I don’t normally discuss my phobias in this blog, as such discussions usually strike me as self-centered and boring.
But in a local park the other day, something happened which has not only inconvenienced me, but grossed me out by activating a phobia I cannot easily control. What happened was that while wearing my running shoes I somehow managed to step in shit, and I didn’t know it until I got home and had gone upstairs, and saw it. I thought it was dog shit (which is not usually that big of a deal to clean up), so I removed my shoe to wash it off, only to realize that something was very, very wrong. There was an unmistakable, sickly sweet-and-sickly-sour smell of human excrement!
I don’t like dog shit, but it does not activate feelings of disgust the way human shit does. It is overwhelming and awful and I cannot explain it. The fear is called Coprophobia.
an abnormal and persistent fear of feces (bowel waste). Sufferers of coprophobia experience anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. They go out of their way to avoid coming into contact with feces or sometimes even seeing feces.
Well, I’m not quite that bad. But what really set me off in this case was that it was incredibly gross to try to get it out of all the nooks and crannies of the underside of my running shoe. Because of the pasty, clingy consistency of the foul stuff, I could not do it. It was as sticky as glue, and would not wash off. Dog shit tends to be crumbly and a lot easier to deal with. I suspect that the turd in the park came from the guts of someone with a diet consisting of other than dog kibble. I used a weeding tool with a sharp point as best I could, but that grossed me out too, as it’s a tool I use, and I don’t want someone’s shit on it. As you can see, it didn’t work in all the damn crevices. Here’s the underside of my shoe, three days (and two runs) later:
The smell absolutely will not go away, and it has not. My running shoes are outside on the porch, and it gives me the creeps to put them on when I go running. I am uneasy even touching them. I feel contaminated by the whole thing, and I have a strong instinctive urge to retaliate. But how? Obviously, this is a neurosis, but it does not endear me to the type of people who take dumps in places where others must walk. It’s a basic quality of life issue. You’d think the guy (or gal, although I suspect the former) could have at least done it in a plastic bag and thrown it in the trash out of consideration for other human beings.
Hell, the trauma even makes me want to scream “THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW!” or something. Except there probably is a law against defecating in public. Such laws, though, are unnecessary with that 99% of the public who would not do such a thing. Unfortunately, the 1% who do are undeterred by laws. So what is the good of a law which is not only not needed by 99%, while not heeded by 1%? And how might such a law be enforced? I mean, suppose I had been in the park and seen the guy take a dump, then called the cops on my cell phone. Ann Arbor police are overwhelmed, and their staffing has been cut in recent years by 35%. Assuming I waited and an officer responded in time to catch the guy, what would he do? Cite him? Collect the, um, “evidence”? I don’t think so. And suppose the public pooper had been a derelict with no address. How would he ever be expected to pay the fine?
It’s a classic quality of life issue, and the answers are not staring me in the face. It makes me understand why some people feel the need to “vote with their feet” and move to “nicer” communities…. before they encounter something else with their feet.
I found a fascinating debate over the issue by commenters here, and I was intrigued by this comment:
now, i am the first to agree that there is a huge problem in downtown dallas with respect to certain individuals using downtown dallas in less than perfect ways. having worked at energy plaza, i stepped over more human fecal matter/waste on my way to work than i ever care to remember. but, to me, this was just part of living in a city. to live in a true urban city means to co-exist with everyone.
i suppose my question is this — does dallas want to be a true urban city or does it want to be a series of little isolated villages, like watters creek in allen? you can’t have both. you can’t be an urban city with a fabulous arts scene and world class restaurants (because that’s the dallas i know) without accepting and welcoming the other side of urban life.
Interesting dichotomy, but is my problem that I am some kind of coprophobic bigot?
Am I not being accepting and welcoming enough to the other side of urban life?
What should I do?
Comments
12 responses to “Why some people vote with their feet”
You are not the problem, Eric.
That’s what comes with living in a world-class city. The first thing I remember when I think about my visit to U. of M. checking out grad schools is the guy pissing on the wall in the parking garage stairwell. Ann Arbor gets filthier every year.
Saline seemed like a pretty nice place to live last time I was there.
Soak them in a bucket of water.
Time for a new pair of shoes.
[…] of stepping in it, I would not want to do so wearing […]
You may be able to save the sneakers by using Simple Green, a non-toxic cleaning liquid with enzymes. The enzymes remove bad smells. And use an old toothbrush.
I would go to the dollar store and buy two scrub-brushes. To clean something like this, I like Simple Green or powdered Oxyclean. The powdered Oxyclean might give some needed abrasive action. I have cleaned some stubborn things by making a wet paste out of the powder and letting it set. Use one brush until the shoes seem to be clean, or almost clean. Then I would use the second brush for the final cleaning with something antiseptic like bleach. Throw both brushes away. The reason for two brushes is that you have a visceral reaction to the idea of any poop being left. The second brush will not contain gross material and hopefully you will be able to consider the shoes truly cleansed after you’ve gone over them with a second, “clean” brush. Good luck!
I agree with all of the above suggestions, with the addition of purchasing a set of rubber gloves that you never plan to use again. You can even get a plastic “dishpan” at Wal-Mart for under $2 that you can use just once to cleanse your shoes, then discard (or recycle, whichever you prefer).
And your revulsion is completely justified. Like you said, dog shit is one thing, but stepping in human waste… words fail.
Oh, and I disagree that one has to “accept” this type of unacceptable behavior if one wants to live in a “world-class” city. Unacceptable behavior is unacceptable, period. It falls to all of us NOT to accept the unacceptable, and do what is within our power and authority to stop it.
Some interesting standards. World class city equals third world sanitation and total lack of respect for others? I must disagree. Perhaps it is time for a reversion to Victorian standards and admit that those who will not control themselves must be controlled. Institutions may be bad, but life on the streets is not an improvement, for the effected individual or society.
Actually, I was pondering once why it is that human shit smells SO much worse than dog, horse, etc… and the answer came fairly quickly (thankfully).
It is so that you don’t eat it.
That sounds inherently gross, I know, but remember, for the two billion or so years of our existence as life forms, we have been a)constantly hungry and b)excreting.
Thus, since excretion is inherently poisonous, or at best just a waste of processing energy to consume, for evolution to develop a big loud WARNING: STAY AWAY EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE STARVING sign only makes sense. Thus, I assume that dog shit probably smells worse to a dog than human or horse shit, same with horses, etc etc.
That being figured, I then stopped thinking about it. I swear. Honest.
You DID say, “I cannot explain it”. 🙂
[…] classes exempt from the law. In order to be arrested for things like littering or taking a leak (or even a dump) in public, you have to be middle class and capable of showing up in court and paying the fine. […]
Water with 10% bleach, only deep enough to not cover the soles.