If you ask a general person what their biggest pet peeve is, there's a good chance that they'll say it's people who smack when they eat or chew with their mouth open. That's very true for me. My little sister used to smack when she ate, and I would either tell her to close or mouth or go somewhere else so I couldn't hear it anymore.
She grew out of that, and I figured that was pretty normal. Toddlers and little kids eating are pretty gross, so learning how to eat with your mouth closed is probably a skill that people develop.
As such, she's the only person I've ever had to really deal with who ate like that. When it's your little sister, it's a little easier to get mad at them.
When it's a stranger, the best you can do is grind your teeth and not start a scene.
The sound of food being churned around in the mouth and the wetness of saliva makes me nauseous, and honestly, it's so annoying to listen to when you're trying to focus on something else—or even just enjoy the bliss of silence for once.
Despite my aggressive personality, I don't often have the urge to reach across the table and punch someone in the face. This day, though, I wanted to so badly I ended up making my jaw sore for the rest of the day because of how hard I was clenching it. I was trying so hard to stay in my seat, I made myself sore.
Why?
Because someone I didn't know decided to sit across from me and noisily eat their lunch. In a very quiet room. For half an hour.
It was non-stop horrific sounds. I've been nauseous for at least two weeks, so it's pretty easy to imagine how little that helped me.
Chances are, I'm not the only one that has these kinds of issues. While I know I should leave people to live their lives however they please because, really, chewing with your mouth open doesn't affect me that much, it's still totally disgusting.
Who never taught you to close your dang mouth when you eat?
Seafood and see food are different things, and I thought we all learned that in elementary school when we went around showing each other the food in our mouths because we thought it was soooo funny.
Chew with your mouth closed. It really isn't that hard.
