Those moments where you NEED to stop a sneeze

[haruherohirahara]

Earlier I was thinking about this one time a few years ago I was over at someone else's house and I woke up at around 7am -- well before anyone else in the house. Woke up in a room with two other guys and I tried forcing myself to go back to sleep, but one problem: for whatever reason, something was bothering my nose bad that day.

I really didn't want to sneeze and wake the other guys up, so I pressed a finger to my nose, but the sensation kept coming back a few minutes after every time I prevented it from winning over me. I guess my victories were just delays; I ended up sneezing anyway, but thankfully after someone else had woken up.

I didn't have much of a reason for holding that single sneeze back for as long as I did -- other than this irrational fear that if I didn't fight that nuisance of a niggling, I'd get in some kind of trouble with the other guys. But looking back it makes me think of all those times in books and cartoons where someone needs to stop a sneeze because the situation would worsen if they did -- only for them to fail about 80% of the time. This happens a lot in media, but it's comical when it happens in real life -- which makes me want to know:

Has there ever been a time where you needed to stop a sneeze, for fear that you would get in some kind of trouble?

I'm not talking about needing to stop a sneeze because you are shy about sneezing in front of others, cause then we'd get like a million responses here! 😂 No, I'm talking about just those moments where you knew or thought you knew it would elicit a negative reaction (pun intended) from somebody else. Perhaps you would have been caught where you weren't expected or maybe you were worried about alerting someone to your location -- that kind of thing.

I'll be sure to add more of my own as time goes on. Until then, I'd definitely be interested in all your stories! 😁

[March Hare]

First of all, I think this a great idea for a thread! aaaaand now I'm trying to recall the many times I've just stifled a sneeze into complete silence and a minimum of outer disturbance, for any reason OTHER than "I want to keep pretending that I am a human who never sneezes".

There was this one time at work when there was (for once) absolute, focused, industrious silence (I work as a homework supervisor sort of person), and I was NOT going to disrupt that rare and wonderful occurrence just because I happened to have to sneeze. So I just forced that one into near-nonexistence.

[NoV]

I can sneeze pretty much completely silently, but my first line of defense is an almost bomb-proof mental block that I can engage at will if I don't want to sneeze. Hence I can't hardly even remember a time when I sneezed at a time when I really didn't want to. My mind can just sort of switch the urge off if I am in a situation where it may prove embarrassing or disruptive. Good thread  

[Heathcliff]

I can almost always resist, just using my mental block and my thoughts.

The closest I came in recent years was when I came down with quite a bad cold at work. It wasn't too bad in the morning but by the end of the day it just took me over. I was in a one-on-one meeting with another guy, and kept getting strong urges to sneeze. I had to keep rubbing, touching, and blowing my nose to fight them off, because I was very close to a sneeze but just felt embarrassed to do so.

The guy I was with obviously noticed and made some remark like "Oh dear, are you suffering a bit?" with a smile. The cold had been going round the office.

I was able to smile about it and say something about how it had come on suddenly. Of course, there was no reason I couldn't just sneeze in the meeting- he wouldn't have been offended. But it was just the fetishy embarrassment.

[sprinkles287]

Clipping my cat’s nails. She hates it and is super squirmy, and it’s tough even when she’s wrapped in a blanket...

 

Also, while driving in a construction zone. I hate those.

[haruherohirahara]

8 hours ago, March Hare said:

I think this a great idea for a thread!

Thank you!! I'm hoping to come up with more interesting topics of discussion hehe

3 hours ago, Heathcliff said:

Of course, there was no reason I couldn't just sneeze in the meeting- he wouldn't have been offended. But it was just the fetishy embarrassment.

