Looking forward into the searing western sky was literally painful, so I found myself peering into the rear-view mirror, watching the dude in the SUV behind me, when I noticed a disturbing knack he had.

I was stuck in rush hour traffic, the bright, fall sun painting my windshield with a wash of brilliance it made even sunglassed vision difficult. That same sun shone like a spotlight on the driver behind me who chose to multi-task in the slow moving trek west by flossing his teeth, using one of those little plastic hooks strung with a line of floss. At first I admired him. Flossing is one of those things I always think I should get around to, but usually only do when a particularly nasty popcorn hull or chunk of pork gets lodged uncomfortably twixt my teeth.

But the more I watched him, I saw this pattern that might be acceptable in the confine of one’s bathroom, but kinda gross in bumper to bumper traffic. Each extraction of the floss was followed by a quick visual examination of the floss, and then a sniff. A SNIFF! Smelling and, what, reliving that hot wing he just ate?! The three lanes of cars were like a parking lot after a concert. I had nothing to do but watch this guy meticulously floss, inspect and sniff…tooth after tooth. After the thirteenth sniff I thought, “How different was that whiff than the previous dozen?” This was really becoming less of a noble bit of multi-tasking and more of a close cousin to knuckle deep nose diving.

Anyway, be aware people. Glass works both ways.