# Trimming nails at work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393 "2009-08-31T19:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/21 "2009-08-31T22:44:34Z")
Keep in it your own office or the bathroom, and not a shared area – where the clippings are left on the carpet, slobs. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/22 "2009-09-01T00:14:41Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > When did trimming nails at work become acceptable? It’s not, and anyone who thinks it is acceptable is mistaken. Personal grooming habits should be tended to in private. If you have a hang-nail that needs to be tended, go to the restroom. If you want to click your nails, do it at home. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/23 "2009-09-01T01:04:07Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Said assistant says that she doesn’t know what to say in this situation. (It has evidently happened three times now, most recently this morning. > > Personally, if it were _my_ office, I’d just bluntly ask the person what the fuck they thought they were thinking. I had the impression, though, that my assistant thought it would be proper for me to approach the offender and remind her that it’s not appropriate to use someone else’s office as a place to do your personal grooming. As i was reading your story, i had the exact same thought as your assistant. By mentioning it to you, and saying that she doesn’t know what to do in this situation, she made it very clear that she was looking for some guidance, at least, and probably some active assistance from you. Does the nail-clipper outrank your assistant? If so, it’s easy to see why your assistant would be worried about direct confrontation. Does the nail-clipper outrank you? If not, i think it would be completely appropriate for you to help your assistant out here. At the very least, you should make clear to your assistant that, if she asks the nail-clipper “What the fuck are you thinking?” and it leads to problems, you will support your assistant. Just MHO. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/24 "2009-09-01T15:32:54Z")
In my line of work, broken nails are a common occurrence, and we keep a manicure set right by our work area for quick trimming of torn nails over the waste basket. No one thinks anything of it because it happens as a part of work. But an extended trimming session? No way. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/25 "2009-09-02T09:29:10Z")
I shared an office with a guy who did this and I found it to be odd. I don’t guess it hurt anything, but I found it odd and would not do it myself. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/26 "2009-09-02T09:34:02Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > I am told that there is one woman who has made a habit of periodically ducking in there to cut her fingernails. Why can’t your assistant point out to the offender that it’s no longer a common space and is now her office, and that going in there to cut her fingernails is unacceptable? Is the offender blind? Can she not realise that someone’s actually working in there and that it looks more like an office than a lunch room? Personally, I keep a nail file in my drawer to sort out snagged nails but that’s as much as I do in the office. Serious nail trimming is done at home because mine need to be trimmed, filed and buffed so it takes a little while to do the job properly and I wouldn’t feel right about doing that in the office. ---
**Author:** ![cdsilv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cdsilv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdsilv)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/27 "2009-09-02T12:46:44Z")
I’ve sat in sales meetings with a customer who routinely picked his nose and wiped the result on his shirt or pants. Since he was ‘the customer’, we (the sales team) never said anything to him about it, but you can imagine the discussions before and afterwards! This is also a guy who called in sick to attend an anti-abortion rally and ended up getting his picture in the paper which was subsequently posted all over his workplace! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/28 "2009-09-02T13:18:52Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > Quite a few people, myself not included, seem to have an almost visceral disgust-response to anything that’s been detached from a human body, including shed hairs and cut nails and so on – just as they do to bodily fluids, which more of us think are gross. I don’t really understand it, but I respect it. I was just thinking about that this morning, as I was clipping my nails (at home, so calm down, folks). The sound of my own nails being clipped actually seems almost comforting, but the sound of someone else’s (which, so far as I can tell, is exactly the same sound) gives me the heebies and the jeebies. With that said, I’ve been know to occasionally clip my nails at work, in my office with (presumably) no one knowing the better. Er, with the scissors from my desk if nothing else is available. Oh yeah, and I’m just the sort of person that if someone asked to borrow my scissors, I probably would forget to mention that I just cut my nails with them. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/29 "2009-09-02T13:28:03Z")
Probably TMI, but: I just keep mine trimmed by biting them off in private. Am I the only one who does this? ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/30 "2009-09-02T14:27:51Z")
I’ll file mine if one has caught on something and torn on the way to work, but I’m not sure my nail clippers have left my bathroom since I bought them. Maybe they just don’t grow fast enough that they need emergency clipping. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/31 "2009-09-02T14:31:57Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Probably TMI, but: > > I just keep mine trimmed by biting them off in private. Am I the only one who does this? Nope. Eesh, for whatever reason, the sound of nails being clipped drives me up the wall. It’s like nails on a chalkboard – I guess nails are meant to be seen and not heard in general. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/32 "2009-09-02T14:53:26Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > In my line of work, broken nails are a common occurrence, and we keep a manicure set right by our work area for quick trimming of torn nails over the waste basket. No one thinks anything of it because it happens as a part of work. But an extended trimming session? No way. What are you, a logger? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/33 "2009-09-02T15:08:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > It has happened. The woman who had the previous shift left her toenails strewn around the workspace. Didn’t even have the manners to clean them up. I collected them, put them in a small container, with a note: “I almost threw these away, but then I thought maybe you wanted to keep them.” > > She never did it again. Awesome!!! If fingernail clipping in public becomes acceptable behaviour, can nose hair trimming, anal bleaching, etc be next?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/34 "2009-09-02T15:34:49Z")
I never saw any issue with it (and certainly wouldn’t be bothered at all by anyone else doing it), until a coworker went batshit crazy on me about it one day. I noticed a nail was a little longer than usual, and it was hampering my typing, so I gave it a quick snipping. “Oh my God, are you actually _cutting your nails_? At _work_?! That’s so fucking gross how could you do that and blah blah blah…” Errr…it’s a fingernail, you fricking wackjob. It was a three second job, and now it’s done – stop acting like a took a dump in the garbage can. Still, in deference to her, I stopped doing it in my cube. It simply never occurred to me that someone would be that sensitive over such a non-issue. Another one for my list of reasons I’m thankful every day that my company went to telecommuting. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/35 "2009-09-02T16:26:26Z")
I clip my nails all the time at my cubicle but I don’t really see what the big deal is. Its dry, there is no wet detritus laying around, and they’re so small that you wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking for it. I don’t really get the whole disgust feeling people seem to have towards hair and nails. My nails are clean for the most part and it remains in my vicinity until the night custodial crew vacuums them up. I used to have a very big problem chewing on my nails so now I bring clippers with me almost everywhere I go. I’d rather someone clip them than see them hungrily devouring their fingers and wiping the spit on their pants. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/36 "2009-09-02T16:47:14Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Seriously. It’s not like they keep growing like Buffy’s demon roommate’s fingernail clippings. They aren’t sticky like boogers. It’s not hair that might have cooties. Right, it’s no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/37 "2009-09-02T16:48:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If fingernail clipping in public becomes acceptable behaviour, can nose hair trimming, anal bleaching, etc be next?:eek: Who claims it isn’t acceptable behavior? Are you Miss Manners?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/38 "2009-09-02T16:56:05Z")
OK, I asked. NO ONE noticed. Maybe its becasue everyone has a headset on and can’t hear any clipping. My clipper catches the nails and I throw them in the trash, no one is eating around them. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/39 "2009-09-02T17:30:06Z")
I occasionally do it at work, and sometimes borrow a colleague’s clippers to do it. Neither her nor the two people sitting next to me seem to mind. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/40 "2009-09-02T17:45:33Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t really get the whole disgust feeling people seem to have towards hair and nails. My nails are clean for the most part and it remains in my vicinity until the night custodial crew vacuums them up. Do you at least TRY to get them to land in the garbage can? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393.md?page=3)