Are germs spread by someone licking their fingers to separate papers?

My co-worker constantly licks her fingers to separate pages. Everything she touches, I also have to touch. I find this practice disgusting. Can her germs be spread to me in this manner, since I have to handle the pages also? Am I wrong to worry about this?

Yeah, there was a story where such a habit was used to kill a guy by applying some poison at the corners of pages. That means you too lick your fingers while turning pages. So unless you too lick it the germs will stay on the paper.

Click here to the link

Tyler contributes to the blog Inherently Funny:

Licking Your Fingers Before Turning a Page

Does this work? I do not believe it does.
Funny Things to Do | March 6, 2006 | Tagged Casual, Arrogant
Comments

dude that totally works
múngkee núggəts | March 21, 2007

totally!
bigal | April 16, 2008

it does work! its the static involved!
Shortpurple5 | June 30, 2008

Yeah sure it works, but its a bit gross. Specially if someone is handing a piece of paper to you and does this to it first - hereby ensuring that you cannot touch the saliva covered corner because it suddenly seems like acid! yuk.
Sara | January 6, 2009

Click here to the entry

Stephen G. posted in his Vendor Management Office Blog:

Not too long ago, I was doing a face-to-face contract negotiation with a vendor and we were going through one of my contract templates provision-by-provision. I noticed that the vendor would sort of lick his finger before turning a page of the contract to the next. Some of you might say that the vendor was doing that because it made the page turning easier for him. I don't think that's quite right. I prefer to think that my contract templates are so well done that they're finger lickin' good! In fact, if you don't believe me, download my free contract templates--they're easy to adapt for your own use--and taste for yourself...

Click here to his post

Link: http://nancypearlwannabe.com/blog/?p=521

Posted on Nancy Pearl Wannabe

I’m pretty certain that if a zombie apocalypse ever occured, it would begin with some sick fool deciding he absolutely must go in to work that day even though he felt (quite literally) like death. So this sick dope would drive to his office because, god knows, those spreadsheets don’t type themselves, and the next thing you know he’s biting a co-worker’s face off. It’s all downhill from there, really. At the end of the day all the zombies at the office would head home for dinner, inevitably biting everyone else they encountered on the way, until I’m the only one left running for the nearest Wal-Mart so I can shoot those damn fool zombies.

How do I know this? Because my co-workers do it all the time. Maybe it’s not the Rage virus that they’re spreading, but do you think I want that flu, or cold, or fever, or stomach bug? No, I do not. Please keep your nasty sick self home, co-workers, and if you absolutely MUST come in to school, please stay the hell out of my office. Please and thank you.

Actually, scratch that. There is no reason that anyone MUST come in to school after throwing up all night. The children will be just fine if they learn what an adverb is tomorrow rather than today, and even better, I won’t spend the night puking my guts out after you breathed your germs down my neck. And you know what? If you’re a substitute teacher? I should have the right to punch you in the throat if you come in to school sick. You are supposed to fill in for the sick, not create more of them.

The stupid old man substitute- the one with the lisp and the penchant for asking me questions that cause me to wonder how he found his way to the school at all- is currently sitting at a table in my library, wheezing so badly I don’t know how he hasn’t passed out. He has one of those deep coughs that boom out of your chest and sound like they come straight from the depths of your diaphragm. And at the end of each cough he punctuates it with a whine, like he’s in terrible pain, and you know I might almost feel sorry for him if I wasn’t so pissed that he’s out there coughing his nastiness into my space. Stay home, dude. Or next time I might just pretend you have the Rage virus anyway, just so I can be rid of that coughing noise.
Comments

17 Responses to “Someone Call a Doctor”

1. RA on January 3rd, 2008 8:11 am

Gross. At my husband’s school, the teachers take sick days at the drop of a hat, thank goodness. Their administrators apparently promote some sort of preventative maintenance idea in exchange for being jerks, but at least it helps cut back on the contagion.

