Virtually every cash register I’ve seen in Japan has one of these next to it. They count out the bills by holding the stack in the center with one hand and flipping down each corner with the other. Then they hand you your coins with the receipt.
If I’m flipping through some papers, sometimes saliva is the only way (as I have not yet invested in this fine product). In that case, I try to get only a bit of it on my fingertip by touching it to my front teeth. I don’t have to do it for every page, and it doesn’t leave a lake of drool behind.
When I was flipping through tons of files at a couple differnt jobs, everyone had bottles of hand moisturizer (yay temping).
It doesn’t bother me because the amount of saliva on each page is localized and tiny. Then again, I am known as a germaphobe-phobe. I don’t believe that this aversion has much to do with actual germs because that wouldn’t stand up to much scrutiny. It has to do with personal attraction to the person doing the licking in whatever form that might take. That concept is obvious with actual sex but it probably impacts how you view this behavior from the big, loud lard-ass sitting next to you versus the paper licking from the newest hottie in the office. The same thing might apply for the sweetest grandmotherly type versus the 40 year old with severe adult acne. Deep down, it probably isn’t the behavior that is the problem. It is the person and the desired segregation of space.
I used to work as a cashier at Wal-Mart and they were usually at a registers there but they seriously did not make it any easier for me. I’d just crumple the money slightly and that *did *make it easier to count and sort.
I think it’s yucky. I loaned a book to a friend once and she was doing that to turn the pages, bleah! I’ve seen people doing it to magazines at doctors offices to turnt he pages. Gag!
For some reason, the mental image that came to mind while reading the title had someone licking my fingers as I sifted through the papers, and I thought, “Would their tongue be in the way?” Carry on.
And oh, yeah, it’s weird, but not that weird. It’s worth a double-take but not worth saying something.
I have naturally moist (no, not clammy or sweaty) hands, so I’ve never really needed to do it myself.
Someone else doing it to papers that I have to handle icks me out to the point that I have actually asked people, “Would you mind not doing that?” :mad:
