I went to have my car washed the other day. After weeks of rain and schedules which didn’t match its hours (closes at 5:00 on weekdays to leave out most business folk for some reason), I finally had a day off and penned in a car wash on my calendar of things to do. The attendant had an attitude like car wash owner Bogdan Wolynetz in Breaking Bad. Except I didn’t see any big eyebrows.
After I got my proof of payment slip and a curt “pay inside” response, I entered the walk-through area to watch my vehicular baby get its spa treatment. I happened to look back outside toward the men who were vacuuming and applying “wheel bright” to my tires. The guy who had just helped me was standing where I had been moments before and blew a snot rocket on the spot.
Twice in my life I have so closely encountered men who have done this inexcusable thing on public space in my viewing range. My first thought this time was that I was likely to carry some icky stuff back into my freshly cleaned car, then my home. I was suddenly wishing with all my might that a sudden thunderstorm would come and cleanse the entire ground of the contamination.
My mother has told stories about men using handkerchiefs, which then had to be boiled to clean them. This was before oxygenated detergents. With the arrival of tissues and the freedom movements of some 50 years ago, those went out of style, but apparently men don’t like to carry tissues anyway. I suppose that the pain of a wallet under one’s butt for hours daily is enough of a burden, but the solution is not to open-air de-snot oneself in public. Carry a couple of them, guys.
Men belch, pass gas, scratch and adjust their nether regions in public, you might say, so why not toot the snoot as well? There used to be laws about expectorating in public (for a funny take on this, look up “Pay the Two Dollars” on YouTube), but now you don’t know what might be on the ground beneath your feet. I guess I can think about what happened this way: they use steam and jets outside the entrance, so maybe that spot did get cleaned eventually. The image in my head won’t be so easy to dismiss.
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