What drives you crazy?

Certain things drive me crazy.  Normally few things provoke uncontrolled behavior in me. Yet watching people chew gum nervously sends me into orbit for some unknown reason. 

As a child I used to love chewing gum. I thought I was very grown-up whenever my mother handed me a piece of Juicy Fruit gum from her purse. But, my mother would sometimes spoil my fun by chiding me. “Marsha Jean, you look like a cow chewing its cud. Keep your mouth closed and don’t smack.” Eventually, I abandoned the habit altogether. Over time, watching others enjoying themselves with their gum began to really bother me. You know. The nails-on-a-blackboard type guttural reaction.

My anti-chewing gum fetish rose to the surface the other day at Chase Bank, of all places. A sharply dressed, young male banker asked if he could help me as soon as I walked in. Everything about the encounter was business-like except that he was chewing gum. I instinctively grimaced knowing how unpleasant the experience was going to be, at least for me. As an important transaction had to be done, I relented trying my best to avoid look at his rubbery-looking mouth. 

Once seated at his desk, I casually queried the banker, "Does Chase mind that you chew gum at work?"  He gave me a blank stare. He replied politely that there was no company policy against it of which he was aware. However, at least he had the presence of mind to discreetly remove his gum and toss into the wastepaper basket.

For me, chewing gum is a private affair which should be done quickly and quietly, basically for dental hygienic reasons after eating. Seeing people in the service business chewing away, offering glimpses of their blue or green gum or nonchalantly releasing an occasional bubble, is far from professional.

I was heartened to read last week that the $4 billion gum industry has gone into freefall with sales down eleven percent.  Why the decline? Two reasons. First, a large cultural shift is underway and young people no longer consider chewing gum is cool.  Secondly, the choice of ingredients used to produce gum today is hardly appealing, especially if “natural” or “organic” is important to you.

For fun, pick up a packet of gum and see what goes into it. Oh, so many appealing ingredients such as Butadiene-styrene rubber, Paraffin, and Petroleum wax and, naturally Gum base. Who would want to put that into their mouth anyway?

While the popularity of gum chewing in public may be on a bit of a hiatus, my nerves are preparing for a potential new onslaught. I just read that hemp oil infused gum is starting to make headways. Well, given the stress we live under, I may have to change my obsessive attitude about gum-chewing and direct my attention towards something else which drives me crazy.