Unceremoniously, she said so that everyone in line could hear, "You smell."
I looked in the direction of the bag boy and he nodded in agreement. "I came straight from the barn. I guess I haven't washed this jacket in quite a while." I mumbled under my breath.
— From The scent of a woman, oh, I mean a horse at Open Salon. Many thanks to mjr17 for the link!
As a part-time fishmonger, I’m sure this will happen to me, but so far I get off of work, make my way to my car, and get to my shower as quickly as possible. Maybe it’s because I’m a perfumista and I don’t want to wear a smell that offends other people (unless they’re my friends, of course ;3 ) or maybe it’s a sense of shame. Oh well, society at large seems better for this approach.
Many years ago, I was a waitress in a chili parlour, so sympathized with this story, LOL…quite used to running errands smelling like cumin + chile pepper.
That sounds delicious! xD Do you think that’s why you aren’t big on cumin-heavy scents?
No, still love cumin in food!
That’s a hoot! Reminds me of the time I was at the bank and this man came in smelling of vanilla and sugar. Several people commented on how great he smelled and it turned out he worked at the nearby flavor factory. The teller was laughing as he explained and she said, “You should watch the customers’ reactions when he comes in on days with bourbon flavoring!”
How funny!
I haven’t had a job that left an odor residue on me for awhile, but in high school, I work at Rax Roast Beef (like Arby’s) and smelled like roast beef and fry grease when I got off work – definite shower and hair washing needed at the end of the evening.
When I was in the Marine Corps, I mostly didn’t smell, except when we qualified every year – then I smelled like cordite (gunpowder) and gun cleaning oil. At least until I could take a shower – but one thing about living near a military base is that no one would comment on that smell in a million years. At least it’s better than chow hall smell – especially for the guys who have to wash dishes. That’s definitely a shower before going anywhere job.
The oil from the fryer is the worst. Everyplace I ever waitressed that had a deep fryer, everyone smelled like it by the end of the night.
Cordite and gunmetal smell great! If I knew of a perfume that smelled like that, I would buy it.
I’ve always said that if you smell like horses, I’ll follow you around all day. I think it’s a wonderful aroma, barnyard smells and all. 🙂 Now, there are definitely other inadvertent smells that I think would definitely repel people. When I was 19 or 20 I worked in a pizza place, and would often go out after work smelling like garlic, and I’m sure, other unfortunate aromas. Worse than that, I remember one night going to see some bad play and happened to look down at my leg, thinking, “Ohmigod, I’m bleeding!” I had pizza sauce running down my leg that had caked on. I must have been a much more easy going person back then, because I decided I didn’t care, and left it there all night.
LOL…love the pizza sauce story.
I’m with you, Miss Kitty – I love it when people smell like horses. I would have had my nose in that jacket.
Fortunately (or not) I have never had a job that made me smell like anything other than the occasional sweatiness.
That smell is so pervasive around central Ky. between all of the people that work at the racetrack, on horse farms and at the horse sales, that no one would have noticed, much less commented on it!
I’m sure that’s true!
When I was a kid, we bred and raced thoroughbreds. I grew up on the farm, and cleaned the barn, paddock, fields and horses several times a day. My father was fastidious about keeping it all clean, so I had to do my chores at 4:00am before school, after I got home, and before bed. I was called “Horse Girl” all my childhood because I smelled like one. It didn’t seem to matter how much I bathed, either. It was embarrassing back then. Now, I wouldn’t care as much, but I’d prefer to smell like Acqua e Zucchero 🙂
I worked in a fish processing plant in the summers during college – which I thought was bad enough. Luckily, a cup of cola in the washing machine takes out the smell of fish. However, it does not take out the smell of an anatomy lab. Unfortunately, my medical school anatomy lab was before lunch, so we had to go to the hospital cafeteria smelling of formaldehyde (or worse). I felt sorry for the patients and families that had to stand around us in line.