Is It Gross To Floss In Public?

One time, I went on a date where at the end, the guy took dental floss out of his pocket and started flossing. All I could do was stare at him in abject horror while tiny flecks of food, plaque, and whatever else glistened wetly on the tiny string he was shoving between his teeth. I could see that there were particles flying off into the air, onto the table, and more likely than not on me.

I’ve been thinking about how gross this is for legitimate MONTHS, because this was back in June, but I thought this guy was an anomaly. An outlier. Not to be counted among the Normals. BUT THEN, I find out I have a co-worker who sits at his desk and flosses. At his desk. In front of everybody!!

I’m not going to name names, but this guy was already on pretty thin ice with me to begin with. If it were up to me, no one would floss anywhere other than the sanctity of his or her own bathroom. Maybe I’m wrong about how gross this is, but I don’t think I am. I think it’s fully possible that no one but me is bothered by it, but why wouldn’t you be?

I did a poll on twitter about this, and the results were somewhat clear:

So, I’m clearly right that this is gross as fuck. 21% of you are nasty. But a lot of people were commenting asking whether it’s okay if you use the stick flosser things vs. plain old dental floss, and… no. It’s not okay. I’ll give you that it’s slightly better, but it’s not good. Don’t do it.

Bottom line, there are only a few things that you should ONLY do in a bathroom. I say should, because I know people do plenty of bathroom stuff outside the bathroom, flossing being the least offensive… I live in New York City, I’ve seen this. But common decency dictates we don’t do gross things when we’re not in the bathroom, and flossing isn’t gross, but in public it is.