Well, I was on my way to Japan this morning (I guess it was technically yesterday morning), and I had recently cut my finger putting away some dishes into a picnic basket. While waiting in line, I asked a man behind me in line for his pen, and realized when I was using his pen that my finger was bleeding all over the page that I was trying to fill in. I don’t think that he noticed, but I am sure that he wouldn’t have been too happy about a stranger bleeding all over his pen. No big deal; what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him. Besides, I’m pretty sure that the blood donor clinic would have let me know if I had some serious disease (I visited them last month and haven’t been into any risky activity since then).
Anyhow, I continue onto customs and fill out the redundant custom form. Again, noting that my finger is kind of bleeding, but at least thinking that it was contained. As I got up to the customs guard, I dropped some blood on his counter and quickly tried to wipe it off. I looked down and noticed that there was some on the form that I had just finished completing. “Are you bleeding he says”, looking over to the counter where I left a droplet. I confirmed, and he half-assed put on some gloves, cleaned up the counter, and said that it was hazardous or something. I was thinking that I was going to miss my flight because my finger is barely bleeding–the cut is almost as minor as a paper cut. But he just escorted me to some other guards that gave me a band-aid and some hand sanitizer.
He was pretty nice about it, but I am sure that it ruined his day. If the tables were turned, and if I were at a certain paranoid phase in my life, I would probably have anticipated the worst (maybe even years later). Anyhow, if you are reading this, I am sorry. There were no band-aids at our house, and this was not top priority at 3:30AM when gathering my shit to go overseas.
Actually, come to think of it. For how often I have had open wounds, in some dirty places (e.g., skate spots covered in pigeon shit), I am surprised that I am not more concerned about thinks like this.
