What would you have done?

Pixiechic

:rotfl:It is definately not ettiquette to handle guests food in that way but I think that I would have eaten the cake, I mean, it's cake afterall . I do think that we can become a little obsessed with regard to germs and it is impossible to avoid them. It is not good for our health in fact to be germ free as we could not build up a healthy resistance.
Money is a good example, have you ever counted a load of pennies and seen how dirty your hands are after :eek:?

glitter03

When i used to work in retail people would put their bank notes in their mouth while they rummage in their purse/wallet and then give me the bank note.

Then they would give me a funny look when i held it by the corner gingerly before trying to get it in my cash box so i didnt have to touch it lol

heretolearn_2

It wasn't really a germ concern (although she has just got over a chest infection) - I eat plenty of germy stuff, don't mind if food falls on the floor etc, etc, very far from a clean freak (you should see the state of my kitchen), I'll share food and glasses with family and close friends no problems. But there is a health issue, who knows what someone might have, it's not good health practise to add your spit to someone else's food. Spit can carry a lot of diseases. TB is on the up again, for example, and that is mostly transmitted by saliva. True, I could be exposed to it anywhere, that doesn't mean I want to knowingly ingest some random person's saliva.

But I hardly know this woman..it was mostly an 'eeeeew I'm eating her spit' moment. I only want to exchange bodily fluids with my nearest and dearest. If she'd spat in a glass no-one would say I should be ok drinking it!

I thought it was really odd that an adult would think it's ok to lick all over your fingers and then wipe that on someone elses food. Gross.

I suppose I'm hoping for an excuse for the next time...there's no way they'll believe me if I say I don't want any cake ...

mancitychick

balletshoes wrote: »

whats the issue with shop assistants licking their fingers to open a carrier bag? you're not going to eat the bag are you, just carry it, and its hardly going to be sodden. there was probably more germs on the cash you handed to the shop assistant when you paid for your shopping, than ended up on your carrier bag if someone licked their fingers to open it.

OP I wouldn't have been impressed with the amount of licky-fingers all over the cake in your position, but I think I would have eaten some of it (ie the inside bits she hadn't had her fingers all over so much).

The issue with licking your fingers and touching my bag is the fact it is plain bad manners not to mention disgusting!

whether anyone got ill from the cake is ilrelevant it was still unhygienic.

Pixiechic

I can't see why she didn't just cut the cake and allow people to take a slice for themselves. That is what I do, I don't start handling every slice, or I use a serviette/napkin. Although I don't encourage others eating my cake, more left for me then, maybe that was her motive ?

Counting_Pennies_2

I would have eaten the cake and left the icing.

SugarSpun

glitter03 wrote: »

When i used to work in retail people would put their bank notes in their mouth while they rummage in their purse/wallet and then give me the bank note.

Then they would give me a funny look when i held it by the corner gingerly before trying to get it in my cash box so i didnt have to touch it lol

I once had a customer ask to see my manager when I refused to take his money. He'd had the notes in his hand and sneezed into them :eek: _pale_

My manager backed me up as soon as he heard my reasoning and the guy paid with different cash. I sanitised my hands right after touching that one, too. I'm not averse to the odd germ, but I draw the line at someone else's snot.

In the OP's case I might have said something joking as soon as it became apparent that the woman was handling the cake because I prefer my food not to be manhandled, but I would have eaten it. In my world cake is calorie-free and germ-resistant.

Becles

Some people just have different ideas about what is minging and what isn't. She may not realise she's causing offence.

My Grandma used to wash up and wipe the benches down with a dishcloth then use it to wipe the faces of me and my brother when we were toddlers. It made my Mam angry about the germs but my Grandma didn't see what the problem was!

juliethemuse

it wouldnt have bothered me, doubt i would even have noticed,

i'll tell you what did bother me though, years ago my SIL brought us some christening cake over, after she had gone OH smelt it and said
'this cake smells of !!!!!! !!!' i smelled it and he was right , she had obviously changed the babbys nappy and not washed her hands!
yuk!!!!we called it 'nappy cake' after that,

moomoomama27

There's no way I could have eaten that. It's just gross to do that, it's not even the germs, it's just the act of licking fingers inbetween. I would have pssibly had the bit she hadn't licked, but the bit she had her mitts all over.