I have this problem and I need your help. A coworker of mine, who shall remain nameless, likes to chew her gum like a cow chews it’s cud. It’s loud, obnoxious, disgusting, and goes on for several hours – each and every day. There’s no doubt in my mind that our entire office can hear her incessant gum smacking, especially when the crescendo of bubble bursting begins. I’m losing my mind. I can’t get any work done unless my headphones are jammed deep into my ear canals, blasting music loud enough to drown-out the sounds of her mouth. I’m going deaf in order to earn a paycheque. (@#$%!, the blood curdling symphony of gum smaking fills my ears as I type this!) I desperately want need to say something (privately, of course), but I’m worried that:
- my relationship with this person will suffer as a result, and working with her will become strained and awkward,
- she will quickly return to smacking and popping her gum, because that’s the way she’s always chewed her gum, and bad habits rarely die young,
- I’m being overly sensitive (I’m easily agitated by anyone that makes mouth noises, be it eating food, or in this case: chewing gum), because nobody else in my office seems to have any problem with her noisy gum chewing habit.
So, I put this out to all of you:
- Would you be annoyed in a similar situation?
- Should I confront my co-worker?
- Would you agree that, annoying or not, the gum-smacking is highly inappropriate behavior in a professional environment?
- Am I some sort of overly sensitive control freak that needs to be more tolerant of others’ annoying habits?
I will await the good counsel of my readers before embarking on a plan to end my misery.
UPDATE (12/18/2004): What started as a spontaneous venting of rage, caused by my office-worker’s former disgusting habit of popping and smacking her gum (yes, she stopped… hallelujah!), seems to have resonated with many, many people, and has ultimately inspired the creation of a community-based Web site (softsoundsensitivity.org), devoted to those who suffer from the same, or similar sound sensitivities as I.
Kudos to Rob, one of our commentors, for putting together this great site.
Friday, October 26, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Gum haters, arise!! I feel just the same as all of you. I have a few sympathetic friends, but my family is more annoyed by my reaction to people chomping than anything else. I don’t really blame them, because I am obsessed. I can literally hear someone’s gum in the bleachers at a high school football game! I feel like I am a freak of nature, but then I guess all of you are too
I have been stressing for two days because I will be volunteering at my son’s school tonight and there is this other woman who is OBNOXIOUS with her gum that will be standing next to me all evening. I simply have to say something to her. If she gets offended, then we’ll be even, because her behavior is offensive. My poor sister is one of us, too, and she will be at the same event, so I will be doing her a favor if I succeed. Otherwise, I would probably just “arm” myself with a big old wad of gum myself, as if that would help. Ah, it feels good to vent.
Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 12:49 am
When I found this page – it was as though all the wierdness of my years of hating gum was suddently justified. I called my husband immediately and told him about the posts here – and was practically gleeful! See! I said. Its not just me! Like a lot of you here, I had thought my gum issues started in the car when I was 10. When we were in the car, my mother used to chew trident gum religiously with her mouth open and make wierd faces, and also popping sounds. I used to hunch down in the back seat and plug my ears and close my eyes . I can still smell the stale odor of spearmint or cinnamint. It was a strain on my relationship with my parents then – it has been decades of strain on me personally since. College was a joke. Trying to sit in a seat where someone wasn’t cracking gum in my ear all day was maddening. Movies are difficult for the same reason. Growing up, I attended church with my parents and could not stand to even see someone out of the corner of my eyes chewing gum. My son is not allowed to chew it, neither is my husband. We went to the Eiffel tower in paris last year and had to move places in lines several times because some gal was chomping away. I carry earplugs in my purse to avoid being trapped next to anyone in the shopping line, on an airplane, or anywhere. I recently took a weeklong training class for my work, and wore earplugs the entire time. I sat up front so I could hear the instructor, but I would have died due to the immense amount of gum cracking and popping all day. I wish I understood the physiology behind what happens to me. My body temperature rises sharply – I get crazily distracted and focused on the sound, I just want to stop it or get away from it at any cost. Its as though a rage bubbles out of every pore of my skin. I too somehow thought this issue was related to obsessive compulsive disorder. My mother has tourettes, and the facial tics/habits that accompany it. She is also mildly obsessive compulsive – which is typical for someone with Tourettes. My son also has Tourettes. So, I used to wonder – why don’t I have it? Could this be a mild form of it, or a variation? I don’t have tics or habits – but I do have the opposite. I can’t stand repetitive sounds which include gum, it drives me crazy when people put their fingers near their mouths or chew their fingernails, I cannot stand the sound of snoring, or loud breathing. People chewing with their mouths open from food is not as awful and doesn’t evoke the same ragelike feelings. It is however irritating and I feel it to be incredibly rude regardless of my issues. My biggest issue is that this ‘thing’ plays an enormous part of my life. I am self employed thank god, and work from home. My exposure to gum is very limited. My family is aware, and most of my good friends that it is a real problem and they do refrain from chewing. However, being social is not an easy thing – considering I am scouring the room at all times picking out ‘the gum’ and making sure I am no where in ear shot, or anywhere with a peripheral view. My poor husband is a good sport – but many times he is bewildered at my ability to pick out the sound, and need to move away from it. He admitted after I showed him this website and some other articles I’ve come accross, that he thought I was just being difficult or overly irritated- and immediately apologized. I didn’t realize that this was something you couldn’t control, he said. I am hoping since there seem to be many of us dealing with this issue, that more research will be done. It seems as though a solution would be easy enough. I do not accept that it is simply a mental issue, or a logical issue that just takes reasoning with myself to get over it. I hope that more people post not only their agreement that this gum/soft sound ‘thing’ exists – but post research or information that they’ve found that would be of interest to the rest of us. I have enough earplugs to last the rest of my life. But to find a solution, would be absolutely devine.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 5:24 pm
When I first found this site I browsed thru the postings and now whenever I am bored or irritated I sit and read for sheer enjoyment! I am overcome by mostly chewing/eating sounds – but find gum chewing just downright obnoxious. This summer I went to the American Idol auditions with my teenage daughter. The second day our line did not move for 4 hours. We were stuck by the designated smoking section (possibly even a bigger pet-peeve of mine!) which was torture enough but early on during the wait I noticed the girl behind me chewing gum. She had quite the wad and most of the time it was literally hanging out of her mouth. I love taking pictures and throughout the morning snapped away at the different contestants – those with the tatoos, multiple body piercings, just plain oddballs, etc. I kept wondering how in the heck I was going to get a picture of her! I would turn and act like I was interested in something else, from the corner of my eye would see the gum hanging out, and then try to turn the camera and snap. However by the 4th hour I was about at my wits end and was no longer finding any humor in it! It is amazing how you can hear gum chewing in a crowd of several thousand people!!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Wow, I found this page doing a Google search on this topic! I’m sure we’ve all have done since we ended up here…I’m so happy I did find!
Please forward me any website on this issue or any office locations in the New York City area.
I’m a 37yr old male dealing with this and want to confront and get over it.
Thanks – E in Astoria, NY
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Gum smacking is truly vile. It sounds disgusting, looks trashy, and every time a bubble is popped, a fine saliva mist is sprayed about.
I also employ the headphones/loud music technique to drown out the offensive sounds at work. It helps a little, but seriously… I don’t understand how educated professionals can accept, or overlook, something so flagrantly rude.
I recently got a new job. For the two weeks before I started, I worried non-stop that there would be a gum popper seated nearby. What I got was a lollipop-licker/gum popper/constant snacker in the adjacent cube. I was so relieved when her position got outsourced. Evil, right?
My boyfriend actually gets annoyed with me when I express disgust at these sounds. He says I should be able to tune it out. I would like nothing more than to put this matter behind me. The sound makes me squirm in my chair… it makes me physically ill, and it makes me want to commit bloody homicide.
Other things I can’t stand:
-candy suckers
-open mouth eaters
-people who hisssssssss when they pronounce the letter “s”
-over-enunciators
-ice crunchers
-(unrelated) people who put an apostrophe ‘s’ on words where they don’t belong. “I have to run by Wal-Mart’s after work.”. Idiot.
Also, the person who decided selling popcorn at movie theaters was a good idea should be shot in the head.
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Reading your post made me feel like you were in my head. I sit next to a candy smacker, an open mouth eater, and a hisser. I am a nice person. I consider myself to be very laid back and generous in nature. I have many amazing friends and a great life. Yet I want to kill myself at the sounds I hear every day. My workplace used to suffer from terrible team moral and it has improved leaps and bounds so I feel very awful at the thought of mentioning this. The gum snapping is hideous. And it’s like when one person starts…the others start in competition or something. Which got me to thinking, do you think there could be some underlying psychological reason for it? Like a need for attention? I noticed through my years there that the gum popper is also very senstive. People can’t walk by her cubicle without saying hi to her, even if it’s to go talk to someone else about a project – without acknowledging her or she will get vocally upset. As in, “Excuse me! Are you just going to walk by me? I am right here!” Whoever it is will finally say hello, ask her how she is doing and apologize. I, on the other hand, could care less if you walk by my desk to get to someone else. Have at it. See ya later.
I wonder if they need attention. It is truly disgusting and I wish that more gum snappers were aware of these posts so we didn’t have to suffer. Luckily, my friends and significant other also think it’s disgusting so I have support. I just hate my job! I know that I make mistakes that affect our clients and it’s because I CANNOTT focus on anything other than 8 hours of ..SNAP SNAP SNAP SLURP POP SQUISH SNAP POP SLURP SNAP. GROSS!
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I recently goggled myself and found this blog that I posted a few years back about an annoying gum snapping co-worker – see below. I cannot pass up letting you all know the outcome of my post. I ended up losing my job because of this post. I was so bothered by the gum snapping, chomping, spitting cow that I walked out of the office after posting and did not close the browser. OOOPS! I got a call that night from my boss asking me to come in early the next morning. It turned out that gum snapper was also nosey biatch and decided to jump on my PC when I left the office in disgust! She read the post and went into hysterics thinking I was going to actually “grab her by the lips and rib (nice typo! I was obviously a little whacked out when I wrote that) them off”. My boss was in a serious pickle, keep the gum snapper or fire the blogging psychopath (ME) that can’t handle a little chomping! The outcome was the gum snapper kept snapping away and was fired!
The good news is that incident propelled me into a successful new position! I now have an office with a door and make a butt load more cash!
The bad news is that I continue to struggle with gum snapping people!
Hope you all have a gum free day!
PS… I visited Singapore last year and it is a lovely place! NO GUM!
“Joel Aro
Apr 5th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
I am sitting at my desk as my desk losing my mind as my co-worker is snapping away at her gum. I have asked and asked and asked and asked as nice as I can to stop snapping gum. I have a physical reaction to gum snapping. My fucking hair stands on end and I want to crawl the walls. I think it is very similar to someone scratching a chalk board. I have no idea what to do about this affliction. Thanks god I am not allone. Do you think that I could light up a smoke and tell he I will quit if she quits smakcing like a cow. Should I grab her by the lips and rib them off…. SNAP SNAP SNAP.. there she goes again…. I am fucking losing it! FUCK THIS PLACE I AM OUT OF HERE…. another day lost to the noise of a sloppy gum chewing idiot.
I think I am going to move to Singapore where the outlaw that crap!
FUCK GUM! BAN THE SHIT! Gum is bad bad bad… 1) People make awfull noise with it and bother others 2) they spit it out and people step in it or sit in it 3) it is nasty…….
ARGHHHH…. she wont stop snapping!
I think I am going to go shoot myself… later”
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Like so many others, I did a google search on chwering gum etiquette, and stumbled on this site with 6 years of posts from people who think as I do! Wow!!
I haven’t read all 700 reponses, but those I have read seem to focus on the sounds of gum chewing. They aren’t my favourite sounds on the planet, and I, too am not crazy about mouth noises. However, the visuals are what really set me off. I do not ever want to *see* the gum ever again once it is in someone’s mouth. Not even a little bit. The worst, however, are the people who come chewing happily into a restaurant and then remove the gum and leave it in full view on or beside the plate. One person told me that she was saving it for later and could make a piece of gum last ALL DAY. She is 40 plus YEARS OLD!!! Twice this week I have had to ask people to at least move it out of my sight.
I have nightmares where I am chewing gum and can’t get rid of it all.
When I was a child I did chew gum a bit, but threw it out within 10 minutes when it lost its taste. How do people chew on something for hours that is completely tasteless?
So glad that I found that there are others who feel the way I do about this!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 2:58 pm
In response to Aimme, I too think the person who decided to sell popcorn in movies should be shot in the head.
I couldn’t believe it when I stumbled upon this site, I’m 24 years old and I can not stand the sound of chewing…of any kind not just gum, I though that I was going crazy, I’m glad to find that other people have the same problem as me.
I can’t remember a time that chewing didn’t bother me. I can’t go anywhere with out my headphones hand just in case there is a chewer in my presence. I can’t stand coming to school because there are people in my classes who constantly chew gum, blow bubbles and crack it throughout the entire lecture. Heaven forbid I’m trying to take a test…it’s like no matter how hard i try to ignore it, it just gets worse.
Like today in class we were reviewing for an exam and the girl next to me started biting her nails, and it made this god awful noise, I thought I was going to throw up. I think it’s weird that sounds like that make me physically ill.
I’m not the only one in my family who has this problem but I have it the worse…I was just at a family reunion and was talking to an aunt who randomly asked me if i had the “Johnson hearing” as well. Apparently most of my aunts and uncles and two of my cousins have a similar problem. Thats what made me find this website, I decided to look to see if there was a real condition for people who can’t stand to hear other people chew.
I really think that I am going to go to my doctors and see if there is anything they can do to help me because its getting to the point where I can’t take it anymore. I can’t keep skipping out of class early to get away from the chewers
Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I am so releaved after seeing all of the post that I am not just a crazy biatch! This has bothered me since I was a small child and I am almost 30 now and it still bugs me just as much today. Woo hoo, I am not crazy!
Monday, April 21, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I took a job @ Comcast in Dec. I was appaulled at the gum chewers,clickers, people eating with their mouth open, being on the phone all day and having co workers around me chewing eating gum, or slirpping gum drove me nuts !!!! I am so glad I am not the only one out there with this issue,.. I ended up quitting the job unable to deal with the unprofessional noise and aggravation….. today at Walmart 3 chewers snappers every turn … I had to leave the store,…., my Dr’s office, the nurse chewing with her mouth open and rolling her gum RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I wish these folkes would get a clue…….. I’ve hated the same eating slurping noises since I was a kid,…. I think it gets worse , or some of these chewers are so arrogant that they dont care they are annoying !!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 11:17 am
Hi, I first discovered this condition was real from from this site about a year ago.
My particular trigger is eating noises, especially gum chewing, chip or popcorn crunching, ice chewing and slurping. I also hate the sound of silverware scraping against a plate. Just writing it makes me mad!! All it takes is the crinkling of a bag or gum wrapper to get me worked up.
It started when I was about 7. My mother had the same condition, and would often yell at my stepfather who is a big ice and gum chewer. It never bothered me, and then one day, I had “the condition”. The strange thing is that my mother is one of the few people who actually just “got over it” one day. As my condition worsened, my stepfather often mocked me and would chew extra loud in my ear on purpose to taunt me.
I have read that a lot of sufferers experienced abuse in their lives. My stepfather verbally and physically abused both me and my mother. He is also the biggest perpetrator. As I mentioned, to this day, he will chew and slurp on ice purposely if I enter the room (I’m 29 and he’s 50) and give me a knowing grin. He also does not just eat. He scrapes the food back in forth on the plate a hundred times before taking a bite. He’s also the type that will just get a glass of ice, and swirl the ice, chew some, spit it out etc. for hours. I feel all the anger and rage of the normal misophobia, plus the feelings that are a result of the abuse I suffered. When I start to get upset, they all mock me and tell me I’m crazy (my family’s favorite past-time is to accuse me of being crazy).
I work in an office and it drives me crazy. Both my bosses are big bubble gum chewers, and they will stuff piece after piece in their mouths and chew aggressively while talking and blowing bubbles. They will even take their hands and play with the gum that is in their mouths. We’re talking about women in their 30′s!!
The worst is the guy who sits next to me, though. He has food issues of his own, and is constantly eating throughout the entire day (even though he had gastric bypass surgery). He will chew gum while eating too!! He slurps and sucks on lolly pops, slobbers and slurps up peaches, crunches on pork rinds, eats popcorn etc. It never stops! Then he slurps up Mountain Dew all the while. I feel like going insane! This is in addition to the others who sit around me and also make obnoxious noises. Who thinks it’s okay to eat an apple in a room where everyone is working??
My live-in boyfriend used to be a plate-scraper, but has stopped since we moved in together. The real problem with him though is that (just my luck) he is a soup slurper. Go figure that he just LOVES soup. I just don’t understand, if he knows it bothers me, WHY DOES HE STILL DO IT?!?!
Now I’m actually getting worked up, and I know a lot of you would be annoyed because I’m pounding on the keyboard as I type
.
Monday, December 15, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Noises that make me want to gouge out my own eyes:
1. Gum cracking, snapping, popping, smacking, chomping (And I thought this was just confined to the Steno Pool!)
2. Scraping teeth along the tines of a fork (That’s why God gave us lips!)
3. People who pick at their cuticles or audibly bite off their fingernails. Gag!
4. Chronic whistlers – whistle while inhaling, whistle while exhaling. They seriously need help!
5. Moaners. They don’t even realize they do it. My dog does this and I’ve heard my husband do it – sort of under his breath grunting/moaning thing. And he’s not even 50 or fat!
6. Whistling nose hair – they sell nose hair trimmers at every Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Piggly Wiggly, for cryin’ out loud – buy one and use it! Nobody wants to hear the breeze whistle through your bristly nose hair and boogers. Nasty!
Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I have spent a good part of the last couple of days reading each and every comment. Like so many of us, I was so happy and relieved to have found people like me! I would love to know what the posters are up to these days. Is anyone still out there?
I have always known that my intolerance of these sounds was irrational. I remember that it started as a young teen, and it used to be only towards my mother. To this day I hate eating with her. She is also a smoker of 35 years so you can only her smoker’s cough. It sends me to a fit of rage and I have to get away from her. This has caused a slow deterioration of our relationship for about 8 years and I would give anything to have a good relationship with her again. I love her so much and I know my behavior hurts her. She doesn’t understand what is going on in my mind, all she knows is that she disgusts me.
Now it has spiraled into a hatred of mouth noises. Oddly enough, it only seems to bother me if it’s coming from a female. It’s really rare for a guy to bug me. Anyone else share this factor?
I can deal with my fear of going out in public. I can always get away from these offenders. But I feel like I have thrown away my relationship with my mother and I would do anything to get it back. This “condition” has also had a negative effect on my relationships with my best friend and boyfriend. I used to get so mad at my friend because of the way she chewed gum. As for my guy, most nights I end up on the couch because I don’t like the way he breathes. I know it hurts him, and I hate hurting him. I wish I had control over my reactions but I feel completely helpless.
