Britt Jones
There are certain pet peeves people may have when it comes to household chores, and it might be difficult to navigate from time to time.
However, one curious Reddit user sparked a whole debate about what it means to be polite to someone who is mopping - especially in a public place.
It’s easy to see why so many people were vocal about the question, as you can only imagine yourself on the other end, having someone interrupting your deep clean.
It’d be pretty annoying.
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But imagine someone walking across your freshly mopped floor… it’s beggars’ belief that it would happen.
Yet, it does.
One person who was interested to know how to avoid getting into a spat over marking a sparkling floor was in for a ride with the useful tips that came their way.
Posting to the AskReddit subreddit, they posted: “How are you supposed to walk across a floor being mopped by someone without looking like an ass?”
The advice was swift and many, ranging from tips about walking on your hands wearing gloves instead, to bunny hopping your way through the room to make as little marks as possible.
One person went as far as to detail an entire scenario for the user, so that there is no way it could get lost in translation.
It also seems to be the universal way that most people would walk into a freshly mopped room.
It read: “Walk fast and if you make eye contact say ‘sorry’ or ‘Hi’ and give a nod. I've done some cleaning and it really isn't a big deal to clean another spot.
"It's almost worse if you're indecisive and wait around thinking because that just takes up my time.
“Trust me, we don't hold a grudge against you or get p*ssed. It's not like you're walking on wet cement. Only time I would be annoyed is if you have really muddy shoes and if you are walking and talking on your phone thus being in the way.”
I mean, they could all just go out and buy a robotic hoover-mop hybrid and be done with it, but I suppose there’s an art to mopping.
Others explained how they do it in their given countries, making for a hilarious battle for who uses what phrases when trying to be polite.
Someone said: “In canada we just say ‘Oop, just gonna squeeeeze on by’ and tip toe over the wet spots while we wave apologetically.”
And another explained: “I go as fast as possible while saying ‘shit, sorry, dude!’”
One person totally ruined the vibe when they suggested becoming the mop itself: “Sit in it and drag you’re a** like a dog.”
Ultimately, it seems as though apologising, trying to tip toe your way in as fast as possible and apologising again seems to be the winner for most people.
Obviously, you’re not breaking any rules when it comes to interrupting a mop session, but as long as you’re nice about it, you should get off rather lightly.