Man doesn't get his mail because of spiderweb.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by pylon

I do not think it is unreasonable to think people fake phobias to get attention, that is all.

True, but that's not what you opened with.

Personally I think a lot of arachnophobes do it for attention

[Mr.Coffee]

Well, considering spiders are in fact the direct spawn of satan and arrived from the bowels of hell I think being afraid of them is somewhat acceptable. With respect to my own opinion there is a direct correlation between size of said spider and my fear of them.

8 legs. 8 eyes. Fangs. Poison. Small hairs.

There is no need for that here. Just no need.

[Daradon]

I would think being a mailman you would be willing to accept insects and arachnids as part of the job territory.

Nothing against people who fear them, I was skittish myself till I lived in Australia for a while (there you learn to live with them) but if you are that afraid of them, maybe being a mailman isn't for you.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by pylon

One of the girls that works there (girl 1) asks what I am doing, I open my hands and show her the spider, and she is like.. "oh, ok." Girl 2 comes over sees it and freaks out, and starts panicking. Girl 1 then all of a sudden after seeing girl 2 is afraid of spider does the same thing, and starts covering her mouth and panicking too, like it is the appropriate reaction. "It is cute to be afraid of a spider." when 10 seconds ago, it was just a stupid harmless bug.

That probably has more to do with being a girl, then deciding to be afraid of spiders for attention. Maybe she thought you were cute and wanted your attention.

Seriously, when girls start competing with each other, you can hardly use it as a baseline for anything rational.

[Sr. Mints]

For some reason I am more terrified of moths than spiders. They're evil, soul-less butterflies, sent to earth to drain joy and happiness from the world, contaminating everything they touch with their vileness.

While spiders seem to come out of nowhere, they are dumb and slow and can be stomped on or vacuumed in a pinch. But moths are ten times more insidious: they're experts at avoiding the vacuum hose and better at hiding. And if you have lights on, they congregate in great numbers of up to 30, blocking the exits so you'll burn to death if your home catches fire.

And if they haven't gotten into your home yet, they mock you: They climb all over your kitchen window while you're drying the dishes, whispering "don't bother locking your doors and windows--I'm getting in there tonight, regardless."

Crafty, cunning beasts those moths. I would totally understand if my mailman stopped delivering my mail because of a moth. Don't get me wrong, I would still try and get him fired, but I'd be sympathetic at the same time.

[Mr.Coffee]

Are you kidding me Sr.Mints?!? There is absolutely no comparison between spiders and moths. Read some wikipedia excerpts I'm pulling on spiders and tell me these ******* are not the definition of evil:

"Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms.[1] Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every habitat with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species..."

"Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure"

"A herbivorous species, Bagheera kiplingi, was described in 2008,[4] but all other known species are predators, mostly preying on insects and on other spiders, although a few large species also take birds and lizards. AND HUMANS (EMPHASIS MINE)..."

I'm just going to completely bolden this next horrifying part...

"Spiders use a wide range of strategies to capture prey: trapping it in sticky webs, lassoing it with sticky bolas, mimicking the prey to avoid detection, or running it down. Most detect prey mainly by sensing vibrations, but the active hunters have acute vision, and hunters of the genus Portia show signs of intelligence in their choice of tactics and ability to develop new ones. Spiders' guts are too narrow to take solids, and they liquidize their food by flooding it with digestive enzymes and grinding it with the bases of their pedipalps, as they do not have true jaws."

anyway it goes on but I pretty much had to stop there and take a couple squeezes of asthma puffer.

Moths my ass man. They don't liquify you. Pull it together, get your head out of your ass and realize what is at stake.

[TorqueDog]

If there's one thing I've learned as a result of talking to Canada Post letter carriers during their 'strike', it is that some of them are complete sissies and will bitch about pretty well any aspect of their job if possible, not to mention that they are not above taking any reason they can possibly think of to not do their job to the best of their ability.

[dissentowner]

Mr. Coffee, you do realize that without those devil spawn spiders the world would be under plague from the amount of other insects right?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Are you kidding me Sr.Mints?!? There is absolutely no comparison between spiders and moths. Read some wikipedia excerpts I'm pulling on spiders and tell me these ******* are not the definition of evil:

"Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms.[1] Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every habitat with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species..."

"Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure"

"A herbivorous species, Bagheera kiplingi, was described in 2008,[4] but all other known species are predators, mostly preying on insects and on other spiders, although a few large species also take birds and lizards. AND HUMANS (EMPHASIS MINE)..."

I'm just going to completely bolden this next horrifying part...

"Spiders use a wide range of strategies to capture prey: trapping it in sticky webs, lassoing it with sticky bolas, mimicking the prey to avoid detection, or running it down. Most detect prey mainly by sensing vibrations, but the active hunters have acute vision, and hunters of the genus Portia show signs of intelligence in their choice of tactics and ability to develop new ones. Spiders' guts are too narrow to take solids, and they liquidize their food by flooding it with digestive enzymes and grinding it with the bases of their pedipalps, as they do not have true jaws."

anyway it goes on but I pretty much had to stop there and take a couple squeezes of asthma puffer.

Moths my ass man. They don't liquify you. Pull it together, get your head out of your ass and realize what is at stake.

You forgot the part where they are basically immortal as a class of animals having survived 250 million plus years and multiple asteroids/mass extinction events.

[jydk]

Originally Posted by pylon

Personally I think a lot of arachnophobes do it for attention. Kinda like "Look at me I am scared of spiders! I am a big burly man, but a spider scares me! Doesn't that make me unique, and different, yet somewhat sensitive?!"

I think that goes with a lot of phobias. People pretend to have them, to be quarky, and different. Then eventually they start believing their own lies. If a picture of a spider on a computer screen ruins your week, or makes you stop using the toilet, seek help.

I had a co-worker once that was deftly afraid of clowns (Coulrophobia). I convincingly pretended to share the same fear to strike up conversation and score with her.

Kinda like grown men breaking down and crying in public, to make them look all sensitive... same thing. I wonder what the name of the disorder is when you fake having a phobia to get attention... that is what I believe half people suffer from.

I have to disagree with your theory on this one. I do agree that people have forced reactions at times to attract attention, however, I do believe people are scared sh*tless of spiders. When I'm alone in the shower and notice a spider on the ceiling, I instinctively jump out of that shower like I'm being raped by that same very spider, and I don't return until it's been removed. I'm able to do that myself, but with a slight, yet genuine fear.