I am almost ashamed to admit this, but whenever I am around my family I try to get a good buzz because it is the only way I can sit comfortably through a dinner.
Conversely, there are a few sounds that i really LIKE. I can’t explain it. It’s really weird. I like the way it sounds when people put jackets on. I also like when people wear jewelry (like a charm bracelet) and it clinks against a desk or something. And I like the way it sounds when people flip through papers. Does anyone else experience anything like this???
Reading all of the replies has left me with a few questions:
1) Is anyone else irked by ticking clocks? It’s my newest trigger, and it’s sad because I do love clocks. I have a couple clocks hanging on my walls but I just take the batteries out because I hate the constant ticking
2) Just out of curiousity, where is everyone from? If you are from the US, which state?
3) Does anyone else feel less anxious over the sounds when they have a buzz?
This is my piece. Sorry for the length! I could go on and on but I’ll just say that I felt like I was reading my own thoughts as I read through the comments. Thank you to everyone who shared their feelings. It’s great to know that I’m not alone.
-Lo
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 7:25 pm
This is awesome…I just happened on this when looking up noise canceling headphones. I’ve had a problem with gum chewers since I was about 10, I’m 20 now and this site makes me feel soooo much better, like I’m not just a crazed lunatic! I agree with all the students that classrooms are the worst! In high school I couldn’t get away! I got into an amazing college and did horrible because once I got there I realized I could walk out of the classroom instead of loosing what little was left of my sanity when someone was chewing! College kids just don’t seem to be able to function without a wad of gum in their mouth! Anyway I’m so glad I found all the others like me!
P.S.- Does anyone else have problems with bass music coming from neighbors? That gives me the same crazy adreneline rush. along with gum it basically runs my life…any suggestions for someone in a college town that is full of parties (bass) ?
Monday, February 16, 2009 at 3:23 pm
To find out what most people think about gum-chewing and etiquette, I googled those terms and it brought me here. Reason I was curious was because I have heard it’s “inappropriate” or “unprofessional” during meetings.
Yes I chew gum. But I am totally against gum-smacking and improperly disposing of the stuff; that’s just ridiculously inconsiderate. Let’s please not throw an indiscriminate ban on all gum-chewing because some people don’t use the stuff properly. A few decent reasons I could come up with for chewing:
-can be a more socially acceptable and/or healthy way to relieve tension (as opposed to other forms of “fidgeting”. I would otherwise grind my teeth)
-healthier alternative to eating candy etc.
-sates appetite, for me at least
-alternative to smoking (nicotine gum). note that to nicotine gum is meant to be “parked” more than chewed
-yes I know you could bring a tootbrush to work, but this is a convenient way to clean and freshen teeth/breath
I can sympathize with most of you on most of these random disturbances i.e. sniffers. I personally think that starting passive-aggressive wars with people is ultimately a waste of your time, and chances are that more bad than good will result. Either confront them about it and get it out of the way, or tune it out. Also, headphones and ipods are now more acceptable these days, so may I suggest trying them.
Regarding the “professionalism” of chewing gum, from what I’ve seen that depends on your environment. I work as a developer in an office where most everyone is eating/drinking SOMETHING at their desk anyway. The one instance I did make sure to not chew gum, it turns out the super OFFERED me a stick of gum! So it seems to depend on the context.
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 9:44 am
ARGH@#)&$(# I cannot stand mouth noises, I used to have an office mate who did this, but I just kept my headphones in and turned up.
The gum popping annoys me so much that, for example, right now I am planning a move for grad school and am looking for roommates, well, I seriously considered asking people beforehand if they like to chew gum/pop it/etc(which would make me sound like a freak!). Right now I am living with my mom, who makes ALL of the eating noises…as a child it annoyed me so much that I made it a point to teach myself to eat as quietly as possible(with my mouth CLOSED). She will sit there, staring into space, eating chips or raw veggies with her mouth open. My old roommate(in the dorms…two people in one room) chewed her gum like a cow, and I always put my headphones in when she ate cereal because it sounded so disgusting(slurp, smack, chew).
I remember being in classes where people would chew gum/pop/smack and I always had a surge of happiness if a professor told them to cut it out. I would do the same thing and I most likely would not be nice about it, because you should know better, and you should know it is disrespectful and it makes people want to HURT you.
I have dreamed of moving to Singapore, and I firmly believe that these bad manners/DISGUSTING eating habits should be punishable by…I don’t want to say death, but something very, very unpleasant(if this sort of thing were punishable by death, maybe it wouldn’t seem so “fun” to people!!!!).
I guess the severity of this pet peeve overshadows all other potential offenses because there is pretty much no other human behavior that really bothers me. It’s actually a deal-breaker for me, dating-wise, if you pop your gum/making disgusting eating noises, it’s over, because unless you personally want to improve your eating habits, you most likely will not do it, and I cannot put up with it.
PHEW. Nice to get that off my chest to like-minded people. I wish I were surrounded by all of you in my daily life…
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I finally found a weapon to use on the gum chewing girls in my office….Lysol!!! When they start chewing, I start sparying. The sound of them gaging and choking is so satisfying that I even take my earphones out. I freak out on them sometimes and everyone just thinks I am nuts. They laugh at me when I scream “who is chewing spearmint gum”!! Yeah it sounds funny to complain about that but it won’t be funny when I punch her in the face. Anyway, I am having the last laugh with the Lysol. I spray it right over the cubical. If they start to complain just say that you are cleaning your desk. Oh – - don’t forget to hide your can. One day they all ganged up and stole it off my desk. Let me know if this works for anyone else.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Glad to see that this site is still here
For years it has been my only place to rant about this peeve, and to enjoy reading others’ rants. It is soooo nice to know I’m not alone – because in most social environments, I’m the only one who has issues with gum!
I finally left the cubicle farm and now I work from home, where no one chews gum! It’s so wonderful not to have to wear those noise-cancelling earphones. They did block the nasty chomping, popping, cracking and other disgusting sounds – but my ears used to get so sore from 8 hours a day of cranked-out rock and roll and heavy metal (the only music that successfully blocked those sounds!) Now I can listen to calmer music, new age or classical, world-music, ethnic, whatever I want and whenever I want – not dictated by the sound of others’ rude chomping habits.
