# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/81 "2009-12-14T18:10:17Z")
Wow, I’d forgotten about this thread, and now it’s haunting my brain. Every time I see it, my brain plays for me that horrible soundtrack of someone clipping their nails right next to me. _clink_ _clink_ Aaaughh! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/82 "2009-12-14T18:15:02Z")
It’s fine to trim a ripped nail. It’s bad to do your nail trimming at work as your nail pieces will be all over as will be your nil powder if you use a file. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/83 "2009-12-14T18:49:37Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Okay, so the coworker in the next cube over has taken part in his self-manicuring on a nearly daily basis at this point. How do I politely tell him to knock it off? Pop up over his cube wall and ask him to do his personal grooming at home. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/84 "2009-12-17T14:17:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Pop up over his cube wall and ask him to do his personal grooming at home. Guess I should mention, the guy outranks me on the totem pole. It’s not that easy. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/85 "2009-12-17T14:49:53Z")
I do clip my nails at work, at my desk where nobody can see me. I didn’t realize that some folks have a thing about the sound too and I will try to keep it down. But … I spend a huge amount of my life at my desk and sometimes I’m just going to have to do “personal” stuff. It’s not like anyone can see me without making an effort. In exchange I would like it if everybody else would stop filing their nails in public. I throw up a little in my mouth every time I see this. Some of you don’t like little nail clippings on the ground but you don’t mind actual fingernail dust in the air? Unbelievable! If you are close to such a person (say on a bus) you can actually smell the faint, burnt hair smell of fingernail filing. ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/86 "2009-12-17T19:59:51Z")
It’s gross and uncouth. I suspect that the people who clip all of their nails at the desk are the same sort of people who dig around in their ears with their car keys in public. If you\* want to keep doing it, I guess that’s your prerogative, but realize that a sizable percentage of the people around you are going to think you’re rude and slovenly. If you’re so pressed for time that the only minute you can find in the day to clip your nails is in your cubicle, though, you’ve probably got bigger issues. \*“You” being the generic you, and not any person in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/87 "2009-12-17T21:47:28Z")
I don’t see anything wrong with a simple rule - personal grooming is done privately. I guess the question comes in, how private is your own cubicle, or the bathroom at work? If people can walk in on you doing it or see/hear/smell you doing personal grooming, that isn’t private enough. The exception would be the bathroom at work, where people can reasonably expect to see other workers brushing or flossing their teeth, or fixing up makeup and hair. There are still limits on what you should see other workers doing in the bathroom at work, too, though. Any grooming in there should be superficial - i.e. no pube-trimming, etc. Sorry, **shiftless** , but working long hours isn’t an excuse for grooming at your desk. ---
**Author:** ![sunvalleymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sunvalleymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunvalleymom)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/88 "2013-07-11T19:30:09Z")
I agree that a clip now and then isn’t a problem. But my coworker clips incessantly. We have joked that he must be taking crazy vitamins to need to clip that much. By 8:30 this morning (we come in at 8) he had already done several bouts of clipping (I would say at least 4 clips each time, but usually more) and it is CONSTANT! He will do at least 5 times per day, with many clips each time. We have taken his clippers twice and disposed of them, and he keeps bringing more in. It drives the entire department crazy. So maybe a clip here and there is okay, but I’m pretty sure that constant clipping would drive you all crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/89 "2013-07-11T20:07:29Z")
I’ve heard that when you die, your hair & nails continue to grow for a few days & the skin also contracts, which is why zombie’s fingers look that way. Maybe they should get some clippers for this thread. I used to share an office with a guy who clipped; every once in a while one would launch over the 5’ high cube wall & land on my side. :eek: I’d make him come over & pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/90 "2013-07-11T20:36:54Z")
Zombienails! I find it interesting how many folks object to the noise of clipping. I rather like it myself. I think my dad used to cut his nails before bed when I was a little kid, and I could hear it from my parents’ bedroom. So it reminds me of a simpler time, of being home and safe… that kind of thing. (FTR, I do clip at work, probably more often than at home, but I also have a private office and close the door. Ultimately, I just clip my nails wherever and whenever I both a) notice that they need trimming and b) happen to have clippers handy. Since long nails can interfere with typing, I keep clippers at work.) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393/91 "2013-07-12T08:48:29Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I’ve heard that when you die, your hair & nails continue to grow for a few days & the skin also contracts, which is why zombie’s fingers look that way. They don’t. It just looks like they do because of the skin contracting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trimming-nails-at-work/508393.md?page=4)