by Ginger Philbrick
I’ve seen them and I know you have also…in parking lots, sidewalks and gutters. Plastic soft picks for cleaning teeth have become a staple of the debris in our streets. Every time I saw one, I wondered what a person might look like who picks their teeth in public and then discards the tool they used.
And today I found out! I was at lunch. A middle-aged woman was at the next table. She was well dressed and coiffed and was sitting with two other women of similar look. When she finished her meal, she extracted one of those ubiquitous picks from her purse and set to cleaning her teeth. I was mesmerized. Forsaking conversation with my companion, my attention was riveted on the dental cleansing. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it went on for at least five minutes, continually taking the pick in and out as needed for her to take a break to talk. It was then discarded on her plate.
The Emily Post Institute, and the majority of people who have actually been questioned on the subject—referring to YouTube—are quite clear on the topic of toothpick use. If you find you have need of one, you should tend to that need in private. No one enjoys watching it. My recent riveting experience was more shock than enjoyment. In addition to the unpleasantness of watching is the added possibility that loosened food particles will be projected onto innocent bystanders, or bysitters in the case I witnessed.
On the subject of how to dispose of a used pick, whether plastic or the wooden ones often used in cocktail party and reception food, they like to be discarded in a waste receptacle or wrapped in a paper napkin and left on the plate. They are modest and abhor being left exposed!
GingerPhilbrick is the owner of Because You Are Polite LLC. You are invited to email your manners questions to her and she will respond as time and space allow. You may contact her at youarepolite1@gmail.com
