Quizzed about handkerchiefs by a colleague

[Trynasneeze]

Yesterday at work I sneezed. There's a bunch of colds going around, everyone is dealing with a bit of the sniffles right now, and I'm not the exception. 

I have a raging sore throat, mild congestion, not a runny nose but I have a perpetual sniffle in there somewhere, and when I sneeze (which is fairly frequent) I have to blow my nose. 

So I turned away from my colleague, A, who I was working with, and blew my nose, quickly folding and repocketing my hanky afterwards. 

Then the questions began: 

"Why do you use a hanky?" 

I told her that I preferred them, and asked if it was weird. 

"Not really, just different. You aren't super old and they are kind of an old person thing". 

A is 18 and I am 30, so I'm glad to hear I'm not classified as old yet. 

"I don't mean this in a judgy way", she carried on. "But don't they get pretty gross after a while? Do you have to wash it out a lot?"

I explained that I have a lot and change them at least daily, they get washed like any other laundry. 

"Do you carry one every day?" 

I said I mostly do. 

Then she continued, "What if you've got like a really bad cold?"

"What about it?" I asked. 

"Do you just use the same one all day or?"

"Heck no", I replied. "They're big enough for a few blows but when you have a cold you bring a few of them with you". 

"Ohh, interesting. I've never really thought how it would work before", she said. Then she changed the topic back to work. 

I think she was just genuinely curious and has never really known anyone who used a handkerchief before but it was fun to share. 

[Hankyrick]

Maybe she is now thinking of switching to them

[launderedlace]

Depending on how established and friendly the work relationship was, I might be tempted to ask her if she'd be interested in having her own handkerchief to try out. If the interest was there, then it's a simple matter to advise how she would get one. If there's no interest, then there's still the rest of the world to discuss (and work to do, of course!)

[allergyboy2001]

Sounds like you kept it light and casual. Depending on how it was going, I might have half-joked "It's ecological!"

Joe Flanigan from Stargate: Atlantis defended his handkerchief use that way at a sci-fi convention, when his co-star David Hewlett pretended to be freaking out about it.