This. Or if I were watching a training video and was told to pay attention. Training video people ask those sorts of questions.
The hordes of young ladies waiting to jump Mr. Scarlett might assume he’s a widower. 
Some people just move the ring to the other hand in that case.
If I notice someone’s hands, I’ll notice a wedding ring. If I have no reason to look at their hands, I might not notice. I occasionally check the hands of other women, as I have several single male friends.
If something makes me curious about a person’s marital status, I’ll check. I might notice anyway if the person gestures a lot, or has a very shiny or big or unusual ring, or if I’m bored. Men or women. The group of women you encountered sounds unusual to me. Maybe profession-related?
(I don’t notice men’s shoes most of the time. I notice women’s shoes more because I am always on the lookout for comfortable yet non-orthopedic-looking shoes [an endangered species] for myself, and will ask where they came from if I like them.)
That ain’t right. I mean, some people might buy really expensive watches to impress others, but I would love to have a really nice* watch, just for me. I love watches and love the way they look on my wrist.
*I guess nice doesn’t have to mean expensive! I certainly have bought watches for >$100 that I just loved. I just want a nice gold watch that has Roman numerals and looks elegant. I like the way it looks on me.
Oh, I don’t notice men’s shoes either. I notice: chins, eyes, hair, primarily, and if they are wearing a suit, I may look to see how the cut of the suit fits the man and what his accoutrements are - but only because I love men in suits.
Boredom may well have been a factor.
I’m interested in looking at women’s rings for no other reason than that I like to look at jewelry. There’s a cashier at Big Lots I’m friendly with - she’s a poor, middle-aged single mom, missing a front tooth, but she has no less than four huge sparkly diamond rings on her fingers. I don’t think they’re CZs from QVC and can only speculate on how she got them. I don’t notice men’s rings, I’m not looking for a man and their rings are pretty boring. But I will notice the rings on the left hands of men cooking on the Food Network, I mean, they’re right there!
Meh, I’m with the people who say “only if very bored”. You did say it was a “dull training video”. And I suppose everyone felt that they had better look at the screen and try to look interested.
Years ago when I first tried Internet dating, guys would send me photos. Now I’m gay and I would look at the pics. A female friend of mine asked to see what kind of response I was getting so I showed her the photos.
The first thing she did was say “oh look this one’s married,” “that one has a wedding ring too,” “here’s another with a wedding ring.”
I NEVER thought to look for that. And I wouldn’t have in a million years. So it shows that women look for that sort of thing.
If a band on the left hand, third finger is a true indicator of marriage, there are a LOT of guys cheating on their wives with other men
Same!
I’m a man, and I always check whether women are wearing wedding rings. Anywhere, up to about 50 yards away, sometimes through solid walls, though usually restricted to women within about 15 years of my age. A married friend of mine tests me occasionally and claims he’s never actually caught me checking out a woman’s wedding ring status, but then again, he’s been happily married for over 20 years. I’ve always assumed all single men do this.
Absolutely. Dirty fingernails would be an instant deal-breaker if I was single and dating again.
joins Taomist in the dark corner
Between having lived in places where that ring goes on the left and others where it goes on the right, the fact that often when a woman wears a wedding band there’s flashier jewelry obscuring it, my utter lack of interest on the spousal status of my own gender, the tendency to use as wedding bands something which is a different design, the people who wear simple gold bands without being married, the amount of married people who do not wear wedding bands (even higher in Chemistry, where many factories have a No Jewelry policy), and that I don’t need someone to have done the paperwork in order to consider them “taken”… you pretty much need to rap on my nose with your wedding band for me to notice it. I do sometimes notice them in guys but I’m more likely to notice bitten fingernails than jewelry smaller than a class ring.
I basically always check. I don’t know, it’s interesting. I don’t even care about jewelry that much, but I like knowing that about someone. I try to guess, actually, before I see the ring. I’m a weirdo I guess.
No need to hide. On my quick assessment something over half of posters don’t check wedding rings as a priority, and about a third don’t check at all ever.
I never check. It never occurs to me. If I wanted to know if someone was married, I’d probably ask them before it occurred to me to look for a ring.
I never wear my own, by the way. My arthritis won’t let me.
I notice wedding rings on both males and females, probably for that reason. I don’t really care if someone is married (and they could be married and not wearing a ring) but it’s a little tidbit of information if they are…and rings are pretty and sparkly. 
I don’t judge rings by the size of the gem usually, but I will take note of “too big” which is just gaudy IMO, and might make me draw some conclusions about the wearer (until proven otherwise). But I will usually notice how pretty it is (and “understated” is my preference and what I usually find the prettiest) and if I am feeling particularly catty that day I might mentally compare it to my own ring (which I will always think is the prettier of the two ;)) and then feel a bit smug (to myself) for a while because I have the superior wedding rings. 
Since reading this thread I’m noticing that I look to see who has a ring, and yeah it is pretty much about getting to know people.
Um… it isn’t. The ring finger is the fourth or second finger, depending on where you count from. Well, unless you discount the thumb.
I’m female and I’d never notice. Even if someone doesn’t wear a ring, it doesn’t mean they aren’t married, some people just don’t like to wear their ring.
Women that I know sometimes wear a wedding band as “camouflage” or if divorced will continue wearing their wedding rings for the same reason. Sometimes it is easier if people just assume you are married…Do some gay men maybe do the same thing?
Before I was married this time I wore my great grandmother’s wedding band on my left hand. It served to keep me from getting hit on when it was unwanted- I could just wave my left hand and say, “sorry…” without creating an awkward situation, but also kept my family heirloom close and in use. When I married I moved grandma’s ring to my right hand which might look odd, but it is still pretty and sparkly.