To be grossed out by this?

[PrimatePantaloons]

On a family day out buying hot drinks/ snacks from a van. I’d got my drinks/ snacks already but spotted the woman who had just served me pluck a hair out of her face with her fingers nails, look at it and then flick it off in a random direction…

I am very overly sensitive to this sort of stuff/ borderline obsessive but this is mainstream gross isn’t it?

I see this sort of stuff all the time and don’t get stuff for myself when out and about, but sometimes I wonder what would happen if I asked people to wash their hands after I’ve seen them doing something like this?

The other day in Costa I saw a guy scratch the inside of his ear with his little finger and then put a lid on someone’s take away coffee without washing his hands? That’s gross too right?

I feel like my perspective is skewed because of my anxiety about this type of thing, which I am having therapy for. As part of this I’m trying to recalibrate what is/ is not acceptable.

The woman from today didn’t even try and hide it… she was chatting to the next customer in the queue whilst admiring this chin hair she had just pulled out and then literally just flicked it off. It could have landed anywhere. That is gross, yes?

AIBU to just be bloody amazed anyone could pluck out a chin hair with just fingers, no tweezers. Was it 6 inches long?

I can feel so grossed out if I really think about everything in detail, that I may never eat again.

Tap water is the worst…

Lord the older i get the worse i get the heebyjeebies about this sort of thing.

If i thought about it too much i'd never eat or drink anything i hadn't made myself.

So i'm not going to think about it .......
<leaves thread>

Meh. People touch things, including their hair, face, clothes etc all the time. In reality it's hard not to, because they are often subconscious movements. There's no point in fretting about the examples you happen to notice, because there will be a gazillion other things you touch/buy/eat/drink day-in day-out that have been touched by umpteen other people whose hands might have been god knows where. That's what immune systems are for!

It doesn't bother me in the slightest, but then I spend all day in a school (dirty places!) and will happily eat cakes from bake sales made by grubby-fingered children. I've made it to the ripe old age of 53 without suffering any consequences.

@Savingthehedgehogs x post.
My new paranoia pal 😊

Hair - YABU

Gross 😝
Whilst loading my shopping onto the belt, the male cashier was sat in his chair clipping his finger nails 🤢
That little bit definitely didn't help!!
Some people are manky and shouldn't work with food or public

It must be exhausting going around worrying about this kind of stuff all the time. It's presumably just a visceral disgust reaction rather than an actual belief that you are going to be made ill by any of these things? Because obviously you're not - otherwise you'd be constantly ill.

but even if you make it yourself there are people with low hygiene standards working in the factories preparing your ingredients…

How did she pluck a chin hair with her fingernails?

I empathise. Many years ago I was in a store restaurant with my mother. Two women were debating whether to have the soup. The soup was in a tureen with a large ladle at the side. One of the women opened the lid and looked in. She scooped out some soup,tasted it ,gave a taste to the other woman and put the ladle down.
I hate eating food unless it's prepared by close friends or family. I never have takeaway food. I am really only comfortable with food I cook myself ,and even then I wonder about how it has been handled prior to me buying it. Yes ,I know it's unreasonable !

Unfortunately I had proper food poisoning- blue lighted to hospital in ambulance, was desperately sick for days and took weeks to recover. GP was a bit of a detective and worked out it was from eating icing on a cake made by a colleague at work who “must have coughed over it”.

Out of all those who ate a piece she was the only one unaffected. For some unknown reason it hit me harder than most.

I’ve just seen an old man groping every baguette in Lidl. I decided not to buy any 😂

I used to feel grossed out when cashiers would lick their fingers to open up a plastic bag for packaging groceries.

The other day the owner of an independent coffee shop was clipping his nails behind the counter. So fucking gross.

We wouldn't buy anything if we saw everything.

The issues on the thread are those witnessed mostly. I can't say I'm too worried about things I don't see, but it is really very rare to see gross hygiene/food handling mishaps nowadays with all the food safety stuff and inspections etc.

If you hadn't seen the man coughing for example, you would have bought the bread and be none the wiser. Same for most food items I reckon. Life out and about means that people have coughs, colds, and infections etc. Don't tell me none of you go shopping with a cold or a cough!

Anyways, drama and angst about largely uncontrollable things are just making people stressed and anxious. If you witness it, fine that can be gross, if you don't , don't fret about what ifs.

I went to a very popular ice cream shop that did waffles too. So I waited in the very long queue, placed my order and watched the person making it. I wanted slices of banana on mine. So the lady slices it and then proceeds with the most disgusting long fingernails to pick up the pieces with just the long nail part. Can't imagine what was under those nails. I went and asked for my order to be changed.
I think the person behind me did the same as well.

I never ever buy bakery stuff that is out in the open.

Eh, I assume by gripping the hair between opposing nails. How else?

I whip out a chin hair like this most days as I now appear hell-bent on growing a Captain Birdseye style beard (slight exaggeration). It's rare when I can't get at the wee crinkly pubic grey bastard with my fingernails.

I don't prep peoples food though, nor do I do this in front of anyone except DP.

I don’t know why people are making out like you can’t catch stuff from other people - you absolutely can.

warts, hpv, glandular fever, scabies, flu, just off the top of my head

OMG!!

surely NO-ONE could be ok with that?!

OP I can sympathise with you! I remember getting a jacket potato and salad for lunch one day and when the guy brought it to my table, his thumb was literally on my salad. I couldn’t eat the salad just the thought of it made me heave.

I couldn't get worked up by this. If she'd pushed her hair back out of her eyes you probably wouldn't care. It's the ick factor of plucking it from her face , but it's still hair.

Plucking ear wax out of her ear or a bogey from her nose I could understand.

Yes, it's exactly that. I don't think I'm going to be made ill. Although obviously there are times, just like anyone, when I know something is decidedly skanky and might genuinely be unsafe. Most people would be put off their food if they were sat opposite someone picking their nose. It might even make them wretch. Well that's how I feel (just like the OP) if I saw someone plucking and flicking a chin hair or sticking their finger in their ear.

I know people that handle food probably go gross shit all the time, but seeing it happen is next level mind fuckery. YANBU I couldn’t eat it after seeing that.

Exactly - it’s probably also because it’s chin hair. If she’d touched her eyelashes or eyebrows I don’t think anyone would notice. Definitely not if she’s tucked some hair behind her ear.