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?!

You said in your first post that you weren’t being unreasonable. Some people have agreed with you and some have disagreed. I think where I might be at odds with you, is when you said you’d go mad staying indoors. That doesn’t necessarily mean going into a stuffy warm confined space, where germs multiply.

Theres been so much talk of the flu variant this year, people are getting twitchy about it.

of course it’s allowed. that’s why you did it, at the expense of others. isn’t it enough that you have a right to spread your germs in an enclosed space without needing us all to pretend that you weren’t being selfish?

just own it. you wanted a hot chocolate. the way you act when ill probably infects others along the way because you put yourself first. but you do it anyway. because you can.

why do you also need to pretend like you are doing some sort of public service or good action when you go out and about while contagious? just make peace with the fact that in your order of priority the health of strangers comes behind hot chocolate.

“At the expense of others” this is what I can’t get behind.

I have had a cold. Because of a sinus deformity that has been largely solved by surgery, but not fully, i get post nasal drip which makes me cough for a good couple of weeks after a cold. I am not actively unwell.

The grumpy old git should be grateful he’s not on my train in the morning it’s been like plague central for weeks

Covid sent some people a bit crazy. You did nothing wrong.

This!! I have an asthmatic cough that sounds bloody awful. No one can catch asthma off me.

I would imagine some of the staff in the coffee shop also had colds or coughs. You think they can stay at home for weeks until they stop coughing?

Which is exactly what I just said! 🙄

Even during Covid people were allowed out once the isolation period was past even if they were still coughing, as it was recognised that could continue for weeks.

MN is off the rails about this. YANBU.

Shouting at people is much worse than coughing.

When I cough in public or sneeze I do really cover my mouth or face usually with my scarf and turn right away.

Exactly. It's like some of the worst sanctimony and privileged ignorance during covid.

And what if you cough for another reason? Asthma for example. Or sneeze due to an allergy.

Should you isolate to not upset the neurotic?

I think you’re getting a really bad rap on here OP. People who are that worried about colds at this time of year should be avoiding a coffee shop etc. The fact you’ve said that you’ve got a little cough doesn’t mean you have to bunker down for the remainder of the year!

The man would need to wear a hazmat suit to avoid the coughing and sniffing and germs on my bus to work in the mornings.

I have asthma and that coupled with the cold makes me cough asthma isn’t contagious and I can’t stay at home I have things to do that are more important than you and your health anxiety. Not every cough means that someone is sick.

Some of these replies are surely people on the wind up !
How are these people holding down jobs if they don't go out in public due to a snuffly nose and a cough which most people get several off a year.

If you’d posted as the man in this scenario you’d have most of the same posters saying entirely the opposite.

You ‘covered your mouth with your elbow.’?

that’s absolutely fine then, so long as you then screwed up your elbow and put it in the bin.

I'm not sure it health anxiety in all cases, I think there a quite a few people who like the opportunity to finger wag. It's all a bit ridiculous.

no, because they are at work and need to pay bills.

but many people happily go about infecting others for no reason other than “life doesn’t stop when you have a cold”.

Ive had people come to meet my 2 week old baby with a cold (yes, baby caught it) and meet me for lunch with a cold and even had a professional acquaintance at a conference dive in to kiss me on the cheek when he was disgustingly snotty and ill. It’s that kind of pointless infecting that we can easily cut down on as a society. it’s rude, it’s gross, and it’s not comparable to people who have to work through illness.

For all he knows you could be on treatment for cancer that causes issue with throat clearing , what a selfish nasty man

I don't tend to carry tissues with me (which to be fair, I should, because of my sinus issues. But I never have because they're stupidly expensive for a little plastic thing full of paper). I lifted the inside of my elbow to my mouth, as I was always taught to do as a child at school, and coughed into it. I'm not exactly going around rubbing the inside of my arm against things!

I assume your employer is fine with you sitting watching Netflix if you have a sniffle. Meanwhile others need to work. Get real