Bad host? Yes, I tend towards yes. Technically. But you’ve been visiting these people for 13 years? You probably already know things about them that would stun Miss Manners into an awkward silence.
Go to Costco and pick them up a case of Kleenex and turn it into something you can all laugh about when you show up with it.
You learn something new every day on the Dope.
Those of you who don’t keep tissue on hand: do you ever spontaneously sneeze? Need to wipe your glasses clean?
I live in New England, and nose-running and allergies are part of the drill up here. I occasionally forget to replenish tissue when we run out, but right now there is a tissue box in the bedroom, in the office, and in the living room. I don’t think it’s rude or a sign of being a bad host, but it is (IMO) sort of strange that every time these folks are working with snot, they trundle to the lavvy for TP (which tatters and leaves tissue bits on your shirt). If someone came over to my house and had to ask me if I had tissue and I didn’t, I’d be a little embarrassed.
When I taught every kid had to bring a box of tissue at the start of the year for the class. None of that sneezing on your sleeve or in your hand stuff in my classroom!
I’m almost afraid to ask… do you non-tissue users have paper napkins in your homes?
A-ha. I wonder if that is part of it - those of us in the Northeast live in a fairly wet clime. I remember how dry Vegas was when I visited. I could see one not using tissues very often in such a clime!
I live in the mid-Atlantic and don’t use Kleenex. That’s what paper towels from the office are for.
Are you saying that you nick them from the office and use them as tissue, or that when you have a sniffle or drip, you run to the office bathroom and use those?
I guess I’m envisioning that brown, rough stuff that comes of the steel dispenser in the lavvy. I guess you might mean a roll of Bounty. Doesn’t the paper towel hurt your nose?
I also use tissues to get at eye boogers, or crust in the corner of the mouth if I’ve been napping. Do you use paper towels that way as well? If so, OUCH!
Sure. I sneeze into my elbow like Miss Jones taught my kid in preschool (a much more hygienic solution than sneezing in the hand, IMHO), and then I go get some toilet paper to blow my nose into if I need to. It’s extremely rare that I actually expel visible mucus when sneezing, and at least half the time I don’t even need to blow afterwards. If it becomes more than an occasional need, I’ll declare myself sick enough to get a box of Kleenex.
When I get a new pair of glasses, I’m extremely careful to only use the little wipey chamois they give me at the eyeglass store to prevent scratching the “scratch-proof” layer covering my lenses. Then after about six weeks I start cleaning my glasses using my shirt. Never paper products, which really does scratch them quickly.
I do have paper napkins in the pantry, but for Everday eating (which would include my once a week guest, but not my mother-in-law or the Pope), we use a roll of paper towels that sits on a nice upright holder in the middle of the table. This is only until I find the right napkin holder for the middle of the table, then we’ll go back to using those. But I hate having to go run into another room when the baby needs another napkin, yet I also hate chasing loose napkins all over my table. The laziest, most attractive solution is the paper towels right now.
I live in Chicago, so we’re not all that different weather-wise, but we do have radiator heat and very dry apartments in the winter. Now that you mention it, I needed to buy Kleenex regularly when I lived in the 'burbs in a furnace-heated home.
Detroit, Michigan. Kleenex? Rude? Bah. I agree with having some certain needs and if you don’t have such amenities at your best friend’s house, then shame on both of you. Shame on you for not bringing them over and shame on them for not noticing that you sneeze like crazy.
When I sneeze, I tend to turn away and sneeze or sneeze in the crook of my elbow. I learned to hold my sneezes in at a very early age (because I wanted to see if I could blow my shoes off like Calvin) so now I can’t sneeze normally. I rarely expel phlegm after a sneeze.
I find the original post poorly worded, as well. I dunno, it seems too rife with…expectations. I’m not entirely sure what it is.
I have always been a frequent sneezer and nose-blower (until I finally got the better of my allergies). I stopped using tissue when I realized how much it (a) costs me money, (b) uses up virgin forests and produces vile chemicals in its manufacture, and © (worst) rubs my poor nose all raw and makes it hurt for days after the sneezing ends.