Is wearing a mask over your nose/mouth unprofessional? Or squirting people with Purell?

2. Jess on January 3rd, 2008 8:12 am

I can only think of two reasons why people come to work when they’re sick. One is that they don’t have any sick or vacation time to use, which is really the fault of the employer for not adequately accommodating the human needs of their employees, unless it’s an extreme case. The other is an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance. I think the latter is the issue more often.

3. npw on January 3rd, 2008 8:18 am

RA- That is the best idea ever. I am going out this afternoon to buy a squirt gun and I am filling it with Purell.

Jess: Yes, it’s definitely the latter. We get 20 sick days a year, they’re certainly not stingy with them.

4. mickey on January 3rd, 2008 8:34 am

Word. People around here come into work sick and then insist on licking their fingers before they touch the papers they are about to hand to me. This pisses me off when they’re healthy let alone carrying some nasty contagion in their saliva! F!

5. 3carnations on January 3rd, 2008 9:48 am

Well…I haven’t been sick enough to feel the need to use a sick day for myself in about 3 years, and that was from a very painful corneal ulcer. It hurt to keep that eye open. Have I had some colds? Yep. Do they prevent me from working? Nope. Really, with most viruses you are most contagious before you have that first sneeze. That’s the first reason I don’t call in - I feel well enough to work. I don’t need to be at home to cough and sneeze. I cover my mouth appropriately and wash my hands very frequently.

Second reason - Office politics. Who needs 85 dirty looks the next day when you called in and really could have worked anyway. If I felt THAT bad I would stay home, but if I don’t, I won’t. And I seldom do.

Third reason - While I have adequate supply of sick time, I prefer to reserve it for time my son needs to stay home. But even he doesn’t have to (or want to) stay home because he has a cough or sneeze. He generally feels well enough to play, and daycare dictates that vomiting or a fever are the only reason a child NEEDS to be home (other than Chicken Pox or something like that). Coughing and sneezing ailments are out there all the time. We won’t keep them away by staying home. Look at any daycare - Half the kids have a runny nose at any given time. If all those kids stayed home for a runny nose, no one would ever be able to go anywhere.

Sorry for the dissenting opinion here…I just cover my mouth/nose, wash my hands, and keep my germs to myself the best I can.

6. 3carnations on January 3rd, 2008 9:49 am

Oh, and the finger licking before turning pages - That grosses me out! It’s so unnecessary, too. If you’re having trouble separating the pages, just give it a few seconds…They will separate!

7. Noelle on January 3rd, 2008 9:55 am

We’re all kind of ticked at work right now because a co-worker has taken sick days every day this year. After he took some random vacation during the holidays, that is. But then again, I’m so happy to have him gone rather than wheezing his way through the day and asking me where his excel documents went to. And yes, the Purell, it sits here next to my phone and is getting quite a workout.

8. Erikka on January 3rd, 2008 10:05 am

do i hear the beginnings of a zombie movie/story/novella here?

9. Michelle on January 3rd, 2008 10:27 am

PRAISE THE LIZ-ORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NPW, you rocked my socks right off with this one! I’m nodding along while reading, as though I’m one of those damn bobble head dolls.

But bobble head dolls don’t GET sick. Bastards.

10. Michelle and the City on January 3rd, 2008 11:09 am

ok this post had me laughing from beginning to end. i was picturing a ’shaun of the dead’ moment at your school. ever seen that movie? freakin hilarious.

11. courtney on January 3rd, 2008 12:32 pm

Just start wearing a surgical mask all the time. People will get the picture. Maybe you can even get the kids to start wearing them too.

12. Kate on January 3rd, 2008 12:51 pm

A lot of medical offices have notices outside that if you are sick and want to come in, you have to wear a mask and wash your hands. Perhaps you can set up a hand sanitizing station and buy some masks to put outside the library?

