Inspired by another thread, I have known some women that don’t care if I look thru their purse. I’ve had co-workers say, “Just take it out of my purse.” I never feel comfortable doing this, so I bring them the purse and make them give me the item. They are like “Geez, Mark you’re so uptight, I trust you.”
On the other hand my mother had a strict rule, “Under no circumstances, go into my purse.”
So my question to women is do you care if others look in your purse? Is it OK, depending on who it is?
I didn’t let people look when I was stashing cigarettes, but now I have quit, so it is mostly ok.
Things I would want to hide:
any kind of nicotine
medications
tampons etc.
those oil blotting papers
garbage that I was stashing until I could throw away (just looks messy)
Me–sort of. If someone asks, then yeah…like say I need something there, but in general, not so cool with it. Not because I’m embarrassed or anything, just habit. Drummed into me since I was a kid. Like if my mom needed something from her purse, I’d bring the actual bag to her and she’d give me whatever it was–money usually. I don’t think my dad would even go through my mom’s bag. Again, nothing to hide, but it’s just like…I don’t know. A weird thing.
ditto dukette it’s not so much about trusting people, it’s that my purse is a mess and I assume that people don’t want to dig through it any more than they want to dig through my medicine cabinet or under my sofa cushions. Looking right now I have a toothbrush, a candy wrapper, and a tissue from I’m not sure what. How lovely.
Perhaps your trusting coworkers are just more tidy.
My purse is usually open anyway (it’s easier to reach into that way) so anyone who wants to can see what I am carrying around.
If anyone cares that would be: wallet, sunglasses, cell phone, iPod, a bunch of receipts stuffed in there, some ink pens, a small pad of paper, and in the inside zippered pocket are two tampons and a lighter (this is also where any hidden cigarettes would be- if I ever had any hidden cigarettes that is ;)).
I don’t care who sees what but then I have an incredible lack of personal boundaries and really don’t care who knows what or sees what most of the time.
I picked Yes, I’ll let anyone look, I have nothing to hide or steal, because it’s not like I need to have a long term friendship with a person to feel comfortable with them handling my purse, but I would’nt let someone come up to me on the street and riffle through it, either. So somewhere between options 3 and 4. There’s nothing in there that’s particularly personal, but there may be some cash so I probably need to know you a little bit to let you pick through it.
I’m so far the only “No”, although I was torn between that and “No Opinion or Other” because I don’t have any personal rule about others not being allowed to look in my purse. If there were some good reason for a trustworthy person to be looking in my purse then I guess I’d be okay with it, but I can’t think of any time this situation has ever come up for me and don’t see it happening soon.
No one is allowed in my purse. I didn’t realize it was a “thing”, but judging by this poll so far, I guess I’m in the minority. I don’t have anything to hide. I just don’t like people going through my things.
Only family, and only with my explicit permission for that incidence of purse-rummaging. Otherwise, hands off! It’s my space! And it’s usually a huge mess. I took pictures the other day of the purse-cleaning process…I should post them somewhere.
Close friends or my Mom or sister I wouldn’t mind. My honey absolutely refuses. I just had a conversation about this with some friends the other day and all the guys said they would never ever under any circumstances go in a woman’s purse. It’s like a taboo.
I won’t go into a friend’s purse even if she tells me to. I wasn’t allowed in my Mom’s so it feels like a No-No, but also I don’t know where stuff is in there and I don’t want to rummage around.
Absolutely not. My purse is part of my personal space and poking through would feel like a profound violation. Plus, I have a feel for where everything is or could be, but someone else rifling through would almost certainly mess with its natural order, and then I’d be thrown off the next time I searched through it myself.
I’m a guy, but I carry around a backpack full of my stuff. (not a murse! backpack!) I’ve been burned by too many people taking advantage, so keep your hands out of my bag! If you want something I’ll dig it out for you.
If it’s someone I know and trust then yes, that’s ok. I don’t let just anyone poke around in there although there’s not much of any interest (purse, diary, book, brolly, MP3, phone, tissues, book tokens, throat lozenges, sweetners and keys).
I don’t care most of the time. In Korea people have no sense of personal space, so I’ve gotten used to acqaintances rifling through my bag and wallet when they’re bored.
This, pretty much. If it’s an absolute emergency, I could see letting my husband dig through my purse for my glucose tablets…but that’s about it. My purse and its contents are MINE.
I had to use a wooden spoon on my husband. His mother would let anyone dig into her purse, plus she kept the packs of cigarettes in her purse when she and her husband both smoked, so he was not familiar with the concept of keeping his hands OUT of purses. I used the wooden spoon in combination with digging into his wallet whenever I wanted some cash, and I don’t think that either method would have worked alone.
Only family and close friends for me, and only if they have a reason - I equate my purse as being extra pockets, and I sure wouldn’t want someone rifling though my pockets without my explicit permission!
My sister used to have a habit of rifling through my purse when she was bored, though I only had to do it to her once to get her to stop.
My answer doesn’t quite fit- I’ll let my husband, family, or close friends through, but NEVER without my permission. In fact, if they asked if they could get into my purse, I’d wonder about it, but if they needed something and I told them they could get it out of my purse, it’s fine. Yeah, I know it’s weird.