Spider makes his home up near the registers

[BowserKoopa1]

Yesterday a cashier next to me was trying to get me to see something. After a few attempts to see it I asked him what it was that I was looking for. Finally he said "Spider" and then I finally could make out a web. It wasn't really a web, it was a strand of spider silk that stretched from my register to his. Suspended in mid air was a tiny little harmless spider about the size of a crumb.
Just as I was about to do something, a lady came through his line and saw us looking up at the spider.
Lady: Um, are you open?
Me: Yes he is, we're just trying to take care of this spider here.
Lady: Oh, there's a spider?!
She slowly backs away, as does the other cashier. I chuckle to myself as I wonder just how its possible that people can be afraid of a tiny little spider like this. I grab a paper towel and grab the spider, but I do not kill it. I then throw it in the trash can. If I had been at home, I would have released it outside if I had caught one.
Later he tells me that he has a fear of spiders, and its then that I confess to him that I actually never killed the spider, just tossed it in the trash can. He gets nervous and asks what will happen if the spider gets out and makes his way back to him. I reassure him that everything will be ok, and that if the spider somehow comes back, I will handle it.
Ok, now I know this is gonna start a long discussion about how everyone is afraid of spiders and stuff. Yall are probably gonna say I should've just killed it, to which I reply no I will not. Does this mean I am a Monk? Hell no, it just means that I like all kinds of creatures, spiders included. I feel sorry for them because nobody likes them and everyone tries to kill the poor things (yes I know they are poisonous, my best friend got bit by a brown recluse and almost lost his arm) so I try to avoid killing them if I can. I wonder what it is that makes people so afraid of spiders? When I go to a pet store and hold a snake, people look at it and even are willing to get close. I hold a spider, everyone keeps their distance Btw I will not try to handle a wild spider and risk getting bit. I only handle the pet store ones.
So I guess my question is, who's afraid of the big bad spider, regardless of the size? Certainly not me!

[Teskeria]

I like the non-poisonous spiders at a distance. I like the way they eat the irritating flies and other insects. I don't kill them, but I don't handle them either. My youngest daughter has a severe phobia of spiders. SO much so, that when the spiders starting coming out during the Harry P movie, she started to whimper and I pulled her over and covered her eyes (teenager at the time mind you.) Guy behind started to make a nasty comment about her noise (as I was grabbing her) and I just looked at him and said 'She has severe Arachnophobia". He shut right up.

[Marmalady]

Spiders don't bother me, but then as far as I know we don't have any poisonous ones in the UK (though some, like the false widow, can give you a nasty nip which is a bit like being stung by a bee, apparently) I certainly wouldn't just kill one, usually I just catch them and put them outside.

Craneflies on the other hand......... *shudder*

[Food Lady]

I like them, generally, unless they're fat and black, or have thick legs. But spindly spiders, brown spiders, tiny spiders--they're my little houseguests. I let them live. I actually have affection for them, somewhat as one would for a dog or cat. Roaches and centipedes, however, can DIAF.

[FenigDurak]

My cat eats fresh webs, but not the spiders (thank gord!). She also loves to catch and maim cave crickets, which are abundant in our basement. It's adorable to watch too as she mews so proudly that the poor cricket makes a break for freedom only to realize he's missing a leg and only going to be caught again. The webs she eats like a dog with peanut butter and frequently comes away with some left on her whiskers.

[Pagan]

I'd have had to move from my place years ago if spiders bothered me. There's a lot of very industrious spiders around here. It's like the webs spontaneously appear. I've given up trying to keep up with knocking them down. Take a whack at them once a month.

I usually let them roam free, but I do relocate the occasional wolf spider. Mainly because I'm worried about stepping on it and hurting it!

Roaches and centipedes, however, can DIAF.

Centipedes, meh, don't really care. Just shuffle them outside when I infrequently get one.

Now roaches? I would love for all of them to be wiped off the face of the earth. They're dirty and serve absolutely no purpose except to torment me. Doesn't help that I've got a raging phobia of the little bastards....

