Static Shock?

Short of changing to non-static carpet (like they use in Vegas hotels) or wearing shoes with conductive soles (like they use in operating rooms) you'll have to touch something else that's grounded just before you touch that tonearm!

A painless way to do this is to make a fist and touch ground with the knuckle of your forefinger :~))

Static electricity from finger can cause erratic playback for some CD players with metal buttons, took me long time to figure this out, here are some tips:

-Remember to touch rack/shelf first and this will discharge most of the static.
-If you have remote control use this instead of physically touching metal buttons
-Buy some Static Guard spray and spray on cloth pad kept near CDP, touch this to discharge static.

Yes, very simple. The air in the room you house your system in, is much to dry, solution would be to buy a humidifier.