Erin The Great

I was sitting at my teller station when a customer came up to me. I hadn’t really been paying attention until I noticed something. You’d think that the presence of another human being would have been the cue that clued me in to their existence, but it wasn’t. Unfortunately I had smelled something rather odiferous and looked up to realize that it was another human being standing right in front of me.

OY! It was all I could do to keep a straight face, and not wretch in front of the customer. I got to thinking about this. Why do some people take personal hygiene more seriously than others and why do people who have relatively good personal hygiene smell like weird things like bacon or beef soup?

Are people really aware of how they smell? The people who smell like bacon, beef soup, fish, and garlic, do they know that they are secreting the odor? Drink water like a fiend and it’ll flush the smell right out of your system. You’re urine will smell, but better your urine than you right?

This brings me to my other smell genre…people who smell like urine, BO, oily head and dirty clothes. I have one word for you… SOAP! Soap in all its glory! Wash your clothes, and wash your body. Take a vacuum to your carpet and stop letting food ferment under various pieces of furniture.

Please note that many smells together don’t necessarily match and smell good. It’s like being over whelmed my female smell in an elevator. You smell the soap, hairspray, lotion, perfume, as well as other products. Too many smells are just as bad as not doing anything about a bad smell.

Back to my point, normally you know when you need to brace yourself for an oncoming smell but sometimes it surprises you. Since I work at a bank, there are a lot of workers that are of the ranks of the great un-washed i.e. construction, masonry, electricians and plumbers etc.

Usually you can expect the smell of stale cigarettes and body odor. Sometimes I’m surprised when I have a mason or a construction worker that is in front of me that smells like tide and fabric softener. They’ve been working a hard day and yet they don’t turn the air green with their existence.

Appearance is another thing. I think it’s funny when people will take jabs at your appearance but leave your particular brand of ‘human stank’ alone. I have a friend I work with that wears his hair in a must up way. It doesn’t look bad or unprofessional but for some reason a customer left him a comb and told him to comb his hair. Sometimes I really don’t feel like getting ready for work. I don’t look bad but my hair is in a ponytail, I’ll have my glasses on and maybe some mascara. My clothes weren’t wrinkled but for some reason people looked at me and will sometimes ask me why I didn’t bother to get ready this morning. Who are you people? Just because I didn’t feel like putting on a dress, heels and gobs of makeup apparently I’m slumming?

I guess its ok to make fun of someone who didn’t have time to shave or who probably needs a hair cut but forget them going after the smelly people…. That’s just rude! (Note sarcasm) I think if you’re going to criticize one, you might as well criticize the other. Be brave and hand over a bar of soap to a smelly soul or just keep your comments to yourself!