Just got shouted at in a coffee shop for coughing in public 🥴

[wildgreyocean]

I know I’m not being unreasonable here but I just need some reassurance! I was in a coffee shop after popping to the shops and got a tickle in my throat. I’ve had a cold all week but nothing too severe. I coughed and next thing I know an old man is shouting at me that I’m being selfish and should be self isolating at home, and “don’t I know the NHS is on its knees?!”

AIBU to think this is a total overreaction to a cough?!

Did you cover your mouth when you were coughing and turn away so you weren’t coughing over anyone (or their drinks / food)?

Yes, of course. I covered my mouth with my elbow and was sat at a table alone. I didn’t cough on anyone’s drinks.

Oh course he was being ridiculous. That's it really.

You sound like you are still harbouring a cold, and should stay at home.

Life doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. You can’t coop yourself up in your house every time you get a cold. I would be going insane.

I don't know how we can say, really, without hearing the cough. I mean, there's dainty ones because of a tickle, and full-on 'smokers' hacking', isn't there. (Not that I'm saying you are a smoker).

Eh? I get a lingering cold for weeks sometimes after a cold, should I just isolate for weeks everytime my toddler brings something home?

It’s definitely not a nice cough but also, is a cough ever nice? It sounds a lot chestier than it is because thanks to ongoing sinus issues I get post nasal drip from even the most minor of hay fever.

I would not dream of shouting at someone coughing, but the amount of Adults who seem incapable of covering their mouths, when they cough, or sneeze is something to behold.

Exactly this! I get lingering coughs and my nose almost constantly runs so I don’t know what I can do

He was absolutely absurd. He must think we're still in 2020. What an idiot. He should stay at home if he's so nervous.

I’d be pissed off if someone with a clear bug was coughing in a space near others. It’s selfish germ-spreading, whether you like hearing that or not. He shouldn’t be shouting though.

As I’ve said, I covered my mouth.

I don’t think I’d be hanging out on coffee shops less than a week before Christmas with that, if I’m honest, people are not going to want your cough. It might not be logical but it’s predictable.

The world doesn't revolve around people with health anxiety.

I’m allowed to grab a coffee on a cold afternoon after popping to the shops though? I’m not constantly coughing, I didn’t expect it to come on while I was in the cafe.

Maybe he should have stayed at home

This. Go to a park, if that desperate to get out, not a coffee shop, full of people, when clearly still ill, and liable to spread whatever bug they are harbouring.

Do you want the country to shut down every winter? Catching colds is part of living in a society. Obviously I wouldn’t be impressed with someone intentionally spreading flu or covid, but a cold? As someone else stated, your health anxiety is your issue alone

But I’m not “still clearly ill”. I feel a lot better but know that when I’ve had a bug the cough can linger on my chest for weeks after. Am I supposed to hide away from society?

YANBU OP (unless you were coughing all over his food) but he's got the fear.

My last bout of covid was courtesy of the woman at the table next to ours in a restaurant who sneezed and sneezed her way through her meal. I mean, I don't think she gave me covid deliberately but a) it totally spoiled our meal and b) I was really poorly for weeks and I'm still a bit twitchy when I'm around sneezy/coughing people.

Why? Op obviously feels fine to be out and about. No need to stay at home whatsoever.

I wouldn’t admonish anyone coughing in a public space because there are a million reasons they could be coughing that don’t make them contagious, but I do think you are behaving incredibly selfishly to be hanging out in enclosed public spaces when you know you have a bug less than a week before Christmas. You don’t need a coffee after Christmas shopping - that is a want, not a need. When I have a mild virus and still need to run errands, I wear a mask and I stick to essential tasks/places.

He should be the one who should be staying at home if his health anxiety is that bad.

People cough for all sorts of reasons. You covered your mouth, and that is enough.

But it’s not ‘weeks after’, is it? You said yourself that it’s only been this week, so you could very easily still be contagious.