I received an unusual amount of feedback after my post on Hygiene when Shopping. People being disgusting in public spaces seems to be common worldwide. It also seems to irritate others as much as it irritates me.
There were horror stories in my mailbox about awful behaviour in fitting rooms, public transport, restaurants, waiting rooms, planes, airports, public toilets. I idly wondered if people behaved like this in their own private spaces. My guess would be no.
The behaviour seemed to fall into several categories
- being loud (talking on phone speaker/watching movies/listening to music without headphones)
- being unsanitary (hands in buffet food, changing diapers on restaurant tables, used condoms in fitting rooms, leaving faeces and urine all over public toilets, putting hands in hygiene products)
- leaving things in a shambles (fitting rooms, restaurant tables, shopping spaces)
If they do not behave like this in private spaces, they know exactly what they are doing but they do not care because they feel someone else will have to pick up after them. If they do behave like this in private spaces then I fear for the future of the human race.
Is it a lack of empathy and consideration for the people with which we share our public space? Is it bad upbringing?
I never ever clip my finger nails in public, if they go anywhere they are picked up immediately and put with the others to be disposed of together. I had someone in front of me on a plane who put his jacket over the back of his seat covering my screen. I removed the jacket and put it on the floor under his seat so he would be delayed in getting off by having to look for it.
A number of years ago I was on a train waiting to leave NYC’s Grand Central Terminal on a Saturday afternoon and a man a few seats in front stood up and faced the seats behind him. He then, quite non-chalantly began clipping his fingernails. Believe me, they were flying in all directions. A lady across from me actually ducked to avoid one clipping she thought was heading in her direction.
As they say: “Some people”.
Ewww that is so gross!