Now, I usually try to use my assigned blog posts to talk about something important to me and things that should be important to more people than just me, like my other post today about the Voices of Chronic Pain survey (some really interesting results, check it out!). However, there is this one thing that has been driving me insane and I figured this might be a good forum for airing that one. Human noises: those noises that we make when chewing, eating, drinking, coughing, and all of that stuff. How has it become so hard to keep these noises to ourselves??
I was in a class last week and for the entire class, the guy who sits next to me was clearing his throat. Never an actual cough, just clearing his throat every 3 to 7 seconds for the entire length of the class (thankfully, it was only an hour long because if it was any longer, I think I would have serious issues not losing my frikin’ mind!). He’d clear his throat, then take a sip of the coke he had with him, then a few seconds would go by, and he’d do it all over again. By about 15 minutes into the hour-long class, he was out of soda, but didn’t stop clearing his throat. I couldn’t concentrate in the slightest on what the professor was talking about, which is problematic because he was talking about this huge major project we have due soon. I had to fill in my blanks by comparing my notes with some people I’ve made friends with in my class (this is one of those times I am glad I tend to be a really friendly person!). It was completely driving me insane! I just wanted to scream at him, “Can’t you just go outside and have a good coughing fit like a normal person?!?” I’m terrified about class tomorrow. I really hope that he doesn’t have bronchitis! If it were me, I would have gotten up and gone out into the hallway and cough until the need to stopped. If I had bronchitis, which I get with some frequency (2 times since January), I’d break out my emergency cough drops, make sure I had something to drink that would last me the entire class, and deal with it. I won’t even blow my nose in the classroom because I don’t want to irritate or distract someone else in my classroom.
The second person who got to me with the bodily noises was in my next class last Thursday (2 people, in 2 classes, back to back – yeah, my tolerance levels were toast by that class). Thankfully, our class had moved out of the tiny conference room in the communications department offices where two people had to stand each class because there was no room for them and no room to even put chairs if we could find them. So we finally got a classroom, but everyone hadn’t heard yet, so there were people trickling into the room we were moved to after we had already started class. So, the last person came in and sat next to me. No big deal. I don’t mind strange people sitting next to me. It’s always a possibility of making a new acquaintance. However, when she sat down, I heard it. She pulled out some Trident gum (I chew the same on the rare occasion I feel the need, but never in front of everyone for this exact reason!) and proceeded to pop two pieces into her mouth. I immediately went, “Oh good God NO! Not again!!” My instincts were correct. She put the image of Elsie the cow into my head, but not because of the way she looked, because of the way she chews. The entire hour and a half of my class (It’s a 2 hour 45 minute class, so thankfully we only had the room until 4pm), she was sitting next to me, smacking her lips and the gum the entire class. She didn’t stop at any point! Just kept smacking and chewing, smacking and chewing, and popping, and smacking and chewing. I was starting to twitch by the time we got out of there.
I refuse to eat in my classes, simply because I don’t want to disturb the people next to me. If I must eat something, I grab something small and something that doesn’t cause the loud chewing noises some things like crackers and cookies do. I’ll grab a hot pretzel from the student center and eat just enough where my medication isn’t going to make me feel like I’m going to be sick or is too overpowering for me to concentrate in class. Also, I won’t chew gum in class, or pretty much anywhere. If I feel the need to freshen my breath before going to class, or the dentist, or hypothetically on a date, I will chew a piece or two for a few minutes, and then take it out before I get to a place where I might annoy someone else. My father told me once when I was a kid that I chew like a cow when chewing gum and to knock it off. So I don’t chew gum around people anymore to avoid either grossing someone out or irritating them like other do me. If I have to cough badly and it’s not a small cough I can get away with in the classroom, I will get up and leave the room so that I don’t interrupt the class. If I have a runny nose, I will go out of the classroom and blow my nose so that I don’t spend the entire class sniffling and bother a neighboring student.
I don’t know why it seems like I am the only person who has that kind of consideration for others in my classes. Maybe because I am older than pretty much 99.9% of my classmates, or maybe because I just have a higher sensitivity level about it than others and won’t do something that I know would annoy the crud out of me in front of other people.
I just don’t think it is too much to ask that people be respectful to others. I don’t know why people can’t keep those noises to themselves. Please, for the sake of your neighbors, think about it! If you can hear yourself chewing, don’t chew gum or eat in class. Make the time beforehand or take the time after class. If you know you’re going to be coughing, bring some cough drops, or something to drink that will last the entire class. Have the courtesy of getting up and leaving the classroom if you’re having a coughing fit so that others in the class don’t have problems hearing the professor. I missed every 4th or 5th word from my professor last Thursday because the guy next to me was coughing. Please, have some consideration. Give your neighbors a break! Spread the word! Let’s start a campaign! No more human bodily noises in class! Let’s have a strike! Yes, I’m being funny. Seriously, just have some consideration. If it would drive you nuts if someone else does it near you, then it will probably annoy the crud out of someone else when you do it.
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