13. Kiraa on January 3rd, 2008 1:04 pm

OMG! For serious, right? Nothing is so important that you can’t just GO HOME and die quietly. Kthx.

14. rye on January 3rd, 2008 1:45 pm

Eww. Sick people are gross. Hope you don’t catch it! I would start sucking on some vitamin C just in case.

15. Aaron on January 3rd, 2008 3:29 pm

I completely zoned out after “zombie apocalypse”. God, I fucking love zombie movies.

Speaking of which, I really need to do my “Birthday of the Dead” rewrite so I can include your character. Then kill her off spectacularly.

16. Stefanie on January 3rd, 2008 7:06 pm

That first paragraph beats all of the ridiculous theories my overactive imagination has churned up, hands down. I love the way your mind works, NPW.

17. npw on January 4th, 2008 7:02 am

mickey: Umm, eww. Maybe you should start licking all the paper first so that they won’t touch it at all.

3cs: At least you’re considerate of your fellow co-workers!

Noelle: Yeah, I would rather have people out sick all the time than get their airborne illness. Of course, people being out usually doesn’t affect my work at all, so…

erikka: mayhap!

Michelle: Seriously- in schools it’s the worst because the kids AND the adults are sneezing all over you. Gross.

MatC: I love me some Shaun of the Dead.

courtney: Hmm. Maybe after I have tenure I can start in with the sick-free school campaign?

Kate: I like it! I’ll have a little handwashing station. Or you know, the Purell squirt gun idea has its merits as well.

Kiraa: Ha! “Die quietly.”

rye: It’s pretty inevitable that I catch something, I suppose.

Aaron: Yeah, maybe once you write me in I’ll actually read it. Ha!

Stefanie: Hee… is it bad that I didn’t even see anything strange about that paragraph until other people pointed it out? I’m glad you enjoy my madness.

porcelina writes in allnurses.com

Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
by porcelina

is it me or is this just gross? My mother has always done this when going through papers, looking at papers, etc.

I noticed that a lot of teachers do this too when passing out papers to kids or like in nursing school, the instructor did this. Am I just too picky??

What does everyone think of this?

No. 1
from mysecret_alr
Jun 02, 2008, 10:12 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
I think it is disgusting....I'm thinking I don't want your germs or slober on my paper

No. 2
from MedSurgeNewbie
Jun 02, 2008, 10:13 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
its bad but I have to admit I have done it, now I try to keep a moist spongy around..

No. 3
from shelly304 Premium Member
Jun 02, 2008, 10:14 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
You're right. It's gross!

No. 4
from TheCommuter Staff
Jun 02, 2008, 10:15 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
Licking the tip of the finger when passing out papers does not bother me or "gross me out." Moisture is sometimes required to get a stack of papers to be separated, and it is hard to pass out papers with dry hands. The germs that might be mixed with the saliva don't live outside the body for very long, either.

This practice might be disgusting to some, but it personally doesn't affect me.

No. 5
from VivaLasViejas Staff
Jun 02, 2008, 10:19 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
In a word: EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW.

No. 6
from allthemadmen
Jun 02, 2008, 11:13 PM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
It sometimes bothers me, when someone is very, uh, deliberate about it (or particular people do it), but in general, no, it doesn't. I'm really not that squeamish, though my husband thinks I'm becoming a germaphobe.

A lot of us do stuff like this without realizing it, too.

It cracked me up to see my MICRO professor doing it, though! At least he wasn't doing it in lab!

No. 7
from Medic2RN Premium Member
Jun 03, 2008, 12:01 AM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
My only thought when I see this is "I hope he/she washed her hands before licking them!"
yuch.

No. 8
from zamboni Premium Member
Jun 03, 2008, 12:17 AM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
Originally Posted by TheCommuter View Post

The germs that might be mixed with the saliva don't live outside the body for very long, either.

Yeah...but the germs that can live on paper (charts) can get passed into someone's mouth.