For those of you stuck in cubicle farms, the only fix I ever found was Bose noise-cancelling headphones. They cost around $150 but are well worth the money in terms of reducing stress. If you are anything like me, and most of you sound like you are, then it’s all you can do to get through a day of the slurping, crunching, smacking, popping, schlomping, farting, and other and assundry horrorswithout throttling someone!
There were days I had to get out of the office and just walk around outside to vent – and even then, there were lots of people walking around smacking and snapping their gum, so it often felt like there was NO ESCAPE. It was like being in hell, or a jail cell, or some other nightmarish situation – and worst of all, no one understood why it upset me so much! They all thought I was the one with the problem because it didn’t bother them.
My own manager (a gum addict) thought I was unprofessional. Can you believe that? How the hell did she think she looked, all dressed up in her suit, and ruining the look by constantly blowing and popping pink bubbles like a school girl?? But that’s the way most offices seem to be these days.
I blame whoever invented nicotine gum. All the smokers simply transferred their addictions to GUM, which they now chew more than they ever smoked. At least when they were smoking, they had their designated smoking areas, and their designated smoking break. But gum is permitted everywhere, at any time, and they chomp it loudly and without any considerdation, during meetings, conferences, phone calls, whatever. It’s totally illogical that such behavior is tolerated – I’m sure I’d have been fired on the spot if I started whistling loudly or singing during a meeting or conference call, but that’s no more distracting than the gum.
Unfortunately, I don’t think gum is going away any time soon. There are too many profits to be made, too many addicts out there. Every day there are ads about “longer lasting” gum. Doesn’t that drive you crazy? Yes, let’s make the gum last even longer – they’re already chomping on it 24/7!
But anyway, today thankfully the only sounds I hear are the air conditioner and the cats occasionally meowing. Blessed peace and quiet!
I hope you all find that one way or another – believe me I feel your pain!
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Well, it’s been about two and a half years since I posted here last and things have gotten worse, it seems. The pen clicking is at an all-time high, in addition to everyone’s favorite: the gum popping. I can’t escape it and it’s driving me insane! I have a job I hate passionately and it’s all the more difficult to go in everyday because several people like to pop gum, click their pens non-stop, bang their feet on the ground (what the hell?), and just make noise in general. Has anyone found anything that has alleviated their problems? I’m not sure how much longer I can take this day in day out, there has to be some help for this.
Friday, June 26, 2009 at 11:31 am
Like many of the people above, I also have to deal with a very ambient, to put it nicely, co-worker. So far, my strategy will be to click my pen inanely every time she snaps her phone closed or blows bubbles… hopefully she will be annoyed, ask me to stop (as she is more confrontational than I) and we will strike a bargain, me being the harbinger of an uneasy peace… at least I can take out my aggression on the pen even if she doesn’t notice….
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Holy cow, was I glad when a friend of mine forwarded me this article on this site when I wrote her about the same issue. One of the attorneys who sits and works in my area cracks her gum incessantly, popping, blowing bubbles, cracking it in her mouth…This woman has sort of become a friend to me, but this habit, this “mouth noise” is, to me, in intensely personal-sounding and I, like the initial poster of this question, spend most of the day with headphones jammed in my ears, blaring anything I can to drown it out…thing is, short of hearing damage, my music has gum cracking as accompaniment…it is THAT loud. I so want to approach her, maybe saying kidding, “Hey, ___, how’s that gum? I can hear it with my music”…have no idea of how to broach this with her…it is driving me batty, though!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Had to add this, as I hear my boss on the phone right now. My problem with blaring music in my ears through headphones to drown out the gum-chewing coworker is that I cannot hear when my boss asks me something from his office…honestly, when the chewer is on the phone, I get a break, since she can’t smack and talk at the same time, thankfully…I have tried to ignore–no can do! Need help in broaching this topic with the gum girl!
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Thank God for this page! I come here once in a while just for reassurance that I’m not the only person pulling my hair out over incessant gum-chompers.
I sit in a pod of six cubes, with the partitions extending only about 18 inches up from the desktop. That means we all have a clear view of our neighbors. And that means that not only do I get to hear the twit popping bubbles next to me, but I also get to look over and see her poking her tongue out of her mouth, covered with gum, as she gets ready to do her blow-fish imitation for the entire office. The mornings are usually fine. It’s when she saunters back in from her hour-long lunch break (most of us don’t take breaks) that she stuffs a wad of gum in her face and starts chomping like a cow. In go the earbuds until she finishes. (My wife has suggested that perhaps Cow-Girl goes out for liquid lunches and starts chewing gum in the afternoons to cover up the alcohol on her breath. Wouldn’t surprise me.)
It’s not easy for me to listen to music when I’m working. I’m an editor, and I find the music distracting when I’m trying to focus. But the thing is, it’s *less* distracting than listening to Cow-Girl next to me, snapping her stupid bubbles.
Before I started jamming earbuds into my ear canals to drown her out, I’d make a point of smacking my mouse against my desk every time she cracked a bubble. If anyone asked, I’d just say my mouse wasn’t working. But Cow-Girl was oblivious. And I didn’t need the attention drawn to myself. Now I just make a point of quite dramatically yanking the buds out of my ears and tossing them down with disgust on my desk, as soon as she puts the gum in a wrapper and chucks it in the trash. She turns in my direction to throw her wad away, so I know she has to see me. She’s either too stupid to make the connection or doesn’t care.
I talked to my manager about this, but she’s as useless as Cow-Girl. My boss said that was outside her purview to do anything about. WTF? She’s the boss — of course she can do something about it. But then, my boss is like that. She can’t be bothered to act like a manager. The two people who have deigned to challenge her over her slackitude have been fired. And Cow-Girl is her pet employee, so I know nothing will ever be done about it. Plus, this is a very casual office, so most people probably view Cow-Girl’s chomping as nothing out of the ordinary. Me — I think it makes the perception of her IQ drop by a good 50 points.
As if all this weren’t annoying enough, I sit between my boss and Cow-Girl, and I can see both of them spending the majority of their days aimlessly surfing the Web while the rest of us bust our butts. Cow-Girl even throws in the irritating bonus of bouncing her leg ALL DAY LONG, so not only is she cracking her gum and stealing the company’s time, but she’s furiously bobbing up and down in her chair like a piston for eight hours. And then I get to hear (and see) her furiously clacking the keys on her keyboard as she composes epic-length personal e-mails and message-board posts all day. A more nerve-racking situation would be hard for me to fathom.
