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?!

Except they'd have to do that forever whereas people like the op would only need to do it very short term. Nobody is saying the op can't go anywhere but being sensible about where is the right thing to do, particularly at this time of year.

That was the advice for Covid. If you are vulnerable then stay home. Not sure why it is the other way around now.

do you not remember that was what we were told to do during Covid? Presumably as people weren’t then going round touching things with their elbows 🙄

Presumably because all these 'vulnerable' people realised how miserable it is and decided they couldn't be bothered

I see that the covid mentality seems to have stuck around.

I had the misfortune of travelling back to the UK on the Eurostar, sitting next to a man who coughed for the entire journey - and not once did he cover his mouth. Shortly after getting home, I developed a full blown chest infection and was really unwell for almost 2 weeks. A co-incidence? Maybe.

Just like most people decided they couldn't be bothered to ever think of others.

You asked for people’s opinions, and you’re discovering that not everything thinks it’s reasonable to splutter all over a coffee shop while contagious.

It’s revolting. The man was just brave enough to say what a substantial minority of people were thinking about you.

It takes so little effort to avoid excessively spreading your virus. People have been wearing masks in east Asia for many years.

Remind me where in the world Covid started again?

I think the Covid weirdos are loving being able to rant at people again. They must have been over the moon when the 'super flu' made the news.

I am not fussed about "this time of year" - in fact good time of year for children to get their illnesses as they are not at school and people are off work.

I have had a post cold cough for a week or two can be fine for hours then go into a shop or cafe and the change in air can trigger a coughing fit.

I AM NOT CONTAGIOUS

Read my posts, my god

Seems like it's happened here. Assume that every single cough and sniffle is a bug that will kill everyone

Nobody owns masks, @wildgreyocean . Ours all went in the bin years ago. We are fully back to 2019 and most other people are too from what I see out and about where a mask is a very rare sight indeed.

The only people who own masks I assume are either medically vulnerable or very anxious. They can wear their own masks until the cows come home. They cannot start pontificating about what others should/could do.

You have attracted some strange people to your thread 🤣

I dont often get very ill needing to rest, I just feel a bit grim on and off, this can go on for weeks.

Not a single solitary chance am I not going to carry on as completely normal if I feel ok to do so.

I am cautious of public coughers since Covid and I am high risk.So I choose to avoid crammed public areas, coffee shops, concerts etc. My choice.

But I went Christmas shopping on a quiet mid week day a few weeks back. An elderly man was with his wife in an aisle I was shopping. He was constantly coughing and blowing his nose then picking up womens pjs for close inspection whilst coughing, sneezing and not covering his mouth. I decided to leave it.

Maybe I am being harsh but the lack of consideration for others was awful.

It's like they've lost the ability to read.

My favourite one is the one who said my sinus issues are irrelevant and the fact I am coughing means I am contagious. I'll go tell my ENT consultant he was wrong then!

The man didn't know why OP was coughing.
A PP upthread said she coughs a lot as she has metastatic lung cancer. Would the man be within his rights to give her both barrels for coughing too?

Also that the YABU vote is about the man shouting, and not you being out.

Even at the start of Covid you were allowed to go about your business after a 10 day isolation.

Yanbu although the flu headlines have riled people up and this guy sounds overly stressed.

well yes if you aren’t contagious then you absolutely aren’t at fault. and we shouldn’t assume a cough means someone is contagious so i agree with you on that.

it is very common for people to behave like this even when they are contagious though- and many of the people commenting are arguing that there’s nothing wrong with coughing and spluttering viruses in strangers faces just because they want to.

I had a winter pneumonia 4 years on the trot and it was bloody awful every winter going out. I am generally fit and well too and not immuno compromised, just very bad luck.

It has made me really anxious about getting it again as I almost didn't survive the last bout.

I don't think it's unreasonable at all to be worried when you've already experienced something that could kill you. I wish more people would be understanding that their minor ailments can snowball for others. I don't think they should self isolate but I do think they should keep their trips to enclosed spaces brief and necessary when actively poorly. Sitting in a coffee shop is not a necessary trip, especially when take out coffees exist.

You might not be fussed about it but you must see that millions of people are. A good example is my friend who has just found out it's her grandma's last Xmas. Pretty sure she's fussed about not being too ill to spend Xmas with her family this year.