I Beg You – Please Use Chewing Gum Etiquette

Chewing gum is the bane of my existence. I consider myself to be a lady and it irritates me to have a waitress, hairdresser, cashier or any other customer service representative chewing gum while assisting me. Those individuals who wish to chew gum need to realise the distraction that it poses on others in the environment.

Every time I see someone chewing gum I wonder what it is that they do with it when it is finished. I have horrible thoughts of one putting it behind their ear that literally gives me nightmares.

To me, chewing gum is the equivalent of chewing with your mouth open and eating with a wide open mouth in front of a room full of people. It is awful that I have to tolerate people chewing gum within my personal space and the etiquette rules for gum need to be more widespread.

I am one of those people who hate gum. I hate how it feels inside of my mouth, I hate the taste and I hate the smell. Most of all I hate the fact that others feel the need to chew gum incessantly in public.

As with anything else there is etiquette in regards to chewing gum. There is also etiquette to disposing of said gum. The other day I was walking outside of a toy store and there were at least two hundred splotches on the sidewalk that I had not noticed before due to the snow. I wondered what they were; and than it dawned on me. It was gum – disgusting, flattened and hardened pieces of gum that have adhered to the sidewalk. I was disgusted. I literally almost gagged. There is a trash can less than fifteen feet away. People need to learn to throw out their gum – into the trash. I suppose one could blame it on the children but that would come directly to the parents as they should have taught their child the chewing gum etiquette.

If you work in an office you should not be chewing gum. At work we are to look professional, act professional and chewing gum does not add to this appearance.

Chewing gum during a meal should never occur. If it does occur the gum should never be adhered to a plate – at any time!

Chewing gum, especially loudly is not accepted in most classrooms. There should be no snapping of gum, no bubble blowing and no sticking the gum on any sort of surface! Just as there is no chewing of gum in classrooms there should be no chewing of gum in communal office areas. If I have to listen to one more person chew gum beside my desk I am going to snap – like they snap their gum.