sylvia3

I don't care if you have a virus, bacterial infection, or an allergy. Cover. AND chew with your mouth closed, take off your hat indoors (men), and DON'T talk with food in your mouth.

alya

Patrick

My Mother always made ME spit on the handkerchief before she scrubbed my face

OneWanderingJew

Patrick, LOL...being a parent seems to cause normal people to do crazy/gross things for their kids...omigosh, does that mean I'll do the same thing one day???

JJ5

I wish I had a dollar for each time someone would use their library book to shield their mouth when sneezing and then hand the book to me.

Honestly, you would not believe how much that would happen at the circulation desk.

Actually all those kinds of manners are getting worse. It seems like many people are not taught basic personal manners at home any longer.

Another one is walking backward talking to someone and plowing right into people. Or flying down stairs and trampling others. I see young men in their early 20s doing this consistently and then apologizing to the trampled. I don't think they really care who they walk on.

alya

OWJ

yes, hopefully you will!

I'll warn you now, you'll hate it when you go to chastise your kids and you hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth saying words you always swore you wouldn't.

I call it a 'My Mom's in the closet' moment

cd

Patrick
My husband's hankie is so much a part of his daily grooming that he uses it when at home when a box of tissue is beside him and a trash can at his feet. When working and at his desk, again, that hankie is used when a box of Kleenex, to me, would be so much more sanitary. And when our kids were small, it became a "family" hankie more then once.

hdm

Maybe I missed it somewhere on this thread, but what about the incredibly gross habit of spitting on the street? It's SO disgusting -- I always feel like running into the nearest shop, buying the offender a pocket-pack of Kleenex and carefully explaining that the human body can actually swallow saliva. What a concept.

The other thing I hate is public grooming -- those hair-combers, cuticle-tuggers, tooth-pickers, etc. And now there's an ad on TV for brush-up 'finger toothbrush' thingies so you can brush your teeth on the subway or wherever. PULEEZE -- keep your grooming in the bathroom where it belongs!

ronkala

hdm, how did you miss the spitting, crotch grabbing baseball players?

hdm

The ballplayers' spitting is especially gross when you consider that it's chewing tobacco juice they're spewing out. Eewwww! At least they're not doing it on the patch of sidewalk I'm about to walk on. As for the crotch-grabbing, hey, as long as it's their own crotch...

jorr

I did not read all of the above posts but will comment. In my local clinic last winter there were many signs posted that told people to sneeze or cough into their shirt sleve in the middle of the arm instead of sneezing into the hand, explaining that your hand is what spreads colds and flu. The sign also had graphics on it.

I stepped up to the counter where you pick up your paper work to see the doctor. The woman behind the counter sneezed twice into her hand then handed me back my ID and paper work. I pointed to the sign on the desk and told her she could be contaminating everyone who comes into the clinic!

LoveItaly

Hi jorr, having just gotten over a terrbile flu/virus I am feeling very protective of myself plus I read this thread started by mrwunfgl.

Soooo, yesterday I was getting groceries and the supermarket clerk started ringing up my purchases when he did a BIG ACHOO all over the groceries I was buying. I told him I did not want any of the groceries and he got a real attitude problem. I walked out and left my purchases on the counter. The woman behind me said "I want the counter clorexed down, get the manager right now!"

Good grief, I thought we were all taught before we started school to cover our mouths etc. What has happened to society. Not high
society, just commonsense.

MrsKiss

Yuck. Teaching good manners starts early in life. I teach my students to sneeze or cough by turning their heads and sneezing or coughing into their shoulder. Our school nurse said that is the "new way". That way germs are not going onto pencils, door knobs, desks, etc...

Patrick

LoveItaly, sounds like that clerk had a major attitude problem. In fact, he sounds downright SNOTTY.

In regards to sneezing into my shoulder or my shirt sleeve -- my handkerchief is sounding like a much better alternative all the time.

alya

While I know we have to have some access to germs/bugs to acquire immunity to infection - having a total stranger sneeze over my groceries is just so gross ƒ¼

LoveItaly, if you're still not feeling well then I can understand you leaving the store. If this happens again it might be best for you to talk to the Manager, Her/His reaction to my complaint would make me decide whether or not I wanted to shop in that particular store again!

TxTravelPro

Since I am on planes all the time AND I have severe allergies, I drug myself up and carry tissues. But if caught off guard when I can't get to a kleenex, I sneeze into my shirt. Simple as pie... I pull the neckline out over my mouth and sneeze straight into my shirt.
Sounds odd and I do get odd looks when I do it but at least I know I am doing the best I can to protect others.
Since I do suffer from severe allergies, I am often caught off guard with colds. The first few sneezes I think it is just an allergy attack then I realize it is a cold NOT an allergy attack!
So....

LoveItaly

Hi Patrick (read your PNW report-great) and Alya. I have talked to the Manager of this "upscale" supermaket at least once a month for the last six months as when their courtesty clerks bring the grocery carts from the parking lot back into the store they normally have garbage in them such as tissues, empty cups from McDonalds etc.
The grocery carts are not cleaned out.

Yesterday was the last straw. I did walk out, with the groceries I had sitting on the counter which had been rung up but not bagged yet. And I had not paid for them. I went to another supermarket a bit further from my home, clean grocery carts, wider aisles, and better service.

I thought about calling Corp. headquarters regarding the firts supermarket - Safeway - but I am not going to make the effort. I just will not shop there anymore.

alya

LoveItaly,

Good for you! If they can't train their clerks basic hygiene: what aren't they teaching the people that you never see in the back of the store.

My DD works part time in the bakery of our local store and their training is very good, I feel happy shopping there but then again I have 'Insider Information'

LoveItaly

Hi alya, thank you, your thoughts and mine are exactly the same. BTW, sorry about my typing, LOL. But anyway when I walked out of Safeway and got in the car that is exactly what I thought. And the sad thing is they just spent a fortune to remodel their store. But I have read they are having financial problems. They will not be getting anymore of my business. If the manager,who seems to "hide out", can't run the store properly I just will not do business with them. They do have a lot of competion. Best wishes to you.

Stephanie

While we are at it, how about the people who walk together at least 3 wide on sidewalks and there becomes absolutely no room for someone to pass in the opposite direction and you have to smack right into these people to make a point. Many times I have stated "excuse you". Some people are too dense to get it.

I do think that society and manners have gone down in general. The last generation is the one where the parents dumped them @ daycare between the ages of 1-5 (informative years) where a stranger raised them. After daycare parents got home from work with kids and have/had no energy to teach manners so what do you expect???

JJ5

That was the generation that was taught by schooling, media, the politically correct that women had to break the barriers and do it all.

"I bring home the bacon, cook it up in the pan, ........ I am woman."

Have you ever heard of Helen Redding, Stephanie, or Germaine Greer or Gloria Steinem. Thanks to them and others, you aren't going to be fired when you get pregnant. There was also a huge literary / behavioral science circle that insisted kids were BETTER if socialized in day care.

Many also have to work and do an excellent job teaching the basic P's & Q's.

So don't toss the blame ball- especially on a whole generation that almost got an ERA (amendment) just for you.

Regardless, the observation could be made that basic manners have slipped through the cracks, especially in the urban areas. In my rural areas, I see much more mannerly behavior in language and in the physical.