Wednesday, May 7, 2008

When do you say something?

As our great nation struggles to find its way in this turbulent era, she calls on her citizens to work together toward healing old wounds. To that end, a new dialogue must take place. I understand this may be very difficult for some of us, as it may fly in the face of what we thought was a clear demarcation between right and wrong. However, this dialogue starts with a simple question:
If someone has a piece of food or something on their face, When do you say something? 
The debate becomes even more heated when dealing with a stranger. In the following real life illustration I was that stranger. And it wasn't food. It was a massive grease stain acquired from something at Home Depot. Probably from a lawn mower blade. Or from that interesting looking pipe cutting machine in the plumbing section that I felt compelled to screw around with. Anyways (see related post here). I walked through the entire goddamn store with this huge grease stain on my face looking like 'Pig Killer' from 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' and no one had the decency to tell me about it. Please, for the sake of our country, and all that she stands for, if you see someone with toothpaste, mayonnaise, stray bits of makeup, remnants of shaving cream, gravy, ketchup, catsup, cheese, or even grease clinging to their face, do the right thing and tactfully let them know about it. 
The same goes for something stuck in someone's teeth.

3 comments:

Sean said...

I agree with you with one caveat. The problem with notifying the maxiofacially challenged individual, is providing them with the option to pursue further conversation. More than likely, they will attempt to give you some lame excuse as to how the object became imbedded on their mug. Then followed by a half-hearted thanks for notifying them of their grotesque display of ignorance. Me, I like stuff stuck to my face.

Anonymous said...

I met a lawyer in court yesterday who clearly had the remains of toothpaste froth around his mouth. We both arrived about 20 minutes early, so I didn't immediately say anything. I hoped he would go to the bathroom or something before he had face-to-face contact with anyone else. About 2 minutes before the hearing I gave him the heads up. It was awkward. It would be super-awkward if that was not toothpaste around his mouth.

Anonymous said...

When I see such a stain or fragment on anyone, whether I know them or not, I tell them. It's usually "Dude, big ol' chunk of something on your face" or a similar line. This also applies to noticeable threads or lint on backs of clothing, skirts kinked into elastics or folded up by static electricity, or foreign objects in hair.

I have always done this. I cannot imagine any reason why a person wouldn't.