Saturday, November 15, 2014

Nosy

I recently was in a nearby smoke shop.  I don't smoke--I was there to purchase a drink.  As soon as I walked in there was an overwhelming incense smell.  I'm not sure if this is a normal part of the smoke shop racket, where they show off their wares, or if the owner just liked it, but it made me sick.

Which got me thinking.  What kind of jobs really smell bad?  Like working in a rendering plant, or the like.  And how much is the rotten smell figured into your salary? Or do you get the position based on your ability to ignore bad smells?

For that matter, do you get used to even the worst sort of smells? The nose gets fatigued after a while in any case, but can you train yourself not to be bothered by something?

PS  I'm sorry to be so ungallant, but occasionally I get stuck in an elevator with a woman wearing far too much perfume.  I try to hold my breath until I'm out of there.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Any restaurant has a dumpster which reeks in hot weather. It takes about a week to get used to it and ignore it.

How about the folks who clean public restrooms-esp. state parks- I think there is a psychological block which shuts down recognition of the nasal function.

And the plumbers worked with as a part of a school maintenance department in the 80s-forbid the use of "shit" as an exclamation- esp during food breaks.

Good smells talk on Saturday morning

5:24 AM, November 15, 2014  
Blogger ColumbusGuy said...

A family friend, president of a small bank (this was long ago) retired but couldn't stand the idea of not working, so he joined us doing whatever manual work we did. This included maintaining a small sewage treatment plant (this was long ago).

The work involved draining pits and climbing right into them to do whatever repair or maintenance was required.

He said he initially found it disgusting. But after a week or so, he found he could sit right in the middle of it and eat a Big Mac.

Hell, I'm guessing Jamie Dimon could do it without blinking an eye.

9:06 AM, November 15, 2014  

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