So, I went to the supermarket today. With less than five items I went to the express checkout isle and waited in line until it was my turn. I handed the middle-aged clerk (I'm middle aged too) my store discount card which she swiped before handing it back and asking me if it would be a credit or debit card. As I was completing the keypad entry and removing my card she turned to a fellow employee and asked them to quickly take over as "someone is wearing a fragrance!" She almost ran from her work station to over fifteen feet away where she took refuge at the lottery ticket and cigarette/tobacco station (not allergic to that stuff I guess) and tried to catch her breath with a great oscar award-winning display of discomfort. The store is a ten minute drive from my home. I had washed my face and applied a dime sized drop of AV Blue with wet hands to my wet face to freshen up. I don't "bath" in my aftershaves or colognes. And I do understand, as I've been recently diagnosed with several food allergies myself. But here's where I'm sure my sentiments will be unpopular, and I'm ok with that. I don't expect anyone to stop eating pork, beef, peanuts, apples or bananas because I'm allergic to them. It's almost certain that I bought my AV at that store. The isles within twenty feet of that checkout are filled with soaps, conditioners, aftershaves, colognes, floor cleaning products, Bounce dryer sheets, Spic and Span crystals, Pine-Sol etc. and the scents are easily detectible. There is far too much "accomodating" of everyone's individual issues. Everybody's got so many rights that nobody has any rights. That's wrong. It is unreasonable to expect that the entire public should conform to the individual. If you can't work in an industry that serves the general public because of an allergy, or (fill in this blank) then you personally can choose to work elsewhere, like self employment at home, or in a hermetically sealed bubble....or perhaps you're actually un-employable. It seems that with every passing decade, more ways are being designed (and enforced) that require me to change for you. It reminds me of the Kraft Mac & Cheese Dinner debacle wherin a whole 'lotta moms got together and demanded the removal of the deadly orange dye from Kraft's product. Perhaps the folks at Kraft should have replied by email with a recipie for homemade macaroni and real cheddar cheese attached with a suggestion to get off your rear end and make it yourself from scratch. It's (used to be) a free country and you're welcome to not buy it, rather than demand that it be changed to suit you. How many of us like the look of that hole on the side of our Smith and Wesson revolvers? And one final note before I end this rant. Do you know why most paved roads are approximately 12-14 feet from the center line to the shoulder? Because they're for automobiles, not bicycles.
I was agreeing with you until your very last statement about......bicycles. I’m a biker, both road and mountain. I’m not one of those militant bikers who feel that cars need to make way for me. Quite the opposite. When I ride on the road I tend to hug the curb unless there is debris or piles of leaves in my way. I’m not one of those guys you see riding way out in the traffic lane. My main goal is to avoid being hit by a car, not challenge you to hit me. All I ask is for you to share the road with me. That means you might need to give me just a little room or slow down a bit when you go by me but that’s about it. What irks me is when I’m hugging the curb and riding on the shoulder and a car comes so close to me that I can feel the wind push me when they have the entire road available. It’s as though some people go out of their way to try and hit bikers. Let me have the shoulder. Is that too much to ask?
MntnMan62, nope, totally cool with keeping my distance from you and the shared space. It's when I have a cyclist right in front of me in the center of my lane on a two lane street with no legal passing lines and a 50 mph limit and there's two and a half miles of traffic behind us and he's pedalling along at school zone speed because he wants to ride "in the traffic with the cars" and use the left turn lanes at lights etc. Even worse when I get a whiff of that dreaded aftershave he's wearing under all that lycra.
I love my vintage Aqua Velva... My father used to wear it too. Sorry, I just picked up on that aspect of the OP's thread.
As a 30 something man I have seen too much of this kind of thing with my generation. We as a country have decided that personal responsibility is too much responsibility. It is apparently everyone else's job to make these people comfortable. Everyone is now a victim, everything is someone else's fault. Little Timmy fell down and scrapped his knee, better not let ANYONE play, did little Suzy's team came in last place, better give them all first place trophies, ect. Then all this stuff about "safe spaces", what the **** is that all about? If someone says something you don't like, oh well, EVERYONE has the right to say what they want and believe what they want, but that doesn't mean your options are more important than mine. P.S. if you are offended I DO NOT CARE! Being offended dont mean jack squat to me, If you are offended just remember this is The U.S. of A. and there is no right to NOT be offended, if we as a country cared about offending people we would still be under British rule.
Aqua Velva? She acted like that over Aqua Velva? Sounds to me like a Drama Queen more than anything else. The ingredients are in food and health care products. Did she give up showering as well? How about store bought prepared processed foods? I doubt it. All those candies and gums next to the counter have all the same ingredients. She act a fool in front of those? She stands at the PoS everyday. She's full of crap.
My Bride and I are big believers in personal responsibility and a lot of what has been said. I will throw out something for consideration that may or may not apply in the OP's situation. When my Bride had chemotherapy, the smell of chicken noodle soup made her violently sick. Before chemo and now...no problems, and she is definitely not a snowflake. She hardly missed a day of work during her cancer treatment. When my sister in law had chemo, she was sensitized to cold air. She was a caterer, so she had to wear extra clothes and gloves to move stuff in and out of her commercial refrigerator during her treatment. Yep, she worked too. Tough gals in my family, and I have nothing but respect for them. Unless you know a person's situation, it's hard to tell if they're a wingnut or not. When you get right down to it, we're all probably a little wingnutty.
I don't think it was vintage. He said he was middle aged, and he brought the bottle. At best the bottle was bought around 1984 or after depending on you definition of 'middle aged' and how young he might have first started stocking up. Either way I don't think we are talking about the vintage stuff.
This is true as well. I've known people who have had toxic shock syndrome before. Once they got sick, they had to move out into the country because the smog and fragrances of the city would make them violently ill. It's possible that this girl has medical issues that make her sensitive to her surroundings, but does not have the skills or job qualifications to get herself out of that line of work. Not having those skills is a whole nother discussion about personal responsibility... But to generally complain about stuff without all the info is just as the OP says at the end, just that, a rant.
True. I'm an old dude, so I've probably ranted more than any six of you combined. Stories like the one I shared above, though, and this one (start video at 1:40) have hit me like a ton of bricks. Sorry if this is too philosphical. Again, I'm a big believer in personal responsibility, but I think there's a time and place for acceptance and understanding. I guess that's my rant.
Perhaps the girl concerned was in discomfort, one would assume so. Perhaps she has a sensory processing disorder. Whatever her issue is, it seems she is supported by the store that employs her. She was probably just trying her best. I don't quite understand the rant; nobody asked you to change your behaviour.
I feel sorry for that cashier....to say ".....a fragrance!". She presumably encounters other attractive fragrances in other places she goes.. How would she handle THAT?
The end of Covey's story(in fact, probably ALL of it)-brought me to the closing lyrix of my all time favorite song-Billy Joel's An Innocent Man: Some people hope for a miracle cure Some people just accept the world as it is
Unfortunately it maybe some thing she's going through, but I'd have to say her manager isn't doing his job by putting her in a position she is unable to handle.
