Rant: People who chew at you

This barely scratches at the surface of what is REALLY bothering me, but I just gotta say it anyway.

My aunt and I have been bouncing from court to hospital to court and back to court, and back to a different hospital, etc. and almost EVERY person we have to deal with is chewing and/or smacking away at gum or cud or what have you. They're not just chewing discreetly, either, they are looking at us while we talk to them and they chew and smack with their mouths wide open, making clicking, mashing, gnashing, and cracking sounds all the while. This afternoon (Tuesday) we had a nurse doing it right in our faces. My mother taught me that chewing gum was unprofessional, impolite, and disrespectful when in a business environment, and sometimes even elsewhere. Chewing LOUDLY and GRAPHICALLY is unacceptable just about anywhere except maybe frat parties and certain sporting events, unless, of course, there are no other people around.

Is it too much for me to expect nurses and court clerks NOT to do this?

Tomorrow (Wednesday, technically today but I haven't gone to bed yet) there is a "family meeting" at the rehab where my grandmother is right now. I'm bringing along some gum, and if I see even one person chewing obnoxiously, I'm going to take out a piece and start chewing away absentmindedly like it's the most natural thing in the world.

What else am I supposed to do, tell people to spit out their goddammed gum? They don't have to do what I tell them. I hate people. I wish they would all fall into a black hole and be done with. Except for most of the folks on this board of course.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Poofy, I feel your pain. Smacking(regardless of what it is) chewing loudly, making clacking noises with teeth (dentures is even worse), and any of that done with an open mouth(which is usually is) is one of my ABSOLUTE WORST pet peeves of all times. I would like to add a disgusting habit which fits into that category and that is people who lick their damned fingers or worse, SUCK each and every finger while eating and follow each sucked finger with a "pop!" sound at the end. I think these habits should be grounds for divorce, impromptu murders of passion (that passion being DISGUST), and ousting offenders from public eateries or get togethers where food is served. I think that obvious gum smacking, loud sucks on breath mints and everything similar to it should be PROHIBITED in public, much like smoking has been. It's bad for my health to be exposed to it as I can literally feel my blood pressure rise.

I doubt that you pulling out some gum and smacking back will do much good because they are oblivious to it. I do however, think that it's VERY unprofessional behavior for people in the medical and legal field (and all other fields for that matter) not to mention it is unsanitary because of the hand to mouth thing, the disposal of the gum because they at least have to stick their fingers in their mouths to retrieve it (they don't have to, but that's what they do) and the potential to spray germs with their spittle. I have never worked for any company that allowed employee gum chewing anyway, including restaurants and banks, so SURELY there is a policy at the hospitals and courthouses. I would report it IN WRITING directly to the hospital administrator(s) and to the county clerk or judge in charge and then follow it up with a phone call to see what, if anything, has been done. They MAY already have gum chewing on the job policies in place, but just haven't enforced them, that would be my guess.

I cant stand to be in the same room with people who do this and I feel so sorry for you having no choice but to have to see/hear this nonsense. Please keep us posted on this one and good luck!

I get a violent urge to kill whoever chews and cracks gum loudly. I feel your pain. Can't you complain to these people's supervisors?

"I would like to add a disgusting habit which fits into that category and that is people who lick their damned fingers or worse, SUCK each and every finger while eating and follow each sucked finger with a "pop!" sound at the end."

That would be my entire family of in-laws. DH's family are nice people, but they are hicks. (I'm Southern; there is a difference between rednecks and hicks but it would take too long to explain.)

I ABSOLUTELY CAN'T STAND it when people lick their fingers. I've mostly broken DH of the habit. He just didn't get it because of how he was raised. He would kind of confused: "But I'm eating ribs," as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Honestly, I felt like somewhat of a bitch when I did it. There are people who can look past it, but I can't because it's an issue of hygeine. I finally explained it two ways: 1. it drives me crazy, so could you please stop. 2. It's nasty and not hygenic. You know people who lick their fingers are not washing their hands after a meal, and they will go on to touch everything with their mouth germs. (I get a little sick just typing that.)

Now if I could just get him to stop biting the fork and shoveling food in his mouth 50 m.p.h. when we sit down to a nice dinner. He takes his fork and has to get up EVERY LITTLE SPECK on his plate and he licks the fork (and the knife if we are at home) afterward. Again, it's his hick parents never teaching him the importance of table manners.

