A person eating toothpick, are they aware that they are doing it?

Tweet

I am just curious what is with toothpick that there are some people who seem to like to eat it for a dessert. I remember a few years back when this guy who asked me for a date, we were in a hamburger chain, after eating he took a toothpick from its bottle placed it in his mouth and abssentmindedly chew it up while he was talking. At first I thought he was not aware of what he was doing, but he swallowed it picked another one put it again in his mouth. He actually did it 3 times. I did not go out with the guy again. I just can't bear his toothpick eating habit. There was also one instance that I saw a girl did it and it happened in a 1st class restaurant. My sister and I while waiting for our order my eyes wandered around the room full of executive looking people. Beside our table were a group of women who had just finished taking their lunch. One of them had a toothpick in her mouth. Looking at her I was thinking why not she covered her mouth when suddenly she started chewing. It was really disgusting. Last Monday, we attended a business meeting held in a restaurant. After we ate our lunch the waiter gave us toothpick wrapped in white paper. For the 3rd time I've seen somebody ate toothpick. These 3 men whom we have meeting with after tearing open the small paper immeditely put the toothpick in their mouth. One of them absentmindedly chewing it while he was talking to us. I was kind of "not again." It's a good thing that it happened after eating otherwise I would probably had throwed up. I just find it so unsanitary. What about you guys, do you think I was just being so mindful of other people habit? Do you think they are aware of what they are doing or was it just an involuntary movement of their hand while engage in a conversation? What do you think?