Head lice are quite common among children since they like to play with head-to-head contact, which lets these little parasites spread. Yet, contrary to what some people believe – lice don't indicate that those who get infested are dirty or anything like that.
Not everyone knows this, which sometimes can cause miscommunication or even drama between people – something that happened in this story. In it, a kid got lice, and his family treated themselves, but when their cleaner came to do her job and found out, she refused to step into the house. The kid's mom thought this was an absurd reaction and vented about it online.
More info: Mumsnet
While some people think that lice indicate people's poor hygiene, in reality, it's far from the truth
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
A woman's young son got lice, which forced the whole family to make sure they didn't have them, and included the husband shaving his head
Image credits: Antoni Shkraba / Pexels (not the actual photo)
He had been wanting to do it for a while due to his receding hairline, so it wasn't a big deal
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Then, when their cleaner came to do her job, she freaked out about this infestation and refused to step foot into their home
Image credits: Namechange20002
The woman thought that the cleaner's reaction was ridiculous and asked what netizens thought
The OP’s oldest son is in primary school, so basically somewhere between 4 and 10 or 11 years old.
One day, the boy started scratching his head a lot and it turned out that he had lice. Interestingly, when a person gets lice, it’s not the parasites themselves making their scalps, neck, and ears itch, it's their bites and the allergic reaction they cause. If it’s a light infestation, a person might not feel itchiness for a while, especially if it’s their first time getting them.
Well, we don't know if it was the first time OP’s son got them, but it was itchy for sure. So, the whole family used Nitwits and combing to get rid of the lice or prevent getting them from their family members.
At the same time, others, like the OP’s husband, opt for shaving their head. After all, sometimes not all mentioned procedures can be helpful or even possible, so shaving everything off might sound like the easiest choice. For the author’s husband, there is another benefit of getting rid of lice he possibly might have had.
A few days later, the family’s cleaner came and saw the change in the man’s appearance. She asked about it and he nonchalantly said that he shaved it because the kids had lice. This made the cleaner freak out. She ran back to her car, where she texted the original poster asking to come to do her job another day. Apparently, she was scared to get infested herself.
While partially understanding the cleaner's point of view, the OP also thought her reaction was absurd. It’s okay to not want lice, but the chances of her getting them at their home were very slim.
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Since lice are usually spread by direct contact, for it to happen, she would have to rub her head against the infested kids, which is far from a realistic scenario. Plus, she doesn’t have to change their bedding or pick up towels that could be infested, so that isn't a risk either.
Either way, the cleaner refusing to step into the house made the author feel like a shunned person, so she went to Mumsnet to ask whether feeling this way was unreasonable.
Well, many of the replies were more empathetic to the cleaner than the post’s author was. Some of them pointed out that she might have some misconceptions about how people get lice, or what they are, or she might even have a phobia of them (which is called pediculophobia, by the way!).
There also could have been a miscommunication – she might have thought the situation was worse than it actually was, after seeing the husband with a shaved head.
There are plenty of possible reasons why the cleaner might have reacted the way she did. Well, unless the OP talks to the cleaner or the cleaner herself finds the post and writes the actual cause, we probably will never know it.
Still, we kind of understand her attitude, while understanding the author's too. After all, it all sounds like one big miscommunication. But since it makes for quite an entertaining story, we can’t really complain too much, can we?
They were a bit more empathetic than the woman was and pointed out that maybe this cleaner has some misconceptions about lice or has a phobia of them