I thank all the Gods in heaven that they aren't gum chewers.

Poofy, sorry I hijacked this thread. I feel your pain. It would be bad enough to have all this stress without a bunch of people chewing on their cud.

Neither do I care to be aware of the contents of someone else's mouth

I have never chewed gum in my entire life and can't for the life of me see why anyone would find this low-class habit appealing in any way. I can recall someone asking me why I dislike gum-chewing and I replied just that way - that I thought it was a low-class thing to do, and they gave me a funny look. I did not back down, but I did not expect that person to suddenly stop chewing gum.

I also never had any cavities in my teeth while I was growing up, which I attribute in part to keeping all that sugar (sugarless gum was not widely made back in the 1970s) off my teeth all those years.

I find the sounds of gum-chewing mildly annoying, especially the gum-popping. Just yesterday on what will be one of me last train rides to work (YAY!), I sat next to a woman who was chewing like a damn cow. At least she wasn't on a cell phone. But that's another rant for another thread at another time......

poofy_puff Wrote:
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> They're not
> just chewing discreetly, either, they are looking
> at us while we talk to them and they chew and
> smack with their mouths wide open, making
> clicking, mashing, gnashing, and cracking sounds
> all the while. This afternoon (Tuesday) we had a
> nurse doing it right in our faces. My mother
> taught me that chewing gum was unprofessional,
> impolite, and disrespectful when in a business
> environment, and sometimes even elsewhere.
>

I am glad someone else feels the same way I do. I used to work with a woman who chewed and cracked her gum very loudly, all day long, and even blew bubbles with her chewing gum. It was immature and unprofessional in a business office. Also, some people will stick their chewing gum on the side of their plate at a restaurant - this is so gross! I don't want to look at their chewed up wad of gum during my meal! This is right up there with picking one's nose in public.


I quit chewing gum when I was teenager, to me its a gross habit.

Both my MIL and mom talk with their mouth full. They can't seem to swallow any food, before speaking. It so makes me sick to my stomach.
Why is it that menopausal breeders seem to lose all manners and tact?

I agree, chewing gum has got to be one of the worst habits you can have. Whenever I enounter someone chewing like a cow and it's cud, I could punch them in the face. These are probably the same people with such horrendous table manners that they hover over their plate much like a bear would eat if he were at the table. Actually, that's not giving bears enough credit.

We were NEVER allowed to have gum. Ever. Period.

Why?

Not because my parents were horrible, but because we were taught that chewing gum was right up there with trimming your toenails at the dinner table.

SO MANY people anymore just do not have a clue.

I also have problem with all the chewy smacky noises people make when they eat, and my mother happens to be guilty of them all. She smacks her gum, makes smacky noise when she chews with her mouth open, talks while smacking, slurps soup, licks/sucks her fingers after eating (once caused her to run a red light because she was too occupied with her food) and, my all-time favorite, sniffing her fingers after scratching herself in some way. It drives me totally nuts. I'm so glad I don't do any of that shit.

I can't say I hate gum, though...I love bubble gum, but I also know enough to not smack and pop during class or anywhere semi-professional. In fact, I usually only do it at home in the event I have an emergency (blow a bubble so large, it pops in my hair) and need to tend to it ASAP.

Those who are anti-gum should look into a song called, "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor?" -- funny song.

OMG, I thought my sis and I were the only ones! This to me is even WAY worse than a child crying (I know most of you won't agree with that). Probably because it's an ADULT, it's completely voluntary and they should know how loud and classless it is. I always request the back seat in planes, sit in the back row whenever I'm at a show, etc. I actually twice asked someone to "PLEASE stop chomping their gum, because I was going insane, and didn't know what I would do if they didn't." True story.

My sister actually takes a different approach and tells someone "how low class, unprofessional and rude it is", pretending to try and inform them of something that they need to know and embarass them into throwing it out. Or when on a plane, class or whatever, she stands up, turns her head around with a perplexed look on her face and LOUDLY asks, "WHAT'S that cracking NOISE?" She then pretends to "find" the source of it and stares at the person and asks/tells them to stop it as it's an "extremely offensive sound and EVERYBODY would appreciate it." I do not know her success rate.