I get paid well for the kind of work I perform. The benefits are good, and jobs in my field aren’t exactly plentiful. So I keep my mouth shut, because I know that if I caused a scene, my passive-aggressive boss would turn it all around on me, especially if the target of my frustration turned out to be her pet. The good news is, my wife and I plan to move next spring, so I’m patiently counting down the months until I’m out of this toxic work environment.
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Wow, I’ve finally found you guys! This has been a MAJOR issue for as long as I can remember. My sensitivity to certain noises has entirely dictated my family relationships, my friends, my choice of schools, my career…..and every other aspect of my life. I can’t imagine who I’d be if this didn’t exist.
Since the age of 8, I’ve been seeking professional help, and NOTHING has worked. I’ve seen psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, audiologists, school counselors, hypotists, and others. Nothing has helped. I have custom-fitted earplugs. I have ear plugs that blast white noise into my ear drum. I take a heavy dose of anxiety medication (Effexor XR). I’m 29 years old and still NOTHING has helped.
I’ve had to get off the subway and walk several miles to get home, just because of gum-snappers and sniffers. I’ve quit jobs because of the people I sat near (and by “near,” I mean anywhere on that floor, since I seem to have better hearing than even dogs!). In college I dropped classes because there were too many noises, and not enough “safe seats” in the classroom (i.e., the ones in the back corner, where I’m close to the fewest amount of people). I haven’t been to the movies in a years (popcorn and ice chewing = instant panic attack). I’ve broken into coworkers’ desks and thrown away their gum and hard candies when they’re not looking. I’ve broken up with boyfriends because they were always sniffing or they chewed with their mouth open. I’ve lost close friends because they thought I was just being a bitch or too uptight. At times, my own parents won’t even speak to me because they don’t understand that it’s the noise I’m bothered by, not them as a person.
Being at work is nearly impossible. It takes me twice as long to go everything. If someone is chewing gum, I have to drop everything and leave the room (and hide in the bathroom or walk aimlessly in the stairwell) until it stops. I have to stay late or take work home just to do my job. (I often wonder how much more successful I’d be if I didn’t have this problem……I know my productivity would go way up, at the very least!).
When the noises are happening (or if I even think they’re about to happen), my heart races, my face gets red, my chest tightens, I get really hot, sometimes my eyes even feel funny. It’s like I’m about to explode. And this happens regardless of the mood I’m in when the noise begins. Someone could tell me I’ve won the lottery, but if that person is chewing gum, then forget it, I’m having a panic attack.
Other sounds that set me off are: nail picking, knuckle cracking, eating with mouth open, the sound of people walking on the floor above me or up/down the stairs, heavy breathing, sniffing, coughing, throat-clearing….I could go on, but these are the worst.
And I’m not averse to all sound in general. You coudl plop me down in the middle of a busy intersection and I’d be fine (because I wouldn’t be able to hear any one person snapping gum or sniffing up snot!). In fact, “quiet” environments (libraries, offices, etc) scare me the most because every little sound is amplified.
Medication doesn’t work (although maybe it’d be even worse without it?). I’d have to be completely drugged up to NOT be bothered by noises…..and at that point, I wouldn’t be able to function. I’ve noticed that drinking alcohol helps, but again, you can’t function if you’re drunk!
I wish there were a way to turn your hearing on and off, I guess something like a hearing aid. So when I needed total quiet or I need to get “away” from a noise, I could turn the aid off and be completely deaf (and yes, the sight of someone chewing sets me off, too — but that’s much easier to aviod that the sound). And when I needed to hear something, I could turn it back on. But just knowing I could turn off my hearing when things got too bad would be a lifesaver. Literally.
Does anyone know of a product like this? I would pay thousands of dollars if it worked. I would do anything to get relief from this. Not a day goes by where I’m not stressed beyond belief over noises. I KNOW this condition is taking years and years off my life.
Thanks for listening
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 12:08 am
Having endured the udder (no pun intended)rudeness of gum chewers for years, I have no hesitation in pointing out people rudeness. At one point, when I mentioned it to one person on the office, a bunch of them started cracking gum to harass me. I am seriously phobic anfd feeled trapped. That was their mistake, after about three days of it, they had created an uproad and gum chewing was no longer permitted. Customers complained and the mass bovine polymer oral enhancement package was banned from the office. For some reason people think they look cool, but they really look ridiculous. I think that a video of gum chewers put to music would go a long ways on youtube.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 7:45 am
Thank God im not the only one. I have developed a severe phobia of gum popping and smacking and I feel like Im about to kill some of these rude morons. Im out of work under a doctors care right now, because people I work with found out my condition and deliberatly started popping their gum in my prescence just to torment me. For the sake of my sanity, I will never return there! I envy you people for hanging in there, because this has almost drove me to pure pshycosis. I have violent thoughts, severe depression, I have gained 31 pounds, and sometimes wish i was dead, just to feel peace. I feel that I am no use to this world if I cant function in society normally like most people. What can we do about this? If smoking is prohibited in most work places because of public health, then gum chewing should be also, because its starting to show that it effects peoples mental health severly. We need to bring this to the attention of society somehow!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm
OMG yes! this is the most awesome forum I’ve ever visited!!! Finally, people like me! I have this smacking problem with a coworker of mine. I’ve had my own office for a while and I was asked to share it with a new employee they just hired, told me it was only temporary while they find a place to put him in since right now there is a lack or space going on in my company. Anyway, of course this new employee is a total SMACKER! After a couple of days of me going crazy listening to him CHOMPING away like a pack of starving goats, I finally politely asked him to stock smacking his gum. I told him it was very distracting and I couldn’t do my work. He was very nice about it and told me that he was sorry and that he didn’t realize he was doing that. He said he will definitely do something about it.
Phew!, I thought. But that only lasted a day. He did indeed stop smacking his gum as loud as he was but apparently he things he’s now smacking on mute although I can still hear him. So not only is he a smacker, but he appears to be retarded! How is it that people don’t “realize” how gross/distracting/annoying this is??? That is BEYOND me. Anyway, since then it has only gotten more and more annoying that now I’m at the point that I feel like crying sometimes and I even have crazy homicidal thoughts! He talks to himself too ALL THE TIME and I just wanna smack him with a big shovel. Like just this moment I just heard him say “Oh fuck! I almost shit in my pants!”. Seriously??? Some people just have no manners whatsoever. We are all adults for Gods sakes. Anyway, he chews gum AAAAALLLL day long. He comes in chewing his gum and he leaves the office chewing his nasty ass gum. I placed a very obvious tree between my desk and his desk that covers his ugly face so I don’t have to see his huge lips flapping all over the place anymore. You would think people would take a hint from this… yeah no, not this one! He even will grab his notebook and will sit all the way at the end of his desk, and I mean with his legs wide open where the desk drawers are (who does that?), and where my tree won’t save me from this horrific disturbance and just sit there and smack away. That’s when I feel like getting up and grabbing a sledge hammer and just smashing it into his face, see if that makes the smacking stop!
