Is it rude to blow your nose in an office cubicle?

[sam_gordon]

Does reading this thread make anyone else want to scratch their nose?

 

[maxiesmom]

Not the doctors I work with.

Which shows they may not be well informed. Or it could just be that doctors don't all agree on anything. And we all have to do what we believe best.

 

[Christine]

I don't think it's rude. This is an office setting, not a dining room table or a restaurant where people are eating and looking at you. Practicality is called for and, realistically, people can't get up and leave their desks.

As far as hand washing and sanitizers--right now my hands are raw and cracked from washing them often. I use a heavy hand cream that helps but does not cure it. The hand sanitizer REALLY does a number on my hands. So I only use that in a emergency. I'm lucky in that I have rarely had issues where I produce a lot of mucous. So a box of tissues might sit in my office an entire year and not get used. Only the most severe colds have caused me to mess up my hands when blowing.

That said, if I do blow my nose I keep my hands to ONLY my stuff. When I have to get out in the public, I make a quick trip to the rest room and wash them and then come back and wipe my keyboard and mouse down. That way, I only contaminate myself for a few hours and then clean up before I use the copier or microwave. No one else uses my stuff.

 

[U2_rocks!]

Given the number of potential germs everywhere, it would make more sense for people who are well (and trying to avoid getting sick) to avoid touching their noses and mouths with their hands in between hand washings - that way it doesn't matter who else is sick around you and touching surfaces, you are protected. Germs need a place to get in - don't let them! It does no good to freak out about the people who are leaving the germs on surfaces, because truthfully you will only know about a fraction of them. There are many other surfaces you will touch during an average day and you won't have a clue that a sick person touched them right before you did. Better to just protect yourself.

 

[nkereina]

No, you know what's rude? Someone sniffling constantly because they won't blow their nose. The woman in the cube next to me evidently had a cold with a runny nose and though I never heard her blow her nose, I heard her sniffle ALL DAY LONG. I wanted to scream "blow your nose!". Sometimes people have allergies that aren't sicknesses, and those people shouldn't be made to feel uncomforable if they need to blow their nose. In my office, it's incredibly dusty and many of us sneeze several times throughout the day. It would be inconvenient for us all to get up and go to the bathroom just to blow our noses.

 

[lakelandgal70]

I am weird. I can't stand to hear someone blow their nose. It is pretty disgusting to me. I have always waited and gone to restroom or my car. But then again a lot of times when I blow my nose when sick it squirts out my eye so yeah like to do that when I am alone hahahhaa