This gum thing doesn't seem to bother anybody else that I know. Most people don't seem to even notice it AT ALL. In fact, all my friends think I'M strange and annoying because it bothers me sooooo much that I'll complain the whole flight, in line at the store, etc. What bothers me is that it's not just teenage ghetto resident types that do this...it's people that look just like they're past 30 and probably have a decent job, etc. It just screams "NO CLASS" to me and I can't even LOOK at someone that's chomping!

Sorry for the rant, but this topic struck a major nerve of mine....like I said, it bothers me WAY more than a baby crying as it almost seems that it'd have to be on purpose to be THAT loud. I've tried to recreate the sound myself (just to see) and I COULD NOT chomp gum that loudly. Ear plugs only make it a little better, I can still hear it.

I sure miss the old days when I could then light up a cigarette and blow smoke right at the offender to get my point across....and I don't even smoke! (OK. when I'm drunk I do, caught me!)

Hey, thanks for all the feedback. Hijack away! I'm not going to say anything to supervisors about this because I don't have the energy to fight that particular battle at this time. But, you folks have talked me out of chewing the gum myself. I'll settle for eating an Altoid if I have to chew something.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

I admit, I am a loud gum chewer. When I have gum, I can't keep from smacking it, blowing bubbles, cracking it, grinding it between my teeth and in general abusing the hell out of it until my jaw aches so bad I'm forced to toss it.

And that is why I do not buy gum.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

I once quit a class, because the teacher was not only chewing gum, but when she was talking, she kept her gum on the right side of her mouth and you could see the thing lying there. Also, she only wore purple.
I also once knew a financial rep who made an awful lot of noise when he ate. He literally smacked food. I could not stand him. He met a lot of clients. I would have stopped doing business with him had I been a client. He also had 2 kids and when I was a teenager, his wife asked me to babysit. My only babysitting experience lasted one hour. I called the wife telling her the baby was chocking, when in fact he bored me to tears and I didn't know what to do with him. I just wanted out.

bell_flower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "I would like to add a disgusting habit which fits
> into that category and that is people who lick
> their damned fingers or worse, SUCK each and every
> finger while eating and follow each sucked finger
> with a "pop!" sound at the end."
>
> That would be my entire family of in-laws. DH's
> family are nice people, but they are hicks. (I'm
> Southern; there is a difference between rednecks
> and hicks but it would take too long to explain.)
>
>
> I ABSOLUTELY CAN'T STAND it when people lick their
> fingers. I've mostly broken DH of the habit. He
> just didn't get it because of how he was raised.
> He would kind of confused: "But I'm eating ribs,"
> as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
> Honestly, I felt like somewhat of a bitch when I
> did it. There are people who can look past it, but
> I can't because it's an issue of hygeine. I
> finally explained it two ways: 1. it drives me
> crazy, so could you please stop. 2. It's nasty
> and not hygenic. You know people who lick their
> fingers are not washing their hands after a meal,
> and they will go on to touch everything with their
> mouth germs. (I get a little sick just typing
> that.)
>
> Now if I could just get him to stop biting the
> fork and shoveling food in his mouth 50 m.p.h.
> when we sit down to a nice dinner. He takes his
> fork and has to get up EVERY LITTLE SPECK on his
> plate and he licks the fork (and the knife if we
> are at home) afterward. Again, it's his hick
> parents never teaching him the importance of table
> manners.
>
> I thank all the Gods in heaven that they aren't
> gum chewers.
>
> Poofy, sorry I hijacked this thread. I feel your
> pain. It would be bad enough to have all this
> stress without a bunch of people chewing on their
> cud.


Oh dear God bellflower, I live in your boat and I understand the hick-redneck differences too since I am Southern. The lickers and slurpers run rampant in my extended famblee of distant cousins and I can barely stand to attend a famblee reunion because of it. Regardless of a person's current socio-economic status and otherwise impeccable manners, NOTHING belies their current ways of life and reveals that they have a hick background like smacking, slurping, or licking things at the table which are not supposed to be licked like fingers, forks, plates, chicken bones, etc.......My mother not only licks her fingers while she eats, she also moans, "MMMmmmmmmm" while she is chewing. In addition, when she pours a mixed drink she stirs it up with a finger, as if it were a stirring straw, and then sucks her finger and goes, "Ahhhhhh". It has literally sent chillbumps of pure disgust all over my body since my first cognitive memory of it in 1979. I avoid being in the same room with her when she eats and when I see her pour a drink, I head to the bathroom or ANYWHERE to avoid witnessing the stirring/suck incident.

