She Politely Asked an Elderly Regular to Cover Her Mouth While Coughing—Then Coughed Back and Got Branded “Extremely Rude and Disrespectful”
Pexels/Reddit
Being coughed on once is gross enough, but having it happen over and over after asking someone to stop is another story.
One woman was waiting in line for a sandwich when an elderly customer behind her coughed and sprayed the back of her neck.
At first, she tried to let it go. But after it happened again, she turned around and asked the woman to cover her mouth.
But, that didn’t help, and after getting coughed on yet again, she finally lost her patience.
In a fit of rage, she turned around and coughed as hard as she could right back in the lady’s face.
Read on to see exactly what happened.
AITAH for coughing in an old woman’s face?
I (31F) was in line for a popular sub chain, and behind me was a woman in her eighties or so.
I wasn’t really paying attention to her until I heard her cough and felt spit land on my neck. My hair was up in a high bun because I am a dog groomer, and I keep my hair up to avoid getting it snagged in the nail grinder when I do dogs’ nails.
I wiped the back of my neck, and sure enough, it was a bit wet with spit from this lady coughing. I thought it was a one-time thing, no big deal. Then she coughs again, and more spit hits the back of my neck, and I think, “Did she really just do that again?”
At first, she thought it might have been an accident, but then it happened again.
I turn around and politely ask this woman, who’s older than the sunrise, to cover her mouth when she coughs because it’s the polite thing to do, and turn back around feeling quite annoyed.
Lo and behold, she coughs again, and it was a loud hacking cough sound, and once again, I feel spit hit the back of my neck. I turned around and said firmly, “Cough on my neck again, and you’ll regret it.”
I moved forward in line to be closer to the person in front of me and hoped this old woman would have the decency to stop after being told twice to please cover her mouth.
Then, it felt like the woman did it on purpose.
She coughed again, and I swear this time was so dramatic it couldn’t have been an accident.
I don’t know what came over me, but I gathered as much saliva in my mouth without thinking and just turned around and coughed HARD directly into her face.
My cough was forceful enough to make her take a step back and declare that I was “extremely rude” and decide, I guess, to go to another establishment because she just flat-out walked out of the place.
After telling the story to other people, she’s getting mixed reactions.
I’m not proud of what I did, but honestly, how many times can you ask someone not to cough on you?
I told my coworkers, my husband, and a few family members and friends. My husband and in-laws are on my side, but others have told me I’m TA because older people can be immunocompromised, and she coughed on the back of my neck, whereas I coughed directly in her face. They said I could have really gotten her sick, and it’d be my fault if she did.
IMHO, she should have covered her mouth like a normal person. My nephew is three, and he does just fine covering his mouth.
AITA?
Yuck! What was either of them thinking?
Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit think about what happened here.
This person calls out elderly people for certain behaviors.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
For this reader, both of them are kinda wrong.
Here’s someone who finds the whole thing funny.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who documented times of noise spikes and turned their neighbor into a model tenant.
This reader thinks the woman did it on purpose.
This whole thing is just plain nasty.
Yes, the elderly woman doing it to her was wrong, and she deserved to be called out.
However, two wrongs never make a right.
The best thing she could’ve done was told the woman off or walked away like the bigger person.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