Anyway, I spoke with my manager and he is moving me to a better office and putting this poor-excuse-of-a-person into a different office. I’m very grateful for that and glad that I spoke up. The only problem right now is that I have to wait a couple more weeks before I get moved, so for now I have to endure this and try not to turn into a homicidal maniac.
I feel for everybody who’s stuck in such a horrible situation. If anybody needs to talk to someone but feels none of their friends will listen or understand (which is exactly how I felt, they thought I was being “too sensitive”), don’t hesitate to send me an email, I’ll be glad to listen!
God bless!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 2:02 pm
BTW my email address is j7ari@hotmail.com
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 3:29 pm
From gum smacking to burping all day long.
Well I’m back. Its been a long time since I had to deal with that annoying lady at my past job who smacked/popped her spearmint gum all day. Now at my new job I have to deal with a belcher. I thought the gum popping was bad, but I really think the constant belching is worse. Its not just your normal burp, most are loud, obnoxious, drawn out, and downright disgusting.
At least with the gum popping, my headphones/w music can easily drown out the sound, but the belches can still be heard through them and it instantly throws off my concentration. I even resorted to blowing/sighing loudly every time I hear the burps, but he wears headphones too, so he obviously doesn’t hear me.
Other than the belching, he is a very cool, nice guy and I fear that approaching him on the issue would cause more harm than good but the belching bothers me so much that I can barely get any work down and I make many mistakes having to “restart” every time I hear the belch.
My only other option other than complaining formally, is to find some GOOD noise canceling headphones, but they are a lot of money (most I’ve seen are over $200) and before i spend that kind of money I need to be sure they work.
Friday, December 25, 2009 at 7:04 am
Oh my God! I’ve never seen such last longing comments about anything!
I’m having the same problem so I was searching with the words “noise of chewing gum” and I found this.
Thank you Phil for this. She is not stopping chewing gum and making terrible noises but I got calmer when I found this society. Victims of gum noise
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I am so sorry that this will be extremely long… I felt like a FREAK until I was given this support group. LOL Now I will tell my story once and then come in hear to have my couch time…
I have had this pet peeve since I was a teenager and still dealing with it in my 40’s. My family is well aware of my acute symptoms when listening to slurping, chomping, smacking, popping, and a mouth that’s chewing its cud. It’s not limited to gum… When I was a teenager I didn’t ask politely because I was annoyed and had no fear of holding back… But now as I have grown older… Why can’t I just do what I did back then??? Why is it okay for others to be so rude and I feel that I have to ask with my tail between my legs or in fear of retaliation (them chewing even louder)? uughhh
Sweet Lord!!!! Until today, when I received this blog from a co-worker; I felt like I was over reacting and I thought I was utterly alone. I transferred to a department stationed within another department, where the workers have been established for 8 yrs or so. It’s a warehouse type office; cubicles are our office walls and we have high ceilings. I work in the midst of older women and to be honest, we all know that women can be caddy.
This started in November when an older woman than I, who sits right next to me started cracking her gum first thing that morning. This was just the first day of many long days that now has turned into months… I am not exaggerating when I say; it seemed to crack every time her teeth came together. During the hours that this was going on, amongst trying to concentrate on my work I would: grab my temples, stand with my hands on my hips, pace my small cube, bend from the hips in hopes that the blood would rush to my ears to drown the sound, pace more, walk to the door of her cube just to turn back around and not say anything. Yes, homicidal thoughts started too…
I am known to my old co-workers of 3 years as the peace maker. If they had a problem they would come to me for advice. I am not a problem stirrer and decided to address this issue with a confidant. I wanted to handle this right so that I wouldn’t piss the woman off. I was told that it would be wise just to try to cope because there would be ramifications, even if I went to the supervisor. WHAT??? So, I just gritted my teeth and bared it… I even went and got an IPOD just so that I could drown the sound – I still heard the faintest cracking. I can’t tolerate it any longer. Seriously it’s affecting my health. I dread coming to work for the first time ever in 3 years. I carry the stress in my shoulders and have had a slight headache everyday for weeks. I of course couldn’t go to this woman because I was afraid of what she would do. I went to upper management. As my eyes filled with tears I explained my plight and asked for his help. He knew the name before I even spoke it. He had many complaints and said that I was right not to confront her. How sad is that?? Everyone tolerates this…Why? I am a single parent of 2 teenagers… why do I need to be subjected to undue stress when I live with it daily LOL
SOOOO… After 2 weeks or so of not getting a response, I finally had to confront her. I was ready to go postal. With my tail between my legs, with the softest and kindest voice that I could muster (I couldn’t hide my red angry face) I politely asked her if she would stop. As she looked at me, as though I were shit on her shoe, she said “I’ll try”. I said “I really appreciate it” again with the look she said “I said I’ll try”. That was the quietest day that I had in months.
Between her being away from her desk and me alternating my work between other locations; the cracking began again first thing this morning. I thought that I would just give her a friendly reminder and without my tail between my legs I said “Please remember the cracking of the gum” her response was “I JUST PUT IT IN!!!” I said that I understand but it drives me absolutely crazy (I guess I shouldn’t have admitted that right?) The whispers have now started; little quips are now being said… SERIOUSLY??? You would think that these people are in HIGH SCHOOL.
If any of you bloggers from “Is there a gum-chewing etiquette” have hiring and firing rights… fire them and hire me LOL I am a hard and silent worker
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I am so glad to have found this site. I work beside a gum chewer. She has a 2 pack-a-day habit. Honestly! I can hear the plastic and foil breaking for yet, another 4 pieces that she proudly pops in her mouth at a time. It drives me crazy! She blows bubbles as well. I almost had a meltdown one day and finally said “Hey, enough with the bubbles”. She too, said, “oh sorry”. But she has never stopped chewing.
She also eats lunch at her desk and all her daily snacks. The little mini carrots that she brings for her two snacks a day also make me crazy. She does not close her mouth. Instead I hear every break of those little sticks. All the while, she puts her gum in the side of her cheek like a squirrel to keep until she is finished snacking so that she can resume her gum chewing.
