can see how startled they look if they witness this. Today someone was trying to have a telephone conversation when it started and we heard him say "Sorry you will have to repeat that I couldn't hear because of the nose blowing!" The guy with the nose looked quite offended that it was commented on.

But would any of you find this anti-social? Do you have anyone in your office / life who does this?

Might be relevant that this guy is unmarried - maybe he has never lived with anyone who says "FGS take that outside will you!"

Should have said wouldn't dream of going on public transport without mine - I can manage a trip to the shops and stuff

It's better than constant sniffling at any rate!

I cant stand listening to people blowing their nose. It makes me feel sick.

But I can't stand sniffing, either. I was followed round the supermarket earlier by a woman who sniffed every 5 seconds, 2 sharp sniffs each time, and she sounded just like peppa pig oinking.

Sniffing is revolting and makes me gag, the thought of someone sniffing then swallowing (gagging now thinking about it), so yes YABU but the huge snort it all up spending 10 minutes hawking it up is pretty grim and would have me gagging.

Loathe, loathe, LOATHE it! It makes me dry heave.

I once had a dinner party and a good friend who had had a skinfull thought it would be OK to blow her nose on my lovely linen her napkin. And then inspect it.

I have some fairly ridiculous snot/mucous issues - my gag reflex goes fairly mental at even the sight of a runny-nosed toddler. But I still prefer loud nose-blowing to sniffing - at least you know with the nose-blowing taht the snot is no longer there. Sniffing is just a constant reminder to me that the snot exists.

Hassled, the sight of a toddler running around with green stuff smeared around their nose... BOAK

I agree.

There are those amongst us who are incapable of doing it quietly. While I think anyone who objects to public nose blowing is being utterly unreasonable- the alternatives are much worse- I try to be as discreet as possible about it, because I'm aware lots of people feel like OP does. And I much prefer to do it in the loo. But it's not always possible, especially when you have a stinking cold. It can be very embarrassing, which may well be why the bloke in OP's post was pissed off when it was commented on. It's also possible that he's doing what he does because of some kind of medical condition.