Germ factory in the lecture hall

[locomotive]

I'm a university student and my class is in the midst of a series of, per our administration, absolutely and unquestionably mandatory lectures. You need to know that second part because it explains why the person sitting next to me in the lecture hall ever got out of bed.

Straight up: I have never seen a cold this bad. 

I sat next to this guy on Wednesday from 9am to 4pm. I don't know how he made it. I don't know how I made it. Coughs, sniffles, sneezes... literally not a minute could go by without some kind of noise. The crumpled handful of paper towels from the bathroom were doing nothing to stop his runny nose, and he wiped at it every few seconds before inevitably giving in to the urge to sneeze explosively into his soggy, makeshift tissues. These were big, wet sneezes -- usually doubles or triples -- with a heavy "h'SHOO" sound, followed immediately by a desperate sniff. You wanted to turn to him and say, "Just stop trying! Blow it or don't, but the snot is not going to stay put."

Sometimes, you could see the spray from his sneeze on his laptop screen. You could almost FEEL the germs emanating off of him, lol. 

And I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I said it was constant: a heavy, chesty cough, then three sneezes, then... a few seconds of blessed silence before the cycle would repeat again. I feel bad, but I was shrinking away from him in my chair. Anything to get as far away from his sneezes as possible. I'm normally not quite so germaphobic, but I have truly never seen a person so struck down by a cold before. Besides, I have to be at these lectures too!

He wasn't at school today. For the sake of my own health, I pray he won't be there tomorrow either. But, at least, if he does decide to come in, I'll have another observation for you all! 

[bcj1027]

I would have melted into a puddle right there! I wish I could have seen this in person! Great one thanks for sharing 

[macrotwentytwo]

Just wondering... What does he look like?

[Feo]

I would have struggled hard to pay attention to the lectures that day!!

And if he was a handsome guy... I would have stri nor to directly look at him ALL the time!

But as you; I think I would have been a little drawn between enjoying all of it and being a germaphobe... 🙈😷

Thanks for sharing this!! 

[Elektra]

I would have changed seats first! Anyone here is impeded in his enjoyment of the fetish by the fear of contagion? This sounded really bad;)

[locomotive]

8 hours ago, macrotwentytwo said:

Just wondering... What does he look like?

He's in his early to mid 20s, about 5'10" and of thin-to-average build, with light brown skin and straight black hair. His crew cut probably could use a trim. He has large brown eyes and a flat nose. 

32 minutes ago, Elektra said:

I would have changed seats first! Anyone here is impeded in his enjoyment of the fetish by the fear of contagion? This sounded really bad;)

I was REALLY considering it, but there was no way to make a subtle escape! It was doubly bad for me: 1. I was super afraid of catching this cold and 2. It was distracting for other reasons, too! I spent the whole day wanting to escape, lol. 

By the way, he wasn't in today, either. I guess common sense finally won out over academic anxieties. 

[Elektra]

12 hours ago, locomotive said:

By the way, he wasn't in today, either. I guess common sense finally won out over academic anxieties. 

Yeah...and are you alright after all?

I hate that kind of prevailing discourse that says you should be at work/at school dead or alive. As if working when feeling like hell was some kind of admirable feat or something (and contaminating everyone else all the while). It's guilt inducing, and not natural.

But of course, it sometimes makes for excellent fetish material....

[locomotive]

On 2/2/2019 at 12:22 PM, Elektra said:

Yeah...and are you alright after all?

So far, so good. I've been exhausted, but I slept for literally 13 hours last night, lol. So, hopefully that'll keep any viruses at bay.

[Elektra]

Yes, that'll work! Best way of boosting your immune system.

[locomotive]

10 hours ago, Elektra said:

Yes, that'll work! Best way of boosting your immune system.

Lmao... I spoke too soon. I think maybe I was able to sleep for a million years because I was getting sick. 

I woke up with the kind of feeling in your throat where you feel like you've maybe swallowed a piece of tinfoil or something? You know, like you've scratched it all up on the inside and that's why it hurts every time you swallow? It hasn't gone away quite yet. Kinda hoping it's just the winter air, but given the circumstances, there's a (small!) part of me that wonders if I didn't escape this cold after all. 

Ughhh. Keep your fingers crossed for me, everyone.

[Elektra]

No, nooooo...! Fight it!

<G>

I got such a germophobic fit last night. I went to a kind of party, with a lot of people (older people most of them) who knew me from work, and every body was...a little all over me (in France, we kiss on the cheeks to say hello, and honestly that part of the year? I hate it, because it's flu/gastro time) SO many people were sick. And I had an older lady speaking loudly to me to be heard over the noise, and she had that kind of chest-rattling laugh that you have when you've got bronchitis...I would constantly move back, but I could feel her breathing on me. Then there was this guy who kept coughing and started kissing me goodbye on the cheek before saying *oh Sweetie, I'm not gonna do that I don't want to give you all my nasty germs*. I was like, UUUUUUHHHH too late! get away from me LOL

Hadn't done that in a while, but I took some mouth wash, essentials oils, the works when I got home. Also giving it 48 h now, and keeping my fingers crossed for both of us

 

[Elektra]

Try gurgling some mouthwash it works sometimes if you do it early on

[Dusty15]

Oh man, that was a GREAT obs. I can totally picture it. Poor guy ❤️