Sat down to a Sunday roast in a pub today, a woman (who looked to be in her early 60s), came in and joined a couple of her friends on stools by the bar near us...and proceeded to cough repeatedly. She put her hand to her mouth each time, but in a very casual way. Her friends, who she was quite touchy-feely with, said nothing about her coughing. I really wanted to, given the current Corona situation and that she was positioned by the bar where drinks and food were being served, but being British of course I didn't....though we quickly finished up our lunch and left the pub. I appreciate she didn't do anything wrong, as such, but.......would you have said or done anything?
No, I wouldn't. You could not prove that the woman was infected with anything, and you would have been jumping to conclusions. Least said, soonest mended.
I was asked by a sales assistant at a check out in John Lewis if I wanted my 2 small purchases wrapped...I had already seen her sneeze into her hands so I told her that I had seen her do this and actually was not at all sure I wanted her to touch my things...she did apologise and doused her hands in sanitiser. I am not usually so picky but I am old with a heart condition so do not want to shuffle off this mortal coil just yet!
Wish folk wouldn't do it casually though. Holding a hand six inches in front of one's mouth ain't going to achieve anything much.
Can understand your discomfort. One doesn't want to get involved with a confrontation or scene, but the British, for some unexplained reason, expect others to behave properly, even though all our life experience tells us that other people won't.
No, because I don't want to contribute to the increasing levels of hysteria being created by the media stoking up paranoia and unreasonable fear of a virus which is going to spread, peak, and die, like viruses do, and there is actually virtually nothing we can do to stop that from happening.