DEAR MISS MANNERS: My roommate clips his fingernails into the sink and washes the cuttings down the drain. I’ve asked dozens of people over the years, and not a single one has expressed anything less than disgust. Another factor is that it clogs the sink drain, which he takes care of ... eventually.
Now, this is a good friend of mine, and we generally get along really well as roommates. He doesn’t handle confrontation very well, though, and is often resistant to change. So I’ve swallowed it; he doesn’t need the stress over something that really is a minor issue. No big deal.
But it’s still a little ping of irritation in the bathroom once in a while. It just seems so gross and weird to me (and everyone else, apparently). I’m not sure I’m looking for solution, but I’d be interested in your thoughts on the matter.
GENTLE READER: All sorts of disgusting things go down the drain. That is what it is for. Miss Manners does not advise you to get into an argument about the relative disgusting-ness of everything down there.
But surely you must want a solution. Small irritations, repeated often enough, lead to the breakup of civility, if not of households.
And you have two grounds of argument against your roommate’s practice. One is the danger of these clippings clogging the sink. Not being a plumber, Miss Manners is not certain of this possibility.
But there is no doubt that you are annoyed. The outlook is not bright for people who live together in a state of annoyance. This should be the sole grounds on which you appeal to him to stop. Not that it’s “gross and weird,” nor even that when sufficiently provoked, you might turn violent.