So I use fabric: old T-shirts when I’m at home, handkerchiefs when I’m out. I don’t buy kleenex at all; I hope my guests would respect that (seeing as I produce far more snot than any of them, I think they usually do.)
If I’m in someone’s house and I didn’t come prepared, I will happily use their toilet paper. But I do my very best to come prepared. I once cleaned out an entire cottage of paper products (kleenex, TP, paper towels, napkins) because I hadn’t come prepared; I was so embarassed I re-evaluated my entire nose-blowing strategy.
I don’t mind TP over Kleenex in someone else’s house because it’s much more discreet. Imagine you are in your guests’ living room and you get the urge. Normally I excuse myself to sneeze/blow my nose anyway (if I get enough warning, which I usually do). I don’t like to hear anybody’s bodily fluids (particularly in polite company) and I don’t want to subject anyone to hearing mine. So since I’m leaving the room anyway I might as well go to the bathroom.
Also, now, imagine if you don’t leave the room, you just grab a tissue and blow away. Now, what do you do with your snotty kleenex? You have to either try to keep a tidy, discreet pile of nasty kleenex somewhere near you (or shove it in your pocket or up your sleeve); hope there’s a garbage bin within reach; or leave the room to throw it out. The only thing I want to do with snotty tissues is get them away from me as quickly as possible, so I can’t imagine option 1; if option 2 is out, only option 3 is left - and again, since you’re leaving the room anyway, might as well head to the can.
Nope, fabric. And, in the spirit of gigi’s post above - when there aren’t any clean ones, I use ::hangs head in shame:: my cleanest washcloths.
My guests aren’t expecting formality when they come to my place. Thank goodness.
How does a box of tissues in the house help you with a spontaneous sneeze. Unless you always have a tissue in your hand, a sudden unexpected sneeze is going to in your bare hand. Not a big deal. You can wash them the next time you get up. Sneeze =/= mucous or snot.
If even I need to blow my nose, I go to the latrine to do that. I think I’d expect a guest to do the same. So even if I did have tissues, I would keep them on the counter in the latrine. Next to the hand sanitizer.
Hand sanitizer? Why, I find that if you pee on your hands and give about 10 to 15 seconds of good, vigorous rub, you’re good to go!
Um…for clarification, I mean your hands rubbing each other.
Carry on.
:snort:
Bwahahaha.
Yeah, if my first post is to be read wrong, I at LEAST wanna switch the word “seconds” with “minutes”.
Again, carry on.
It’s cheap and sometimes it’s preferable to the water, soap, friction, water, towel method of washing my hands.
I don’t obsess over germs if that’s what you’re wondering.
I spontaneously sneeze all the time, but usually there’s no snot involved.
If there is, I sniff it back and make a dash to the bathroom, where I can dispose of it in private.
If I have a cold, I’ll usually carry around my own personal snot rag, something I can discretely pull out if I need it.
When I wore glasses, I used toliet paper.
Kleenex in every room is a luxury that I’m not willing to maintain. If someone ever pointed out my lack of Kleenex, I’d laugh in their face and ask them why they think their nose is too good for toliet tissue.
I wouldn’t. Maybe it’s because I’m from the South.
I have paper towels, yes. Those are for cleaning up spills, something you can’t do with toliet paper.
Nah, I wasn’t wondering. I can completely understand the use of sanitizer. I was just adding a little well-needed snark, that’s all.
I do spontaneously sneeze (being in New England too) but any discharge wafts off into thin air. If I then need to blow my nose, I use the paper towel I have as a napkin for dinner on the couch (Scott or Brawny white) or I get up and go to the bathroom for toilet paper. I wear contact lenses. If I have a cold I take an extra roll of toilet paper and carry it with me from room to room.
I do have paper napkins but they stay in the cabinet until I need to set the table for guests.
It looks like lotion but does it work as well?
So it doesn’t take you that long . It’s okay … no really , it happens to
everyone 
Is this the point where I suggest you slather it on your face/boobs or is that some other point?