My ex husband is also a licker/slurper/smacker. It got to the point that I felt like the main character from Poe's short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher", with the ultra heightened senses. It would literally wake me up out of a dead sleep in another room when he would do it, there towards the end. The smacking was bad enough, but he LICKED everything like ketchup bottles, the sides of an icee cup, the squirt tops of chocolate syrup after use, chili off of the sides of hotdog buns, the entire circumference of a hamburger, forks, knives, and spoons, the dew off of a beer bottle, and icecream cones were by FAR the most unbearable to endure.

If someone wishes to project that they have some class and manners and especially if they don't want someone to know they were brought up in Hicksville, the first thing they need to do is curtail this gum/cud chewing, smacking, slurping, and licking. These poor habits are VERY noticable to anyone with any common decency and good manners. Oh and Cambion, I don't know how you survived after seeing someone scratch themselves and then smell their fingers afterwards, that might just push me over the edge.

kidlesskim Wrote:
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> If someone wishes to project that they have some
> class and manners and especially if they don't
> want someone to know they were brought up in
> Hicksville, the first thing they need to do is
> curtail this gum/cud chewing, smacking, slurping,
> and licking. These poor habits are VERY noticable
> to anyone with any common decency and good
> manners. Oh and Cambion, I don't know how you
> survived after seeing someone scratch themselves
> and then smell their fingers afterwards, that
> might just push me over the edge.

LOL be careful.....HICKSVILLE is the name of a real town here on Long Island. While there are plenty of stupid people there, as there are in every town, I would not personify it as a town of "hicks" LOL!

"Is it too much for me to expect nurses and court clerks NOT to do this?"

Unfortunately, it is too much to ask a professional to act professional these days. It's fucking rediculous. NOBODY has manners anymore...not in the workplace, on the road or in terms of customer service. I remember going to the Petco near my work to get crickets for Rosie on the way home. I stopped going to that particular, convenient location because of the horrid service. How long does it take for a teenaged retard to get 12 crickets, you ask? At least 10 - 15 minutes! You know, 'cause they have to stand around with their thumb up their ass for a LEAST 5 minutes.

I'm sorry you have to deal with all these ingrates, Poofy. Good luck dealing without having your head explode... Ooo! Time for one of my favorite smilies again!

:kill

Haha. Ha. I know. I'ma geek.

I did not notice any chewers at the meeting. I was, however focused on other things.

I understand the difference between hicks and rednecks. Hicks are like, just country bumpkins who live in the middle of nowhere and like it. They may run the gamut of intelligence and hygiene. Rednecks are people who live in rural, inbred communities & cultivate and take pride in their bad manners, ignorance, intolerance, and obnoxious lifestyle.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people throw their gum on the ground. We have a child psychology clinic downstairs from where I work. These fucking kyds are always throwing their gum on the ground. I try to be careful when I walk into the building, but I've managed to step in it a few times and then have their gross gum stuck all over the bottom of my shoe.

Gum is low-class, bah. I can't believe these stories of gum at work of all places! Chomping and masticating into the faces of clients?

A relative very close to me whom I shall not name has problems with swallowing liquids quietly. Given a glass of water or juice and it sounds as though a Canada-sized meteorite dropped behind the Hoover Dam. Or that there's a multi-wave tsunami coming ashore. I always have to tell myself silently, "This noise will be over in four..three..two..one..ahh, it's all gone." Then I just smile sweetly...wondering what unsuspected food foibles of mine that I'm not aware of this considerate person is forgiving.

Licking one's fingers is also icky in public but at home we have a "family exemption" for eating with fingers, if there are baked chicken pieces on the menu (after cutting off and eating as much meat as possible with utensils). I think so long as that's kept in the home that's OK.

Good, succinct definition of hicks, Clematis. I will add that although they run the gamut of intelligence, there is a common pattern of refusing to learn anything new. Learning anything new = putting on airs to them.

(At least with my in-laws.) Here are a few examples:

1. Incorrect grammar and not caring if they get it wrong: Pronouns: "Them apples from Joe Bob's orchard sure taste good."
Noun and verbs are not paired correctly: "He don't have a cellar at his house."