Seriously, there's really nothing that grosses me out. But I can't help but stare when I watch a doc or nurse lick their fingers as the thumb through a chart. (I also had a teacher when I was in grade school that would literally slobber on the papers. Ugh.)

No. 9
from lilywater
Jun 03, 2008, 05:48 AM

Re: Licking One's Fingers When Passing Out Papers
This is actually something that I find to be unsanitary in some situations. Especially when done in the hospital with all the places and hands these charts have been in. In general it does kind of bother me because I don't think it is sanitary to lick one's finger and touch things. I don't do it myself.

Clik link to the post

Michael wrote in his blog Do you hate it too?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

29 - Licking the finger for some extra grip
Uh, hello, disgusting finger-licking page-turner? Do you really lack the traction required to turn a very light, very turnable-on-its-own page? Is it really that much harder to leaf through a book just because the material it's made up of is that carbon paper instead of the nice and clean, very white paper? Is it so difficult, to the point where you have to place your finger near your mouth and stick out your tongue, apply saliva to the tip of your finger, so that the sugary, sticky adhesive nature of said saliva can provide a pseudoglue that will allow you to more-than-sufficiently affix the paper to your finger so that you can turn it?

I doubt it.

I have noticed this bad habit for all my life, since the day I was sitting attentively, listening to my very first primary school teacher reading Mr.Men books to us. I always wondered why anybody would do such a thing, but when I found out that it was just for some extra grip, my first thoughts were: Are you serious? That's it? But that's ridiculous. It was ridiculous because this totally harebrained tendency has not only spread to countless numbers of the common folk who read books and newspapers, but even professionals do it.

Teachers, photographers, therapists, architects, writers, doctors, fashion designers, lawyers and business(wo)men all lick to flip through text. I mean, there are doctors out there who will lick their fingers as they're skimming though a patient's charts, when they should really be the most aware of personal hygiene and the microbiological implications of such an unsanitary mannerism. Bankers and accountants will lick their fingers when they count money. Supermarket cashier ladies will lick their fingers as they reach for plastic bags. Even baseball and softball pitchers will lick their fingers just to get some extra grip on the ball. Yuck. You knows what's in the dirt those balls have been in contact with?

That's why I like post offices. A very professional establishment that provides sponges soaked in water for you to dab your stamps in so that they adhere to your envelopes. Oh, and don't even get me started on how people slobber the seals on their envelopes with a thick layer of saliva. People should be laughing at videos of idiots licking their envelopes instead of laughing at... whatever else you find on Youtube.

I mean, licking your finger to grab onto a sheet and then giving me the sheet is the equivalent of spitting on the damn thing and then giving it to me.

You know the worst example of this atrocity? Bibles.

Yes, that's right. I said it. The Holy Bible. I attend weekly mass every now and then and even the occasional Christmas mass, and I'm sure you, or anybody, can examine how the Bible is the perfect prey that is subject to predatory finger-licking, because in church, they are picked up by vast numbers of people, and read almost everyday (every Sunday at the least) for God knows how long (is that considered to be a pun?). Old editions exhibit the fading of ink where there is print near the sides, as well as the sheer fragility of the paper itself caused by so much softening-by-saliva (and that includes old New Testaments as well as old Old Testaments).

All in all, it's unhygienic and it ruins the literature, rendering the pages weaker and smudging the words.

You know what you can do to tackle this problem the next time you see it? Start licking everything yourself when you're around the finger-lickers. They'll say, "Whoa, whoa, Michael, did you just lick your finger before you reached for the phone?" Then you can reply with, "Yes, I needed a better grip. Why, is there a problem?" Or, you can pretend there's someone else that licks their fingers. For example, if Sam is a finger-licker, you can say to him, "Gee, Sam, don't you hate it how George always licks his finger before he turns a page?" Soon enough, Sam will notice that he does it too and will stop licking his own finger.

