Orange You Glad I Gave You the Flu?

Today was much like a normal day. Drop 5 year old off at pre-school and head to the Y for a much needed workout after a weekend of too much wine and too little water.

Fortunately for me, our YMCA has free childcare for up to two hours while you work out. To use the service, you have to sign your child in and tell the attendant at the desk where you will be. Given our frequent visits to the Y and my frequent use of this service, I am friendly with the attendant at the desk. Really nice guy who has worked at the Y for a while, not too talkative, which I make up for with my ability to talk aimlessly to anyone about anything.

Today, as I'm signing my son out of the childcare, the attendant, who we can call "Bob", was eating an orange. This orange was so tasty that he not only wanted to tell me how good it was and that it was a "Honeybell" orange, he also shared that he orders these oranges every year around this time since its the only time they are truly in season. Now you must know that I am the type of person that seeks to make everyone feel like they are appreciated and that what is important to them is important to me. So, naturally, I tell him that I will have to look them up and keep an eye out for them because I never pick the right oranges and I so love a tasty orange! I wanted to convey my appreciation for him solving the years of orange disappointment I had experienced in the past!

And then he says...

"Here, taste." and hands me the last orange wedge of the one that he had just peeled. With his hands. That were not washed. And kind of looked a little dirty.

I tried not to look stunned and completely taken off-guard, but I was totally stunned and taken off-guard. By an orange slice!

Given my over-appreciation of everyone's contributions to society, I am also usually prepared for the path that a conversation is going to take, ready and willing to fire with compliments and verbal appreciation. However, never prepared for dirty orange offerings.

So...I ate it.

Then I stuck my hand under the sanitizer dispenser and licked the alcohol filled solution off of my hand. It totally ruined the delightful taste of the bacteria laden orange wedge but it was worth it.

Actually, that last part is fictitious, but its what I wanted to do. It's not that I think that "Bob" is not clean or that I was not appreciative of his Vitamin C filled offering. I just feel like he put his hand in my mouth. The same hand that he is constantly touching the scanner that he checks YMCA badges with, the same hand that he touches the pens for people to sign in, and the same hands that were, in some capacity, utilized in the bathroom within the last 2 hours.

The good news is that he did use hand sanitizer after he gave me the orange so he's got that going for him...which is nice.

And while I don't feel like I experienced anything that is truly detrimental to my health, I feel kinda weird. I wasn't ready to start that kind of relationship with "Bob" and I certainly do not plan to continue it with regardless of the season, or the fruit!

Lesson learned though. Don't talk produce with someone that you aren't close to. Apparently, it's a very intimate topic that opens doors that I didn't even know existed.