Cracking gums in office setting will always be frown upon, even if one does it in one’s own cubicle. Some people may think it is the personal business since they are not doing it in public. But the endless popping, cracking, smacking sound is penetrating, making all the co-workers around you sick. If one day you find out all your neighbors put on headsets or earplugs. You know you definitely step on some nerves. However if someone has very bad mouth breath, I would rather let him cracking gums all day than stink my face when we have to talk.
Luckily I don’t have any one is my office is a big mouth-noise maker or has bad breath. But at home, my hu*****and always crunches his food when we have meals together. He is so versatile, he can slurp soup, he can smack on noodle, and he can even chomp on tofu. This used to drive me up the wall.
"Were you a chipmunk the previous life? How can you conduct business when you eat out with your partners like this?” Once I blasted him.
“No”, said he, “I only did this at home. The more I enjoy the food my dear wife prepared, the more noise my mouth will make. I would never do this in public. I save it for you”
Then I became speechless. OMG, I am the cook, the only cook in our family. So this disgusting noise-making thing should be some intimate top reward I should accept on my hands and knees. It’s so lame. Anyway, after so many years, I am kind of getting used to his annoying habit. If one day he is quiet at dinnertime, the first thing pops in my mind is not “what a great table manner, but is that spicy chicken too bland?”
Am I a pervert? ;)