# Your "Gross-isms". **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771 "2015-07-10T14:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/81 "2015-07-13T19:05:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Or Scratching.Their.Butts. :eek: :eek: Ew, that reminds me of a story… I was helping out in a small village way off the grid in Haiti. There was no running water anywhere in the village. The shallow river that ran through the center was was used to wash bodies, motor scooters, animals, and laundry. It was also the sole source of drinking water for the locals, human and animal. We were told, in no uncertain terms, to avoid getting untreated river water on or in us in any way. The local kids hung around all the time and we loved playing with them when time allowed. They always wanted shake hands and give high fives. One day we spotted one of the youngsters beside a drum of stagnant river water that the workers has been using to mix concrete the week before. He would dip his hand in the rancid water, reach down the back of his shorts and scrub vigorously, then repeat. Worms, perhaps? We taught them that very day how to (lightly) fist bump. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/82 "2015-07-13T21:47:03Z")
> [@scootergirl](#): > > Years ago I worked in two different animal clinics for a total of 4 years as a receptionist/Veterinary Assistant. My colleagues were somewhat amazed that nothing seemed to gross me out. > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I hear ya. I worked in a pet store for 6 years. If you can picture it in your head, I’ve cleaned it up. > > People? No can do. I can’t handle other people’s bodily fluids. > > Cleaning a toilet that men use makes me gag. The urine splatters around the bowl. My husband is kind enough to sit down when at home. > > The smell of “small child” grosses me out. Someone once described it as a combination of sour milk and wet mittens. Me too. I worked for a couple of pet stores. One was a mom-and-pop operation and I was there for 3 years. We catered to a lot reptile owners. Feeding, watering and cleaning the cages (aquariums mostly) of the mice and rats was the worst part of my job. - grab empty aquarium - grab each little fucking rodent by the tail/lift out/place in spare cage - discard the soaked-sour smelling-poop-filled-pine shavings, wash aquarium glass and replenish with new shavings -grab each little damn rodent by the tail and place back in clean (for about 2 hours) aquarium. - wash out their grimy slimy water bottles and fill with fresh - feed them, so they can shit more I did this every other day. Gah! I hated it! Some cages were overcrowded with mice and rats. We had about 10-12 cages going at all times. Sometimes I would do my work with Max on my shoulders - a fun Yellow-headed Amazon. He would mimic my cursing and the squeaks of the rats. Another gross-isim for me: the feel of a rat’s tail curling around my wrist and hand. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/83 "2015-07-13T21:57:23Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I must live under a rock, because “Turner and Hooch” means nothing to me. However, I’m with you on the general subject. I’m not very fond of dogs, and hate and am revolted by having my face licked by a dog (yes, I know it’s a gesture of affection). I have relatives whom overall, I like very much; and greatly enjoy visiting, except that it involves being subjected to this ordeal inflicted by their two totally out-of-control terriers. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “[Turner & Hooch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098536/?ref_=nv_sr_1)” is a Tom Hanks movie from 1989. The pic shows the dog at his un-slobberiest. Bring a bucket. Maybe a sponge. > > And maybe a hanky for the downer ending. Thanks. That thing in your linked picture, is a dog? Looks more to me, like an alien reptilian Earth-invading creature from a horror tale. For sure, I’m absolutely not a dog person. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/84 "2015-07-13T22:01:14Z")
> [@scootergirl](#): > > Me too. I worked for a couple of pet stores. One was a mom-and-pop operation and I was there for 3 years. We catered to a lot reptile owners. Feeding, watering and cleaning the cages (aquariums mostly) of the mice and rats was the worst part of my job. > > - grab empty aquarium > - grab each little fucking rodent by the tail/lift out/place in spare cage > - discard the soaked-sour smelling-poop-filled-pine shavings, wash aquarium glass and replenish with new shavings > -grab each little damn rodent by the tail and place back in clean (for about 2 hours) aquarium. > - wash out their grimy slimy water bottles and fill with fresh > - feed them, so they can shit more > > I did this every other day. Gah! I hated it! Some cages were overcrowded with mice and rats. We had about 10-12 cages going at all times. > > Sometimes I would do my work with Max on my shoulders - a fun Yellow-headed Amazon. He would mimic my cursing and the squeaks of the rats. > > Another gross-isim for me: the feel of a rat’s tail curling around my wrist and hand. Did you feel any more affection toward the reptile owners’ reptiles, than toward said creatures’ future food? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/85 "2015-07-13T22:19:22Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Thanks. That thing in your linked picture, is a dog? Looks more to me, like an alien reptilian Earth-invading creature from a horror tale. For sure, I’m absolutely not a dog person. You’re not that far off the mark. You know, if you got half loaded before you sit down to watch “Turner & Hooch,” you will probably have a whole different–and more fun–experience viewing it as a horror film. I envy you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/86 "2015-07-13T22:23:35Z")
Using an airplane bathroom. They smell-not much air circulation. Plus, some people are unbelievably filthy-most people will never even pick up a dropped piece of paper. At least most users do flush them. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/87 "2015-07-13T23:19:40Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Did you feel any more affection toward the reptile owners’ reptiles, than toward said creatures’ future food? Well they do have to eat, no? If not mice and rats, it was bunnies, gerbils, crickets, etc. I was their only employee aside from their daughter who worked very part-time. I was just a kid in my early 20s. My day was busy from the second I arrived to work until we closed. I took care of the fish tanks, birds, did a lot of inventory, kept everything clean, did sales and educated customers – often talking them out of those impulse buys. I fretted about the poor store-pet wallaby that was stuck in a cage for years and years. What a miserable existence that poor thing had. RIP, Wally. So in answer to your question - though I find hamsters and some rodents cute, I had no more affection for them than the feeder fish sold to feed larger fish. And, I sure wished that less people owned reptiles back then. Had I not enjoyed working there for the most part - I would’ve not stayed 3 years. I miss Max. My favorite parrot to date. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/88 "2015-07-13T23:34:04Z")
