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[starfleet_grad]

How do others handle it when other faculty members or secretaries or students or even family members lick their fingers or thumbs before passing out sheets of paper? Quite often, I receive a document with a noticeable wet spot, and it just about makes me lose my lunch. (Yes, I know this sounds extreme, but that's how I feel.) Do you tell people to quit doing that, do you act as if nothing is wrong and later have your hands sandblasted, or do you touch the paper gingerly in a dry area, make a photocopy later if you must keep the document, and then wash your hands in Lysol for 15 minutes? With students, I just tell them to print me a clean copy, but what about coworkers?

[espagnole]

This was an issue with a staff member at my previous school, but I just let it slide. If you are really concerned, keep a bottle of Purell in your office (as I do) and use it often. There are many things that bother me besides finger-licking, such as students (and colleagues) who don't shower regularly, students who come to my class sick etc. But I've learned to live with them.
 If you are brave, you could ask your colleagues or staff member to refrain from licking their fingers in your presence. Or you could buy them once of those wet sponses to moisten their fingers. But beware...staff member wield a lot of power in many departments and tenured colleagues may get offended or tell you to "get over it."

[basilratbane]

You both sound extremely neurotic. I suggest therapy.

[voxprincipalis]

If it's a health hazard, it's everyone's problem. If it just freaks you out, it's your problem. As a musician, I frequently play gigs with brass players who empty their spit valves on the floor as a matter of course, so getting a piece of paper such as you describe wouldn't really faze me.

Have you ever known anyone to get sick from a piece of paper with saliva on it? I haven't heard of any cases myself. And, do germs survive in saliva once it dries?

What probably ought to be of more concern is that many people don't wash their hands after using the restroom. The bottle of Purell is a good solution for these dilemmas (and incalculable others like them!).

VP

[spork]

If you're bothered by a licked finger touching paper but not bothered by touching your face after handling a doorknob, you've got a problem.

[francie_]

Starfleet_Grad, please report to Sick Bay for a shot of Saurian Brandy, Dr. McCoy's all-purpose cure for hysterical overreactions (and over-acting).

Let it go, and stop watching episodes of "Monk."  Germs are everywhere, especially viruses, which can live on surfaces for quite a while (bacteria not so much because they require moisture).  Your best defense is to wash your hands often, especially during cold and flu season.

I'm guessing that if you have an aversion to this tiny amount of spit, you do not have children.  Otherwise, your gross-out threshold would be MUCH higher.

[starfleet_grad]

realfrancie,

will Romulan Ale due the trick? I loved your reference!

[prof_viola]

To RealFrancie & Starfleetgrad, how about Scotty's bottle of 'very, very, very auld Scotch" (when he knocked out the alien engineer in "By Any Other Name")?  Not to highjack the thread . . . . maybe we need a Star Trek thread in here.

BTW, one of the funniest student eval comments I ever had came early in my career--a student wrote, 'you're a great prof, but please quit licking chalk off your fingers--it grosses us all out!'  I had had NO IDEA that I was doing that.  I stopped!

[conjugate]

To RealFrancie & Starfleetgrad, how about Scotty's bottle of 'very, very, very auld Scotch" (when he knocked out the alien engineer in "By Any Other Name")?  Not to highjack the thread . . . . maybe we need a Star Trek thread in here.

BTW, one of the funniest student eval comments I ever had came early in my career--a student wrote, 'you're a great prof, but please quit licking chalk off your fingers--it grosses us all out!'  I had had NO IDEA that I was doing that.  I stopped!

When the alien asked him, "what is it," he replied, "it's... uh, it's... it's GREEN."  Sorry, but it was Prof_viola who hijacked this threat, not me!

Obligatory On-Topic Comment:  I am not grossed out by it, but that may not mean much.  I apparently am not grossed out by many things that horrify, disgust and appall my colleagues.  Our secretary has a little thing of goop for the hand that stickies up her finger in a sanitary way for that purpose.

[francie_]

realfrancie,

will Romulan Ale due the trick? I loved your reference!

I hear the Romulans brew a pretty good lager too, but no, it wouldn't be nearly strong enough to conquer your fear of spittle.  A glass of tran-ya perhaps?
 
Obligatory, Sort-of On-Topic Remarks: I might be mistaken, but it seems like the cold and flu season begins the minute the undergrads hit campus to start the fall semester.

And to Viola: licking chalky fingers!?! eeeeewwww!!!  I now a-feared that this thread will veer off into a truly yucky direction of "things we've seen licked in class, but wish we hadn't"!

[prof_viola]

conjugate!!! real_francie!! starfleetgrad---fellow Trekkies!  Did anyone see the Shatner roast last night (now that the highjacking seems to be firmly in progress)??

yup, it would be gross to contemplate things we've seen licked in class.  Sorry for the gross-out moment!!!!  BTW, Realfrancie, got your PM just before our campus server went down into cyberdarkness.  I'll reply once it's been revived. . . .

[science_expat]

I've always wondered about the range of beverages served in 10 Forward; it seems much less explicit than Saurian Brandy.

On topic - I'd worry more about folks who had just sneezed or blown their noses... (Apologies - thinking SARS or avian influenza)

[dr_evil]

You trekkies scare me...because I got all the references!  I'd recommend Klingon Blood Wine, but I like wine.

Back on topic (and someone else started the hijacking!): If you're worried, just be sure to wash your hands or use something like Purell before eating or putting your hands anywhere near your face.  That should prevent most illnesses.  I never gave it much thought, but it does sound kind of gross.

[francie_]

conjugate!!! real_francie!! starfleetgrad---fellow Trekkies!  Did anyone see the Shatner roast last night (now that the highjacking seems to be firmly in progress)??

I'm only a Trekkie in that I'm a fan of the original series.  To kill time on a road trip once, Mr. Francie and I tried to make a list from memory of all the episodes, around 85 or so.   

Yes, we watched the Shatner roast.  I was only disappointed that the bits by Fred Willard, Nichelle Nichols and Andy Dick were edited down, and that Shatner's 1970's commercials for Loblaw's (a grocery chain) and for Promise margarine were not shown.

And ha! we are not far off-topic!  Starfleet_Grad might have had a difficult time watching the Shatner roast, what with all the licking going on!

Well, gotta go.  Mr. Francie just hollered up to me that the pastor of my former church is on TV again as he's become a noted authority on the Bible and extraterrestrial visitations.  Really!  To quote Dave Barry, I'm not making this up!

[anthroid]

And, as Dave Barry would say, wouldn't "Extraterrestrial Visitations" be a great name for a rock band?