I never chew gum and I believe that it should be banned! There is nothing worse than going to the teller at the bank and having to watch them as they chomp like a hippo. When I was younger and worked as a chashier at Kmart, we were not allowed to chew gum. If we were caught chewing, we were politely asked to spit it out.
I agree with a lot of the others here in that I am so bothered by chewing of any kind that I thought I was the only one with this problem – at least until I found this post. Thanks for letting me vent. I would like to say more but I have to get back to work and stick my headphones into my ears so I can finish.
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 4:07 am
I also am bothered with Gum snappers … I agree with you all but is there a coping skill to help us all thru this??
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 7:40 pm
I, too, work with a gum cracker. We’re on the very opposite ends of a rather long floor — perhaps 200 feet away from each other, (with no one in between as a buffer) — and I hear her gum all day long, even with earplugs inserted deeply in my ears. My own complaints and frustrations echo those of the 700+ contributors, so I won’t bother to go into detail.
She is a lovely person, and I’d rather not create resentment over an issue I know will not go away — bad habits are indeed hard to break — so I have just dealt with it. After a lot of trial & error, I’ve found some earplugs I can live with (MAX Foam, the orange ones). However, as many of you have noted, we’re the ones to suffer from offensive and disruptive behavior, and it is discourteous of our colleagues, friends, and family members to force us into this position by their own poor manners.
Reading through the many, many posts here, I was also intrigued to discover that the vast majority are incredibly well written — not only vividly expressing our shared frustrations, but with rather accurate grammar and spelling. I’m an editor and copywriter, and wonder how may of you are also in the creative arts. Is this sound sensitivity prevalent among those of us who “live inside our own heads”?
Incidentally, due to a tendency to unconsciously grind my teeth, I do frequently chew gum — as recommended by my dentist. But, as with just about everything else, there are discreet and inoffensive ways to chew gum.
Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 12:47 am
Hello Everyone,
I just about fell out of my chair last year when I found this website! I also thought I was the ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD! I have been this way ALL MY LIFE, 46 years. I HATE HATE HATE the noise from Gum Gum Gum, Snap Crackle Pop. I could go ON AND ON.
By the way, I LOVE that one woman’s gum humor entry on- Aahhh! What happened to all the entries between 2002 to 2007? There were over 700 entries in all. I printed out every one of them last year and don’t see them anywhere. I do remember this webpage used to take a REALLY long time to download. Maybe that’s why the entries were removed?
Back to gum, the noises annoy me IMMENSELY. I experience IMMEDIATE and EXTREME ANXIETY A.K.A. PANIC, FRUSTRATION, DESPERATION, ANGER, SHARP RISE IN BODY TEMPERATURE AND SWEAT, and if I could not leave in a couple/few minutes, I used to cry. Because I get so PHYSICALLY SICK, and because I care more about me as I get older, I have more recently been covering my ears with fingers and walking away. If I can’t, it takes up to ½ hour or an hour for me to feel calm again after removing myself from the situation. If I must stay, now I like to walk away to put on hearing protection and then return, or if I don’t want to lose my place in line, I put my fingers on my ears. Hey, we all do what we have to do to get by.
THE GREAT NEWS!!!
Last year I found a GREAT PRODUCT that BUFFERS GUM (and much more). It’s an AM/FM HEARING PROTECTION HEADSET. You control how much you hear by wearing the headset OFF, or ON and by adjusting the volume. I bought them for $50 last year at Home Depot. They are worth their weight in gold to me.
http://cache.vendaria.com/vpop/VpopV6.html?ct=24&ctname=CT630X510D630X390&fw=630&fh=510&logo=479&fv=9&ap=homedepot_aearo_90534_00000&purl=MAIN_homedepot_aearo_90534_00000&iid=AddpfzJuvllqqqKlmLuJfwmvluKKJI&bg=D6D7A5&nm=BZOpener&curl=&err=0&title=Demo&tp=
AO Safety Worktunes Hearing Protector
Model 90534-80000
The headphones are yellow and black.
I just noticed that they are now made with a digital display, so here’s the link for that too:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhc/R-202080169/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Personal Safety Digital Worktunes Hearing Protector & AM/FM Stereo Radio
Model # 90541-80025
If all else fails, you can go to http://www.homedepot.com and do a search.
Donna
Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 1:06 am
Me again…
I just found out how to access all the entries between 2002 to 2007, including the hilarious gum humor entry. It is a MUST READ!
How to get there:
> At the bottom of this web page, find “Leave a Reply.”
> On the line above that, click the link to “Older Comments.”
> On the next screen, click “Older Comments” again. Do this for several screens until you get to Deb’s entry dated:
Wednesday, April 7, 2004 at 12:25 am
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 7:09 pm
It infuriates me that we should be the ones to have to buy headphones and go to support sights because people don’t have manners. I do get it, I have had the desperate feelings before of wanting to buy or do anything just to not hear gum. But isn’t it unfair? Shouldn’t they be publicly embarrassed enough that they stop?
When I was a kid, we were not allowed to chew gum in school or church. I remember when I had teeth pulled at 11 years old – I was given asprin gum and asprin lozenges. My mom had to write a letter to the school telling them that I was in pain and needed to chew them. I was asked to not pop it and chew with my mouth closed. THIS IS NORMAL! Is it not? I don’t remember me or my family taking any offense to this. A human being does not NEED to snap gum, pick their nose, poop in front of you, chew with their mouth open.
Maybe we should train the gum smackers that instead of sticking a piece of cud in their mouth, they should be confident enough to simply say..”I need to be the center of your world for 8 hours, please pay attention to me”. If it makes them uncomfortable admitting or asking for that…well….honey……yeah. It should.
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I laughed hysterically at this old post.
I finally found a weapon to use on the gum chewing girls in my office….Lysol!!! When they start chewing, I start sparying. The sound of them gaging and choking is so satisfying that I even take my earphones out. I freak out on them sometimes and everyone just thinks I am nuts. They laugh at me when I scream “who is chewing spearmint gum”!! Yeah it sounds funny to complain about that but it won’t be funny when I punch her in the face. Anyway, I am having the last laugh with the Lysol. I spray it right over the cubical. If they start to complain just say that you are cleaning your desk. Oh – – don’t forget to hide your can. One day they all ganged up and stole it off my desk. Let me know if this works for anyone else.
I want to use RAID.