2. In 10+ years, I have never seen any of my in-laws read a book other than a romance novel. The TV, which is on constantly, is their only source of information. Unfortunately, they watch Faux news, which has turned my formerly Democratic-leaning FIL into a hate-filled rabid Republican who now refers to abortion as "killing babies." Faux news rots old mens' brains, I swear.

3. Food. Don't get me started. Their diets are atrocious. Everything is meat. Macaroni and cheese is a vegetable. Fresh fruits and vegetables are "too expensive," but of course there is an abundance of potato chips, cheeze-its and cheetos.

I've never seen them eat a salad or a fresh vegetables. Bacon and eggs are breakfast every morning. They drink whole milk. Leftover bacon grease is used in all cooking recipes, including cakes and pies. (Note: I quietly bring my own food, but it doesn't stop them from making comments about what I eat.) Once, at a family barbeque, when someone was pushing pork steaks on me, I had declined about four times and I finally explained that I was a vegetarian. He immediately said. Oh, okay. Would you like a hot dog instead? (Not because he was being mean or funny--he really didn't understand what the term vegetarian meant.)

4. Food preparation: I will NEVER, ever eat anything that is home canned by them. I was interested in home canning some of our vegetables, so I bought a pressure canner and a book. During all this, I discovered this is how my in-laws "can" things: Cook the food. Put it into jars that are not sterilized and do not boil the jars. Seal the jars and put them in the pantry. My DH and I had one of our only fights ever because he was helping me and he uttered those fatal words, "But Mommy and Daddy did it that way for years." Also, he wanted me to take back the pint-sized jars because "Mommy and Daddy said those don't seal." (They don't seal because they don't boil them--Hello!)

Anyway, the fight was over when I said: 1. Mommy and Daddy are lucky they haven't died of nerve toxins (botulism) 2. We do it by the book in our house.

That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Did it ever occur to them to read a book or look it up and make sure the circa 1920 way was a good way to do things? No.

5. No desire to travel. They want to drive everywhere and they wil never go anywhere that English is not the primary language. Unfortunately this has rubbed off on DH, so I just go with my family, which has caused some raised eyebrows.

Mostly, it's a class thing. I grew up middle class, but my parents were college educated. His were not. I was taught to value reading and education. He was not.

Mostly, we just hide our lifestyle from them. They don't understand that we both have excellent jobs and because we don't have resource suckers, we have enough $ to fund our retirement and savings and still have a decent (decadent to them) lifestyle. Our house is "too big." I spend "too much money on clothes" and toys. I'm sure I was the topic of speculation as to why I wasn't cranking out kids and inhaling fertility drugs the minute we got married since I was so old. I suspect they think I have some little McJob and they have no idea I make more $ than their son.

I think it's a cuntwork thing too. They never said a word when DH bought a 50 inch TV, but having someone come in and clean is "excessive." Um, Hello, I work a high pressure job. I think it's mostly jealousy. His female relatives feel like I got away with someone because I don't have brats to tie me down.

I've worked hard all my life and I'm not apologizing for not having kids and for enjoying my life.

bell_flower Wrote:
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> Good, succinct definition of hicks, Clematis.

I was the one who said that!

Poofy! My bad. Sorry about that.

You mean "Sorry 'bout dat."

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

I think that I am living bellflower's life in a parallel universe. My parents are college educated but both come from hicklike backgrounds, so there is a hint of that which still lives in them. My inlaws however, still ARE hicklike in many many ways. Their favorite show on TV right now is, "My Big Redneck Wedding" and it took me WEEKS to make them understand that I was NOT the least bit interested in that show NOR was my husband. Yet, they would still tape the damned shows and send home dvd's via hubby for me to watch. Every single time I spoke with them they would ask, "Did you watch that show we taped?". Every time I would simply say, NO". Finally, I was pushed over the edge one night when at their house for dinner they popped in one of the fucking shows they had recorded and I completely ignored each and every, "Did you see that?", or "Kim, LOOK AT THAT". I finally said, 'I am sorry, but I think that show is absolutely ridiculous and it bores me to tears". Then MIL says, "Well, it's SUPPOSED to be funny". Then I responded, "It's not funny to me and your son finds it boring as well. Quite frankly, I don't care if I ever even saw it advertise again as it simply is NOT my cup of tea".

Of course it hurt her peewins. We have the same tv stations as they do, if we had WANTED to watch it, don't they think that we would have?