different mindsets

[low_delta]

I brought a bowl of tomatoes in from the garden, and Cyn saw a slug on one of them. Right on top of the bowl. It was a very small one. I'm surprised she even saw it. So I grabbed it, squished it between my fingers, and washed it down the sink. She was all, like, "Ew! Ick! Don't put that in the sink!" I was, like, "don't worry about it, it's not coming back," and moved on with the conversation. Then I noticed that she hadn't moved on. She was giving me that look - horrified. You know, all glassy-eyed, partly trying to drill through my skull, and partly in another world (presumably where tiny garden creatures come back from the grave and eat one's neighborhood).

I used to be icked out by disgusting little creatures like that, but I got over it. At some point I learned that it won't hurt me. A slug is just a tiny bag of goo. It won't bite me. It's not venomous. It can't poison me through my skin. It doesn't even stink. You squish it, and you wipe off the goo. What's the problem?

Comments

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

I kill slugs with my hands all the time. Donald is a bit more squeemish. It is a mindset, but it is also a mindset that each of us has to come to in our own time.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

yeah, different mindsets for different folks (says one of the more squeamish).

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I certainly don't hold it against anyone for thinking that touching bugs and stuff is gross. I still have my limits. But I wouldn't have expected someone to be even more disgusted by disposing of it in the sink.

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

Ewww, goo!! Yick.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

*shrug*

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

*shudders*

I'm with Cyn on this one.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

sorry, kevin, so am i

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

About what? You're disgusted by washing a tiny dead slug down the sink?

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

squishing it between your fingers, mostly

also i'd throw it out the door or toss it in the garbage rather than wash it down the sink

it just sounds like you're judging cyn harshly for feeling differently than you about this

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I could have put it in the garbage, but I had to wash my fingers anyway. And it was easier to get the goo off my fingers by washing, than trying to scrape it off on the inside of the trash can.

I wouldn't exactly say I'm judging - that's a charged term. Mostly, I was surprised by it. I looked up and she was not with me! And then I was surprised that her reaction was mostly about it being in the sink, which didn't really make sense to me.

Mostly, I'm posting about it because it's interesting to note the different mindset.

Oh, and I hope my question to you just now didn't sound harsh. I was simply asking for clarification on your view.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

nah, your question to me didn't sound harsh. i think i know you better than that by now. :)

i think maybe you're trying to use rationality to explain an emotional or physical reaction. some things just don't make sense, and maybe cyn's reaction about the squished slug going down the kitchen sink drain is one of those things.

i have a neighbor who helps me deal with live rodents or birds in my house (thanks to Fred), but who can't brush her teeth without gagging if there is a single human hair in the sink. go figure!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

About what? You're disgusted by washing a tiny dead slug down the sink?

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

It was you squishing it. Ew. You should have taken it back outside and killed it there without using your bare hands. And not in front of Cyn. Ew. My daddy used to make us girls turn our backs when he chopped off the chickens' heads on the farms because he said it wasn't right for little girls to see things like that. See?

[vwip.livejournal.com]

But what if it mutates in the sewers??

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It would grow so big that it wouldn't be able to get back up the drains.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

It's not so much putting it in the sink that sends shudders of "iiiiiikkkkk" all over me. It's "squishing it in your fingers!" Didn't you know that's why God invented disposable paper products?

(Oh, don't give me that. I KNOW it's in the Bible somewhere.)

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

*LAUGHING!!*

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I can understand the ick factor. It was the sink that was the real issue.

[mellary4.livejournal.com]

Ewww. Seriously yuck! If John squished a bug or slug with his bare fingers I would have him wash his hands with bleach before he could touch me or anything else again! I know these things aren't really germy and the guts wouldn't kill me. I would be having him wash my memory of this awful thing on his hands. :)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Soap isn't good enough? I must admit I think that's a little weird.

[mellary4.livejournal.com]

I know. It is weird. The deal is that he would be washing MY memory from my brain symbolically by washing HIS hands, but in order for my mind to be at ease he'd have to use bleach...or lye. Lye would hurt so I would settle for bleach. The part about it going down the sink doesn't bother me at all though.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

:-D
I knew you'd post about this!

Thanks for washing the tomatoes. I had visions of other slugs in the bowl crawling out while we slept.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

ACKACKACK.
I don't care about the mush going down the drain. I refuse to get all gooky like that.
GROSS.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Well that I can understand. But that wasn't really Cyn's issue.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

So she'd squish it but not send the remains down the drain?
;)

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I was grossed out by both actions!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Okay, but being grossed out by the squishing is more understandable, and it seemed like it was the sink that you got hung up on.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

EWWWWW!!! SLUG BOOGERS!!!

Sorry.. I am with the majority here...

Oh.. and just to show it isn't just about snails for me.. I don't let my dogs lick my face ever.. and I wash whatever they lick on other parts of me.. and I LOVE my dogs.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Well that's about germs. That makes sense, considering what dogs lick.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

yes it is... and do you KNOW where that slug has been? I mean.. isn't it basically a tongue?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Ha ha. Yeah, but the chances of them cleaning up dog poop with their bodies is relatively slim. And I did wash my fingers.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Like most of the others, the main ick factor for me was that you squished it with your fingers... however.. had it gone down the sink, I would have followed it with bleach, or alcohol. So I am probably closer to Cynn on that part, than most of the others.

But then.. I wash my counters with rubbing alcohol regularly.

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Ick!
That's the reason I don't eat out of the bag of chips when we went fishing.
Stan had no problem hooking a worm and dipping into the bag for a couple chips.
Ick.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm not always squeaky clean about such things, but I'm definitely more careful when other people are involved with that food.

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

When he cooks, he's Mr. Operating room clean.
But boy howdy, don't go fishing or camping with the guy.

[laciann.livejournal.com]

I don't get the problem with the sink either - what's it going to do? Contaminate the sewer system? :)

I probably would have picked it up with one of those God-given paper towels though!! ;)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Considering how dirty the sink was at that point, it wouldn't have made it worse!