Bloody Hell

Customers are disgusting.

An Asian woman came in to buy a phone cable today. At the counter, I picked up the item and thought "Huh, why is this wet?"

And then the customer brushed some hair out of her eyes, and left blood on her forehead. And on her chin.

And I was about to say something, but then I looked down at my hands and realised that the wet stuff was in actual fact, her blood.

Her blood.

On my HANDS.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH.

Then she realised she was bleeding. While I was mentally hyperventilating. At her blood. Smeared on MY HANDS.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.

So the stupid twit had cut herself while cooking. And she hadn't realised it. And despite the fact that it was bleeding quite happily, and it must have hurt, she still hadn't realised it. And so not only did she get to smear some on her face, but also when she picked up the phone cable, thus transferring the blood to my hands. Oh, and the EFTPOS machine. And the pen she used to sign.

I said to her, quite calmly, "I'll go get you a Band-Aid from the First-Aid kit."

And then I ran to the staff room and did a Lady Macbeth, running to the sink and scrubbing furiously at my hands with antibacterial gel, because who knows what kinds of things people harbour in their haemoglobin?!

Plus, I was seriously, seriously grossed out.

Bodily fluids just do not belong on a store counter.

I got her a Band-Aid, then scampered away to the storeroom to have a hysterical bitch to my assistant manager, who kindly provided me with several strips of 70% isopropyl wipes so I could disinfect the counter.

I cleaned the EFTPOS machine, the counter, and the keyboards with that wonderful wonderful cleaning alcohol.

You probably think I'm being paranoid, but it was just feeling that wetness and then realising what it was that made it all the worse.

And the moral of the story today is: Beware customers with open wounds.

Also, some people are twits. But count that as obiter.