I daresay sneezing during a meeting is dangerous; you wanna look professional, don't you?! XD

2 hours ago, sprinkles287 said:

while driving in a construction zone

Oh my o-o Yeah, I can certainly see how that would be problematic ^^;

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

there have been tons of occasions here and there where either i've been cooking or carrying food and needed to sneeze (just a numbers game tbh, i worked in food service for a few years) but im actually really good at making it go away with sheer willpower and self-restraint alone. after a few seconds, the sensation usually tingles and burns a little and then fades away.

the one exception i can think of was when i was working in this trendy sit-down/carry out burger joint. the restaurant had the kitchen and back room area of course, the dining floor, and then a sheltered patio area with benches and tables for the summer 

it was a gorgeous, breezy late june. i was on floor duty, which meant schmoozing with the guests, cleaning tables, providing refills, collecting trays, etc. i was having a really good day tbh! i got to meet two adorable dogs out on the patio and give them some vanilla ice cream. there was a 98 year old woman there with three of her friends, and i got to serve her her first ever rootbeer float! she was fucking adorable and she was really excited about it, and i felt great for giving her a positive new experience even at 98.

i was still riding that high as i swept around the floor, collecting stacks of trays from the deposit places on the patio and in the corners of the restaurant itself. i was about halfway across the floor from the kitchen when my nose started to tickle.

as usual i tried willing the feeling away, because even though the stack of trays i'm carrying are empty, a wait staff openly sneezing in the middle of a fairly populated dining room is not a good look. however. instead of burning out and receeding as usual the tickle quickly began to spread, all the way along my nasal passages and up towards the back of my nose. and worse, it itches ferociously. and i realize im about to have some kind of allergy attack actually. which surprised the fuck out of me because literally a moment earlier? completely fine.

so i have about 15 lbs of empty trays in my arms, and i can't even buy myself time by scrubbing at the itch as i head for the back room. i get about five steps before the first sneeze overtakes me, and i stifle it silently, but i still have to sneeze. i almost make it back to the kitchen, like my hip is on the swinging door, when a second sneeze rips its way through my nose, and somehow actually makes it itch even worse. my eyes are streaming.

i quickly dump my cargo onto the side of the three basin sink, and some of them clatter into the first basin, and i am just glowing with embarassment as i grab some paper towels from the dispenser.

after blowing my nose a few times the persistent need to sneeze did abate but it was an incredibly intense experience.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

One occasion that comes to mind is definitely not trying to deafen 150+ people by sneezing into my microphone.  As it happened, I managed to just about last until a natural break in the narrative, press mute rather rapidly, before un-muting and continuing the show. 

[Heathcliff]

On 12/13/2019 at 5:06 PM, TheCakeIsAlive said:

One occasion that comes to mind is definitely not trying to deafen 150+ people by sneezing into my microphone.  As it happened, I managed to just about last until a natural break in the narrative, press mute rather rapidly, before un-muting and continuing the show. 

This is a really nice obs by the way. 🤭

[haruherohirahara]

Just remembered about situation and I'm adding it cause it's ironic as hell 😂

So a couple years ago I asked my doctor if it was possible for allergies to go away. Reason I asked is because I had recently noticed that my childhood grass allergies had seemed to go away completely. Was it really so??

According to the doctor: yes it is! She made sure to put a note in the system that my allergies had gone away.

As we began talking about other things and making plans for the next appointment, my nose started to itch and it got a little hard to breathe. Like some form of karmic retribution, something was making my nasal passages tickle every time I breathed in. I wasn't even paying attention to what the doctor said at that point; all I knew was that I didn't want to ask her about allergies going away, then have what appeared to be an allergy attack, because seriously -- it felt like a full-on attack was building.

It came as a huge relief when the appointment ended and I scheduled the next one at the front desk, nose still begging for release.

Once don't, I rushed right to the bathroom and blew my nose in a paper towel. That little itch resided somewhere now, but at least the sudden buildup of snot couldn't turn the tickle of one incoming sneeze into an entire attack.

[Juniebee]

I always thought if you have to sneeze but don't want to wake people up in a shared room, you can go to the bathroom, living room, or another area of the living arrangement ( like if in a dorm go to the dorm bathroom). Is that not a workable solution? I feel like early morning allergy sneezes can't be stopped...