It’s a horrid world, not so? Everything predates on something… ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/89 "2015-07-13T23:45:05Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > It’s a horrid world, not so? Everything predates on something… No. Not in my opinion. It is what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/90 "2015-07-14T04:21:27Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > While I’m sure it’s quite benign, I’ve just decided that putting food garbage into an area designed for food storage is on my list of gross-isms.:eek: I signed in tonight to tell you that I wound up having a conversation with a guy today that told me that he has been keeping his **dead cat** in his freezer **since January,** trying to save up the money to get it cremated!! Sad, and yet… OH, SO GROSS!!! Just wanted to share that little jewel with you … 😉 I also was coming back to tell you all that the wet pants money is grosser than sweaty boob money. With boobs, you know it’s sweat. With pants there are other options…and then I found this: > [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > I stopped at the store the other afternoon, and witnessed something even worse than bra money - the woman ahead of me in line _removed her boot, dumped her money on the counter, grabbed a couple of bucks, and handed them to the poor cashier._ I was aghast. Flummoxed. Appalled. My gabber was thoroughly flabbered. Honestly, I stood there for a moment, watching that woman walk out of the store, struck dumb by her complete lack of couth. (And, of course, to give the cashier a minute to use lots of hand sanitizer and to wipe the counter.) Cashier and I agreed that bra money was preferable! (Especially since, based on her license plate, the rubber boots the customer was wearing, and the time of day? Madame Boot Money had almost certainly just left work at a nearby chicken processing plant! So very many eeks!) > \ I’ve never found occasion to use word, period, word, period sentence structure 'til now. **Oh. My. Cod.** I have the shivers, and I’m making involuntary “hunh…” noises. That is just so indescribably nasty, _even though you did it very well_. 🙂 With my luck, it’ll wind up spittle soaked, and in my hand within a month. :eek: :eek: :eek: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/91 "2015-07-14T11:27:06Z")
> [@Why\_Child](#): > > I signed in tonight to tell you that I wound up having a conversation with a guy today that told me that he has been keeping his **dead cat** in his freezer **since January,** trying to save up the money to get it cremated!! > Sad, and yet… OH, SO GROSS!!! Just wanted to share that little jewel with you … 😉 My neighbour’s cat died one winter, and she wanted to bury the cat at her cottage in the summer. So she stored the dead cat in the freezer. Her brother’s cat died too, and she added that cat to the freezer. If I remember correctly, she didn’t even keep food in that freezer. So apparently she used a freezer just to store dead cats. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/92 "2015-07-14T11:40:36Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > If I remember correctly, she didn’t even keep food in that freezer. So apparently she used a freezer just to store dead cats. For Sale Gently used freezer Used only for cats ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/93 "2015-07-14T13:37:02Z")
> [@scootergirl](#): > > Sometimes I would do my work with Max on my shoulders - a fun Yellow-headed Amazon. He would mimic my cursing and the squeaks of the rats. > > Another gross-isim for me: the feel of a rat’s tail curling around my wrist and hand. We had a yellow-headed Amazon for a while too who I adored, her name was Carmen. She went all over the place in the store on my shoulder. I love rat’s tails, that’s the best part. My worst gross-out was when our idiot manager accepted 10 shepherd-cross puppies with diarrhea a week before Christmas, knowing full well that I was going in by myself on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to look after the animals. Picture liquid poop _covering_ every kennel and every puppy. I put them all into a room together while I cleaned the kennels, where they proceeded to poop _all over that room_. Repeat the next day. Funny how I’ve cleaned up every kind of pet store shit imaginable but I get grossed out by guinea pig poop and ferret poop. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/94 "2015-07-14T17:21:40Z")
The whole thing with “facials” in porn. I, ew. I just don’t get it at all. AND, I can’t decide if I’m more disgusted by the dude wanting to do it, the chick letting it happen, or the actual act itself. It’s just bizarre and gross. I am not turned on by spooge to the face! Not even a little bit! OF ALL THE PLACES TO PUT THAT, FACE IS LAST ON THE LIST…well, aside from like, dinner. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/95 "2015-07-15T17:35:37Z")
People eating fast food on the bus. It stinks up the bus, especially if it’s McDonald’s food. And most kinds of takeout fast food get people’s hands all greasy when eating them, and there’s nowhere for them to wash their hands in the bus, and then they touch the poles inside the bus with their greasy hands. And often leave discarded fast food wrappers in the bus. Ew. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/96 "2015-07-15T20:20:06Z")
I have to ask, what kind of job do you have that involves somebody handing you sweaty boob money? ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/97 "2015-07-15T21:15:34Z")
It also squicks me out to sit down in a chair or something that’s still warm from some stranger sitting there. Say, if I have a meeting and pick some random chair in the conference room, sit down, and it’s warm. Gah! I do not enjoy mystery ass heat! This goes doubly for public toilet seats. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771/98 "2015-07-16T02:02:50Z")
Somewhat of a retread of an old Straight Dope thread, but I’ll mention peeing in the public swimming pool, specifically adults peeing in the pool just as a matter of convenience, being lazy rather than considerate of others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-gross-isms/724771.md?page=4)