Or, if, for example, Sarah is a finger-licker, and also a frequent visitor at your blog, you can write a blog entry about how disgusting it is. Then she won't lick her finger anymore... Or she might just stop reading your blog...

--------------------

Or you can get them these:

To find out more, check out Tippi Micro Gel Grips here.

Click here to Michael's post and comments

Laurie H. writes in her blog How to Survive...

...having a finger licking boss

1 – At the first sign that your boss is licking his/her finger while reading through a newspaper, magazine, PowerPoint deck, notebook or anything else that requires pages being turned, quit. No amount of money, respect, power or future fame is worth working with someone who isn’t capable of turning a piece of paper without licking their finger.

2 – Start licking your finger before you touch every single thing they own. Lick your finger and then pick up a picture of their family they proudly displayed on their desk. Lick your finger and pick up their phone to make a call. Lick your finger and pick up their keychain. Get the point? Maybe, just maybe, you’ll have grossed them out enough that they’ll stop themselves the next time they start to lick their finger.

3 – Make sure to always have a big box of pens in your desk drawer. Finger lickers always seem to have somehow forgotten their pen. Which means they have to borrow yours. Now maybe they haven’t licked their finger immediately before picking up said pen, but the odds are pretty good that they’ve licked their finger in the past 45 seconds. As soon as they leave your desk, throw that pen away and get out a new pen. A spit-free new pen.

4 – If you are unfortunate enough to work for a cheap company that doesn’t keep big boxes of pens in the storage room, hide your pen. That way, when your annoying finger-licking boss forgets his/hers and asks for yours, you can say you can’t find it. Say you think you left it in the conference room/van/art room/breakroom – anywhere that doesn’t happen to be where you are at that exact moment in time.

5 – Fake cough. A lot. If you act like you’re always sick, he/she will not want to touch anything that belongs to you. Perfect.

6 – Pretend that someone else you work with is a finger licker, then talk about them incessantly to your boss. Something like, “[Insert name of co-worker here] is always licking his/her fingers before he/she reads anything. It’s so freaking gross I have to fight the urge to vomit every time I’m in the same room as him/her. I mean seriously, how freaking gross is that? I hate him/her.” Hopefully, we can only hope here, your boss will get the point that finger lickers are disgustingly gross and he/she will stop spreading their saliva around the world instantly.

7 – This one’s a little more overt, but you can hang a sign on your door/cubicle/van door/studio that reads ‘NO FINGER LICKERS’. Then, if he/she licks his/her fingers, you can point to the sign, and then point to the exit. Then, immediately start looking for a new job because you probably just got yourself ‘LAID OFF’.

Click link to her blog

TatrD posted in her Turn Another Page blog

I really, REALLY can't stand people who lick their fingers. I mean both while eating and when shuffling through papers.

I was at a store today and purchased some frames (anyone near a Hobby Lobby they're 50% off right now). The girl was wrapping them up for me in paper and felt it necessary to lick her fingers as she shifted through every freakin' paper. Then, in order to open each of the bags, she felt she needed to lick her fingers again. It was all I could do to take the bag from her when she was done. People, PLEASE don't do this, I beg of all our readers. I especially hate it when someone licks their fingers to find a piece of paper and then hands me the paper. I feel it's pretty much the equivalent of spitting on the paper and then giving it to me. ICK!

Click here to go to her blog

mastermelanie writes in ramblings of a math nerd

have you ever thought how ickie it really is to lick your finger to turn the page and then do it again straight away without washing your hands first ?

we've done this for ages and things seem to be okay, but if you take a bit to think about it there is some ickiness involved, especially if you don't know where the pages have been before (like in student assignments, catalogs, or library books).

Click link to her blog

Check out Yelp New York's online conversation:

Mike S. says:

I keep a wet sponge next to me in a small little bowl. Then, when my finger can't grip the page, I run my index finger along the sponge for the perfect flip. It may seem a bit extreme, but i should also add that I have never read, so I've yet to put this into practice.