Is sniffing considered rude?

Post Reply New Topic

It's one of those sounds, like a person with ill-fitting dentures sucking their teeth, where I rationally know they're unaware of the sounds they're making. Even if I know the person is doing it as a matter of habit, or unaware that it may be disturbing to others, I still find it extremely uncomfortable to listen to. Usually in those cases, I will make some excuse to distance myself from that person and the sounds they're making.

I don't particularly see someone sniffling as being rude. There are a lot of things that annoy me that don't seem to have the same impact on the general population. With that in mind, the reaction I have to hearing someone sniffle is my problem, not theirs.

There are much worse sounds to me. I unconsciously do it and for years was totally unaware that anyone could possibly find it offensive....I was never told not to, and was only clued in on it when I worked in an office with a bunch of bitchy NT women who thought I was from another planet and everything I did was annoying to them.

If anyone ever sniffs me (my boyfriend does)...which is how I interpreted the initial question....It makes me very nervous about how I smell..

I get irritated to the point of distraction when people cough loudly or sneeze, but other people don't seem to bat an eyelid about it. Something in the atmosphere says, ''this is an appropriate noise, please do not act offended or irritated.'' What's the difference between a sniff (what I hear most people do), and a sneeze that spreads bacteria?

Or a hospital or health clinic where people go see a doctor.

Some people can't afford to miss a day of work and some bosses don't accept someone calling in sick if they have a little sniffle . You can't win.

If you're working around food and you are coughing and sneezing, then it's reasonable to stay home. It's not some lame excuse then. Heck I went to school with a bad cold once and when I had a sore throat and a runny nose. I was taught as a child, having a cold is not sick enough to stay home. I have even seen teachers with colds and other kids. Or is that only acceptable in school and not okay for work?

I don't normally sniff loud in restaurants or other places like that. But when I'm just in a shop or on the bus, et cetera, I do what everybody else does - which is sniff. No, I don't do it on purpose, but I hear everybody else sniffing, coughing, spluttering, sneezing, even burping, and nobody bats and eyelid at them, so why should they with me and why should it be wrong for me and nobody else?

If I called in sick every time I had so much as a cold, I'd undoubtedly lose my job for being out so much. I catch things way too often to realistically take off every time I'm sick.
Additionally, I have a lot of issues with sinisitis/ allergies/ post-nasal drip, that sort of thing. I'm often congested and/ or sneezing frequently. I also get a lot of severe coughs due to my issues with sinusitis and postnasal drip. This has been particularly bad year for me -- I've had an ongoing cough since January, and the symptoms are on again/ off again over the course of any given day. I may go for hours without coughing once, but I also might find myself coughing really badly or frequently for a couple of hours, especially in the late afternoon/ early evening. That's just how it goes for me.
If I'm congested and don't have a tissue handy, sometimes I need to sniffle. If I'm seized by a coughing or sneezing fit in a public place, there's really no supressing it. I'm sorry if I offend people, but there's really nothing I can do about it. That's just how it goes.

The reason why I never thought sniffing was considered rude is because I hear people sniffing everywhere I go.

Personally, I think yawning out loud out in public is rude. Once I was on the bus, and a young man in the back seat sat there slouched, and kept yawning really loud, and I thought that was quite rude because it was like sloppy behaviour. But nobody turned round and looked at him or anything.

Perhaps people are just against me all the time, and so react to whatever I do, whether it's common or not.

Or perhaps you *think* people are just against you all the time and therefore whatever they do you consider to be a sign of this.

Just a thought ...

I have been in the place where I believed everyone was against me, it wasn't fun. I still go there sometimes. But more often than not I now realise that not everything is directed at me, and that often even when it *is* directed at me I may be misinterpreting their message. And that sometimes, people just have a bad day and take it out on the nearest person, which might be me.

Janissey got it right on page 1.