(no subject)

[jack]

It's funny, if my fingernails are just ever so slightly too long, most of the time I don't notice, but just occasionally it jumps out at me and once I've noticed it's like fire on my skin, I want to tear the ends off right then and I have to deal with it immediately.

At home, cutting fingernails always feels like a minor chore, something I'll do but not something I'll want to do. Especially as nothing I do once every few weeks gets into a regular rhythm. However, I've kept a spare pare of clippers in my draw at work[1] and at work, it feels relaxing and cathartic to snip snip snip the ends away!

But then I remembered the Dilbert cartoon. It's something like Alice listening to clipping sounds from Wally's cubicle, and screaming "AGH! It's so annoying. Yet quiet enough I'll look neurotic if I say anything! It's driving me mad!" and the last panel is Wally telling Dilbert about his new screensaver, "Wally's 101 annoying cubicle sounds".

Is fingernail clipping so annoying? I can see why it might be in principle, but it doesn't feel it. It's very quiet -- practically not showing up against the background -- and lasting only a few minutes and only every few weeks. Work isn't so silent that noise would stand out. And we're spaced so only about one person might hear.

[1] along with emergency: toothbrush, alcohol and tissues. I've yet to stash shoes and underwear.

Comments

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

I can deal with noise quite easily, I have a far harder time dealing with quiet sounds, so yes, to me that would be a really annoying noise, except that it would be time limited (you do only have the 10 fingernails I think) and so I'd cope.

[lupie-stardust.livejournal.com]

The sound of nails being clipped drives me quietly mad. This is because it is a small, yellowy-green shallow "X" and the edges are sharp. If it goes on for a while, it hurts my head.

I have just cut off my beautiful long nails because the sound they were making on my keyboard was similarly painful.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I have just cut off my beautiful long nails because the sound they were making on my keyboard was similarly painful.

*hugs*. And the synesthesic description was perfect. But on the other hand, *files away for future reference*, just in case :)

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Nail scissors are quieter and more versatile.

The noise of clipping doesn't bother me, but the sound does squick me a bit as it forces me to think of co-workers and discarded body parts. Can't they do it at home?

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

I can see why people would think fingernail clipping in your cubicle is a bit off, not because of the clipping noise itself but because it's a personal hygiene ritual which is typically not conducted in public.

Personally, if I occasially heard quiet tapping sounds, say, from a co-worker's desk, it would bother me not one jot. But if I one day stumbled across them to discover that they were actually, I don't know, picking dead skin off their feet or something - then I'd think "ew!" and any time I heard the sounds I'd think "ew, I wish they'd stop doing that". I'm not saying fingernail clipping is quite the same as picking dead skin off feet, but it's certainly on the same spectrum and not VERY far away.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

I found a toenail clipping when I shook out the keyboard in a French bank I used to work for.

When the chorus of 'EWWWW YUK' has died down, you will understand the reason why the sound of toenail clipping is unwelcome: the ricochets can end up anywhere.

Who, me? Anyone who practices Judo or Aikido is obliged to keep their finger- and toenails short, or cover them with tape while practising on the mat. So mine are always short; occasionally I make the painful mistake of cuting just that little bit too far and have trouble with zips and buttons for a week. And no, I don't clip my nails anywhere that other people will hear it, or get hit by fragments.

[cornute.livejournal.com]

If I may get overly personal here (and you'll see why in a moment) it might be better to stash spare trousers.

The only two reasons to keep spare underwear at work, but not trousers, are in case (a) you either are stuck at work for a while or have to go somewhere other than your main repository of clean underpants, or (b) you get ill and have a sudden accident.

However, both of these reasons can also be remedied by the step of removing one's underpants and wearing solely the trousers.

I don't think it's so common that one has a sudden attack of illness, compared to the much more frequent "oh, I've spilt something brightly colored on my khaki trousers" issue-- and how often does this happen before an important meeting or after-work social plan? At this point, clean underpants won't do you any good, but clean trousers would help!

I don't keep spares at work, but I did have at one point three shirts and a pair of jeans in my car; the jeans were washed, and the shirts are actually in the possession of three co-workers who consecutively spilled things down their fronts.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

However, both of these reasons can also be remedied by the step of removing one's underpants and wearing solely the trousers.

Indeed, that makes a lot of sense. For some reason I don't like to do it anymore, I'm not quite sure why.

the jeans were washed, and the shirts are actually in the possession of three co-workers who consecutively spilled things down their fronts.

LOL. That makes sense. (Also, I live 5 min from home, so I can go back and get something if I really need to, things in the parking lot would be an improvement but only a small one, mainly to stop me going home and forgetting to get out of the shower and go back to work.)

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

I live 5 min from home

really? :)

Whoops

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Uh, for certain levels of pedantry, yes...

[lizzip.livejournal.com]

Fingernail-clipping would annoy me only because of the irregularity of the noise, but it would, as you say, probably stop before it got on my nerves too much :)

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Try scissors, not clippers.

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

*filing* your nails is socially acceptable, right?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I think so. Though it may depend if it's done sarcastically/pointedly.

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

"I file my nails at you!"