Oh my goodness! Let's talk about the gum-popping for a minute, shall we? (Sigh). First off, my sister, Chris, was one of the best (if ever there were a contest) gum-poppers around as a kid. Chris took great pride in being able to blow the biggest bubble and even more, being able to pop it as hard as she could in her mouth. I remember it sounded like firecrackers going off! And it drove...me...nuts. Whew, chile - and when she went on to stretch it out from her mouth - ughhhhhh.
Even though Chris knew gum made my skin crawl, she loved teasing me with her gum-chewing and popping. My sister would pull the gum from her mouth and stretch it as far as she could. If that wasn't enough, Chris would then chase me around trying to touch me with the gum.
"How rude is that?"
Pretty darn rude, I'd say. 'Cause surely I'm not the only one that was taught not to play with my food. I was also told that it was rude to chew or loudly smack food. If the forementioned is considered rude (and we know this) - why on earth do people pop gum, push it out of their mouths to blow bubbles, and then use their hands to shove it all back into the mouth? Even more confusing to me, why do it while in public or in professional settings?
"To this very day, whenever I hear someone popping gum, it makes me cringe."
While attending a networking event, a woman walked up and initiated conversation. The whole time, the woman was rolling that tiny, pink roll of gum in her mouth; and then (gasp) she spit it out, into her hand - while looking for somewhere to toss it. As I began to ease away, the woman stuck out that same hand in parting, saying, "Nice chatting with you." Hmm. No, ma'am - it was NOT nice chatting with you nor with your gum. Cringing, it took everything in me not to actually say those words out loud.
I was so distracted and focused on watching the gum to make sure it didn't shoot in my direction, I couldn't tell you what her name was or what she did for a living. Because the woman's poor taste in networking and social etiquette, left such a bad taste with me, I had no interest in even wanting to connect. I'm sure I looked crazy as heck when I shook my head no, indicating I did not want to shake hands - and then walked away (quickly).
"Manners matter, they really do."
As much as we strive to make good impressions when building professional or personal relationships, believe me – chewing gum is not the way. You're not going to impress anyone with how rapid or how loud, you can pop gum or blow bubbles. #Mannersmatter, they really do. Stop! Don't pop the gum in public, don't talk with it in your mouth, and for goodness sakes, don't spit it out in your hand! Better yet, just remove the gum; and please, do it before you reach out to shake a hand.
Sincerely,
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