I have a Fear of Polystyrene cups

My phobia can make the simple question of “would you like a drink” feel quite stressful but when I am on a clients site I am usually safe in the knowledge that they have a water fountain so I generally just ask for a glass of water and I as usually presented with what I asked for,  a glass of water in a plastic cup.

Just this week I was asked the usual question and I have the usual fool proof answer,  I broke out in a sweat when I was presented with water in a Polystyrene cup, which for me is just as bad as giving me water in a mug.

I thought I would do some research to see If I was alone with this strange fear and thankfully I came across some interesting comments which confirmed that I am not the only one with the strange fear of all things cup related, however like me there are people who have a severe phobia of polystyrene cups. Here are some of the comments:“I wanted to submit my phobia which is Styrofoam cups. Just the idea of them makes me feel sick to my stomach and weak in the knees. The texture is discussing. The first time I realized it, was when I was about 20 years old and my boyfriend (husband now) handed me a cup of bought coffee and I screamed and threw it up in the air. Nobody was hurt but until this day (around 15 years later), I have managed not to touch them. If someone hands one to me, I have to tell them that I can’t take it (which is embarrassing in many situations).”

“My friend has a huge phobia of Styrofoam, to where she has to ask for a different kind of cup because she can’t stand it (also she is afraid of popcorn because the texture and sound are similar to Styrofoam)”.

The reactions above to polystyrene cups are similar to my feelings when presented with one of these cups. I look at a polystyrene cup and think that they never look very clean or hygienic. On the rare occasion I have drank from one whatever in them taste horrible and dusty. Usually I can drink water and cold things from vending machine cups but these days if anyone passes me a cold drink (even beer) in a polystyrene cup I simply refuse.

Putting my cup issues to one side there are a lot of recycling issues regarding polystyrene and the impact it has on the planet.

A common misconception is also that that when wet, polystyrene releases ozone depleting chemicals; however, the truth is that polystyrene production does not use CFCs, and have no effect on the ozone. However recycling them is another issue. For all of the facts about polystyrene cups click here.

With all of that said I will never be able to bring myself to drink from a polystyrene cup and it puts me at ease to know that I am not the only one.

Office Mug Dilemma

Last year I moved my business into a new office and I never quite understood what implications this would have with my phobia.

I had been running my business for over 11 years from a spare bedroom in my home. Things are going well and I thought it was about time I thought about separating my home life from my business life.

All in all the move has been great for me and is working well. The new office is great it has a friendly and professional feel, with all of the amenities as well as friendly and efficient staff. The one thing I did not consider was my mug phobia and how this would affect me. I suppose not thinking about it was a good thing in a way but it has created some complications.

The thing when I was working from home, I have my own mugs and I feel safe drinking and making drinks for visitors, so making visitors a cup of tea whilst also being able to have a cup myself is something I can manage but I did not consider this when moving my office. I am sure most people would think that with this phobia its simple, all I have to do is make myself a cup of tea thus avoiding mugs and cups. This approach does not work well when you have visitors.

The first complication is that I cannot even touch the cups in the office, let alone think about using one for someone else let alone me. I managed to overcome this problem this week when I had my first visitor to the office due to the fact that my wife also works in the same building and was able to make the tea for my visitor. However the bigger issue is what do I do with the cup after they have gone? Well luckily for me my wife was on hand to remove the offending item. I did sit there worried about and looking at the offending mug good hour until it was removed.

This got me to thinking about what will happen when she is not there. My wife only works part time and the thought of having to go through all of this is quite worrying. I suppose the best thing for me to do for the moment is to only have visitors when she is around for now!

I also had to go out and visit 2 new customers this week who gracefully offered me a cup of tea of coffee. I used my usual excuse on both customers about not drinking hot drinks. I find it easier to lie rather than own up to my phobia. As always this sparked a conversation about how strange that it is not to like hot drinks. The funny thing is the next time I visit them they will have forgotten having a conversation about me not drinking hot drinks and we will have the same conversation again!

When I was young!

Like most people with phobias, I can’t recall where my fear of mugs actually came from.  I can vaguely remember going through a phase as a child where I would not drink tea at home but I think that must of just been a phase as I love tea now.

It is strange though because I can remember one of the first things I was given as a child to drink tea out of was a green plastic beaker.  looking back my beloved beaker always looked like it needed a good wash but that never seemed to affect me back then.  Although at the age of 6 or 7 eating mud is acceptable, so drinking from a slightly dubious looking beaker would be a walk in the park.

I was born in 1973 at a time when plastic was not as well made as things are today, and at a time where people actually had Tupperware parties. I can remember having a green plastic beaker and would happily drink tea or squash from it, however  never at the same time I might add!

I can remember the plastic was quite thin and you could see the contents swashing around inside.  The beaker looked a lot like the picture on the left but from memory my particular cup seemed quite marked and very thin.

You may be sitting thinking that my odd phobia must come from childhood but I can’t remember ever finding drinking from my little green beaker a problem.

Whilst thinking about my phobia and this blog I have to the conclusion that my issues go a lot further than just tea in mugs.  Coffee is not a problem as I don’t like that anyway, but I o cringe when I see people drinking soup or even hot chocolate from a mug.  My wife loves hot chocolate and I love the smell but the thought of drinking it from a mug really makes me feel uneasy.

My Strange Phobia – Mugs & Cups!

At the ripe old age of 40 I find it odd that people find it odd that I have a phobia of mugs. So much so I have created a special category for it in my blog. I have searched the internet for a proper name for my phobia and I don’t seem to be able to find one. Maybe with the help of my new readers I might be able to create a new recognised name for this phobia. But let’s not run before we can walk!

I plan on finding likeminded people with the same phobia, funny videos and disgusting mug shots!

If you are like minded and have a story to tell then feel free to leave me a comment below.