Please, excuse yourself.

As I was getting ready for work this morning I was watching "Little Miss Sunshine". There is a scene that reminded me of perhaps my biggest pet peeve. In the movie they are sitting down for dinner (at the very beginning) and the grandfather blows his nose at the table. Steve Carell and the son look at each other disgusted. Disgusted is a mild adjective as to how I feel about people who do this. Please excuse yourself and blow your nose elsewhere. Heck, I don't even care if you excuse yourself, just blow it elsewhere. I used to work with a woman that did this EVERY time we ate lunch together. It never failed. She prided herself on her etiquette but yet she would do this. I have an uncle that does this also. My sister and I wait for it (and make sure we never sit anywhere near him) to happen at every meal. We are never disappointed.

Now a sneeze I can tolerate. Sneezing is an involuntary, spasmodic action (according to dictionary.com). You cannot time a sneeze. You cannot plan for a sneeze. Granted a sneeze probably carries more germs (Disclaimer: I am not an expert) but I do think when I person sneezes they are attempting not to sneeze on anyone or anything but themselves. And most of the time you will find that a sneezer will excuse themselves and go to the facilites. Blowing one's nose requires some similance of planning. You know it is going to happen therefore you do not have to do this in front of other diners. Common courtsey. Ok, I'm off my soapbox.