[wagegoth]

I have lost most of my mercy for spiders after having been bitten by a black widow, and they are omnipresent in this area, in many shapes and varieties.

There's a very determined spider living in the left side mirror of my car. I have heated, electric mirrors, and it has rained heavily a few times already, but as soon as the sky clears, there's a web on the bottom left corner of the mirror in the morning.

[BrenDAnn]

Little bitty spiders like you were describing? No problem. It's when they get bigger that I don't like them. We mostly have the thick brown barn spiders around here, and they can get BIG! My only other problem aside from size is if they land on me. Then I scream and squeal like a schoolgirl, until I'm sure it has fallen off and crawled away to hide somewhere!

[HiddenMica]

I'm only afraid of large spiders. My bf has a bunch in his house. His room mate hates them and kills any on sight. My bf only kills the ones that dangle or get into "open" space. So long as they are in a corner he's happy. Even them most of the time if he can he'll put it outside and any that are outside are a strict no kill policy. If I wasn't afraid of the big ones he probably would let them rule the house. lmao. There are some big ones around here, brown recluse, they actually will chase you if you scream and run because they like the noise..... :shudder:

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Now roaches? I would love for all of them to be wiped off the face of the earth. They're dirty and serve absolutely no purpose except to torment me. Doesn't help that I've got a raging phobia of the little bastards....

See? It's not just me! Fear of Roaches is a thing. It's not me being crazy.

[Pagan]

See? It's not just me! Fear of Roaches is a thing. It's not me being crazy.

You're not only not crazy, that makes you one of the sanest people I know! I've only every made it 5 minutes into "Joe's Apartment" (the Busby Berkeley-esque number left me twitching) or the X-Files episode, "The War of the Caprophages".

Do you get people that not only laugh at you, but feel it necessary to go out of their way to either point them out to you or tell you about their encounters?

[dragon_wings]

I hate bugs. The place I'm living now is totally infested, the kitchen especially. Which is just one of the reasons I keep my food in closed plastic containers.
One night I went to go to the bathroom and turned on the light and shrieked. *Huge* cockroach. My housemate was in the next room and was all 'Why you screaming?' and I pointed it out to him and he was like:

[ralerin]

I love spiders and snakes and bugs of all kinds, except for cockroaches, mosquitoes and poisonous bugs. They get whacked the moment I see them.

At my Aid of Rite we have a family of 8-10 spiders that live on the outside of the window above the registers, ranging from pinprick size to big, meaty beefcake spiders thatcare half the size of my thumb. People don't think they're real until I point them out to them and then they start shrieking.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Do you get people that not only laugh at you, but feel it necessary to go out of their way to either point them out to you or tell you about their encounters?

I don't have people harassing me about it, if that's what you mean. My friends are not the sorts to laugh at phobias.

They have expressed amazement that I will walk around holding snakes and giant beetles and whatnot while being afraid of roaches, but they just shake their heads and humor me. Usually they'll go, "why don't you leave the room, I got something I got to take care of." Which is double speak for "I don't want to you screaming like a little girl while I kill this roach for you, so pound sand."

I did have a neighbor threaten to throw one on me when he found out, but I just so happened to have a snake on my person (it was in my hat, which I was holding. It's a long, bizarre story.) Let me tell you something Constant Reader, you will not command as much respect holding an AK47 as you will holding a snake.

He didn't throw the roach.

[Skeen]

I dislike killing spiders, but I will kill the black widows and brown recluses we have here if they are in my house. I can avoid them, but my cats don't know any better. When we lived in Oz we killed the redbacks wherever we found them (indoor/outdoor cats), but we always caught the huntsmen and released them outside so the cats wouldn't eat them.

A few months ago I heard one of my cats shuffling through his bin of toys and then he came bolting out while trying to paw something off his nose. I went to see what he had stuck to him and found one of the biggest recluses I'd ever seen. I managed to smack it off him and kill it before he got bitten by it, but it was still closer than I'd ike to think about. The way he was going after his nose like that I'm surprised the spider didn't get annoyed/frightened and bite him.