cleanup on aisle 4

[mooki]

Sometimes it's almost amusing how anything and everything can trigger thoughts of vomit. Anytime I'm in a large market and hear on the intercom, "we need a cleanup on aisle 4". The first thought that jumps in my head is that someone must've puked in the aisle. Even though everytime I have walked by such an aisle and looked, in 100% of the cases someone knocked over a jar of pickles or something. But I can't help but get that quick jolt of fear when I hear that announced. Or if I see a janitor walking someone like a movie theater with a mop, that's all I can think is that someone must've vomited nearby and then I start looking around to make sure I'm not going to step in it. So crazy.

[slallen2009]

I work at a retail chain store....this child vomitted all over the place....and they only other employee in the store at that time looked at me and said...OMG Im not cleaning that up.....I said then shut the store down...because I sure am not cleaning it up.....LOL....she cleaned it.....LOL....then I went on to sanitize everything ......to include my hands like every 5 mins.....I freaked a bit but survived...YAY...BUT I think the same way you do.....lol

[turbokinetic]

Yes, that's how my mind works too!

These words always make me think of puke:

cleanup
spill
made a mess
10 foot seas (or any measure of waves)
anything presented as having a bad smell.
of course all the 'usual' direct references to puke.
sometimes the most unusual things will bring it to mind, too.

David

[Fearlessoffear]

Yep. That's the first thing our brains will skip to. It's so obsessive. Ugh

[oceanlove]

Crazy but so true!!! I always think that also

[crd08]

Same!! In grade school, when they would announce they needed a janitor in mrs.so-and-so's room, I always assumed a kid got sick.
We tend to jump to conclusions a lot. lol

[alexikiss]

I am the same way. Also, when I see those "Caution, Wet Floor" signs. The other day, someone dropped their coffee drink in Starbucks and there was a huge latte puddle on the floor. When the barista came with that bucket on wheels, I immediately felt anxiety - the bucket on wheels ALWAYS makes me think of people getting sick because that's what the janitor would arrive with in elementary school.

[Andrilla]

Wet paper towels on the floor always make me think that someone got sick. They used to put paper towels over it in my elementary school until they would get around to cleaning it up. Whenever we saw paper towels laying in the hallway, we knew that it meant. Even now, unless I put a paper towel over a spill, I always assume the worst. The same goes for stains on the sidewalk.

[luvs2laff75]

Sawdust! They always put sawdust on a "pile" in elementary school and then the janitor would come with the bucket on wheels. Ugh... I can remember that smell clearly.

[AngelJL84]

OMG, I am the same exact way!! I even go as far as avoiding that particular aisle when I hear that "just in case" someone got sick, I don't even want to go near it. Even if I need something in that aisle or whatever, I still avoid it, crazy!!!

[Rebecca85]

I saw an employee at the soft play centre with a roll of paper towels earlier, and my first thought was that one of the kids must have v'ed.

[naenae1213]

Yep, add me to the list! Especially the saw dust mentioned earlier or the pink powder they used on amusement park rides. OMG, that just reminded me of my dream last night. Weird. I haven't seen or even thought about that stuff in YEARS, but I dreamed about it last night! WOW! (Probably cause my daughter is sick w/ the *SV)

[lemonchar]

Me too! Or if I'm in a public restroom and someone so much as sniffles or coughs, of course I assume they're v*ing. So sad, but funny how common it is among emets to jump to these conclusions!

[Rebecca85]

On Wednesday I had to go for a blood test. Normally it only takes a few minutes per person. When I arrived I took my ticket and I was next in. You can see the door from the waiting room. I waited for about 10 minutes and a girl came out. So I gathered my stuff ready to go in but they didn't call me. So then of course I was panicking, maybe she v'ed and they had to clean it up! After another 10 minutes or so another woman came out and they called me straight in. After all the anxiety, they must have gone in together and it was the chatty nurse taking the blood, that must be why it took them so long!

[SparklyxConfetti]

My friends have always been very understanding of my phobia -- which can be explained by what happened this last weekend. Last Saturday, I mean. We were at our mall, just poking around, and a janitor's cart rolled by. Probably to clean up spilled coffee, or... whatever mall custodians clean up. But I flipped of course. My guy friend walked me to the other side of the mall and talked to me until I calmed down... I'm just really sensitive to it, I guess. :P