‘So, I’m going to keep my distance and I won’t shake your hand.’ Your colleagues will thank you later. ‘If you’re the person who is ill have the confidence to say: ‘I’ve got a stinking cold,’ says Bryant. ![]() But if you have a cough Bryant says it’s better to be honest and keep your hands to yourself. Hold the handshakesįunnily enough, 83% of us will happily shake hands with someone with a cough, perhaps because we don’t realise this puts us at risk of picking up germs. ‘A well-mannered commuter has anti-bacterial hand gel,’ says Bryant. As the government guidelines say, then ‘bin it.’’ And be prepared. It’s about hand avoidance, so cough into a tissue. The main problem with coughing is the poor cough hygiene. ‘At school children are now taught to cough into the crook of their arm, rather than put their hand over their mouth, it looks a bit dramatic but it’s a definite improvement from when I was at school and everyone coughed and spluttered everywhere. ‘We’re getting more germ aware,’ says Bryant. Cough into a tissue rather than your hand If there’s anything you can do to suppress the symptoms, like sucking a cough sweet, or washing your hands, that will stop the spread of germs.’ 2. ‘With coughing etiquette, you have a duty of care to other people. ‘Etiquette is really just about how we treat other people,’ says Bryant. If you’re the one with the cough don’t splutter over your loved ones. So what are her failsafe tips for navigating the coughing season without losing friends and alienating people with your projectile germs? 1.Be aware We carry on, we still go to work and even to the gym and still go around shaking hands.’īryant worked at the etiquette guide book Debrett’s for over a decade and now works advising foreign businesses on the nuances of English manners, if you’re invited to tea at the Palace, she’s your woman (you must stop eating when the queen does or risk a royal faux pas). We have a very British attitude to coughing. ![]() ‘Year after year I see poor cough etiquette from spluttering through social occasions, to coughing over a colleague’s desk. ‘Coughing season can be an absolute minefield,’ agrees etiquette expert Jo Bryant. Just this morning our editor Anna Magee asked a fellow commuter to cover his mouth. ![]() Public transport is another cause for coughing conflict, says the new research, with half of those surveyed complaining that coughing commuters splutter over them with little or no concern for their fellow passengers’ health. Men, however, are more sympathetic, with more than one third saying they wait on their partner hand and foot when they have a cough and a quarter offering to take over all the household chores. If you’d rather not alienate work co-workers a day in bed could be the answer that is, unless, you live with a woman, in which case you risk putting your relationship under pressure, since one quarter of women (24%) say their partner’s cough annoys them. According to the Jakemans survey one in ten people surveyed have moaned about a colleague behind their back when they had a cough. ![]() New research from the cough lozenge company Jakemans, might help you decide. We are rapidly approaching the beginning of January, which is peak cough season, the month when, no matter how much vitamin C you’ve mainlined over the Christmas holidays, you’ll likely be spluttering into your handkerchief just when it’s time to go back to work.Īnd this is where you will face a typical dilemma of the coughing season: to soldier on spluttering in meetings, hacking into your handkerchief, or to stay home tucked up under your duvet only to lose hard-won brownie points with your boss. As we approach peak cough season Sharon Walker seeks advice from a leading etiquette expert on the polite way to manage your germs
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