You do not need to take a bath in it...

[Plaidman]

So I was chatting with a customer when his nose wrinkles, and askes me if I smelled that. I indeed can smell something pretty bad. Then this woman came in the door, and I nearly passed out from the smell. Her perfume was so freaking thick that I could see the lines of stunk off of her. Bad enough that I can smell her before she came in, but it also went all the way around the store, including in the cooler!! She was only there for at the most four minutes, and that much smell lingered? She had to have taken a bath in perfume or something!! Any other stinky customers

[MadMike]

My wife and I ran into one of those a couple weeks ago. I think I posted about it, but I'm too lazy to search for it.

It was so strong that even when I held my breath, I could still taste it. And I was fighting off a migraine at the time, so that made it that much worse. Anytime we ended up in the same aisle as that woman, we made sure to finish up as quickly as possible and move on.

The one I really felt sorry for is whichever poor cashier whose line she came thru.

[TeslaRecoil]

In one of my old stores, we had two people like this. One constantly reeked of perfume, and the other must have bathed in a tub full of fish heads before coming in. They both had lingering smells, and were both regular customers. Man, did it suck when they were both in the store on the same day.

But why bathe in perfume/cologne? I think it's better when you use just a little, to make it subtle. It should be for someone close to you to appreciate, not someone at the other end of a store/bar/city block.

Along with this are the assclowns who come into a bar reeking of Axe/Tag/Bod body sprays. Subtle is key here!

But that's a whole other rant ...

[ladyklack]

My store used to have a stinky customer. He smelled so foully of BO and urine that if you breathed through your nose around him you WOULD start dry heaving (I know, because I did once, he seemed oblivious to the fact that I was almost throwing up in front of him). One day one of my co-workers and I saw him approaching our store through the front window. Our boss, who hadn't dealt with him before and thought our stories of stinky-man were exaggerated, was the only other person in the store that day besides us. My co-worker and I looked at each other and in a simultaneous need for self preservation ran out the back door and left our boss to deal with stinky-man. We returned about 10 minutes later with several cans of Lysol from the market, and walked the entire store spraying them in the air. Regardless, his smell lingered for about 45 minutes.

[Misanthropical]

When I was pregnant with my little guy, I was standing at the check out and this old woman who must have bathed in cheap perfume decided she wanted to be part of my wardrobe or something, because she stood that close to me.

Well, I wasn't the nicest person in the world when I was pregnant, so I asked her if had to bath in her perfume and she needed to step back because I couldn't breath with the stench of her perfume.

She got a look on her face, but at least she backed off.

[cpux]

Sadly, this describes almost every woman I know. I would think it was cause of a heightened sense of smell, but this is New Jersey.

[Erin]

I have scent allergies. I have problems walking down the chemical aisles at the grocery store where they keep all the different detergents and stuff. Very strong scents can trigger a migraine for me, give me hives, or make me sneeze my head off.

I try not to go into malls at entrances where I know they sell perfumes.

When I worked at the telemarketing job, there were employees who'd apparently bathed in whatever stench they were wearing...they'd bring extra with them. I hated it when they'd spray MORE onto themselves on the production floor. They'd apparently burned out their noses and had to douse themselves in more stink so they could enjoy their perfumes.

When I worked as a cashier at McD's and Hobby Lobby, I hated it when people who had pickled themselves in whatever stench would come thru my lines. The smell would stick to their money or checks they wrote, and would linger for a long time after they left.

I've told relatives and friends that I'm sensitive and allergic to perfumes, yet they still occasionally will give me stinky stuff for christmas presents. (that makes me wonder if they're doing it on purpose...)

[Ljt09863]

alot of people put on soo much perfume or cologne, because after awhile of putting it on, they can't smell it as well anymore, so they keep putting it on until they can smell it.


but i work at a store that sells perfume in my department. so i am always having customers come over, wanting to smell a sample of cologne, and then when they get it, they spray about 12 sprays all over their body. i have had people do this with three different colognes. they aren't going to smell it when its mixing with another cologne.

alot of people do this with the tag and axe body deodorants. yesterday, iwas talking to my AM, when i heard the spray of Tag body spray. i stopped, and went walking arund the store looking for it. i couldnt find them. but i heard, it and then i smelled it. but i couldn't fnd the person who did it. it drives me nuts.

[phillippbo]

alot of people put on soo much perfume or cologne, because after awhile of putting it on, they can't smell it as well anymore, so they keep putting it on until they can smell it.

If memory serves, many perfumes and colognes contain formaldehyde, not much, just a little. After many applications of the smelly stuff, the formaldehyde slowly deadens the smell receptors in the nose, meaning that the sense of smell is not nearly as acute. Since most people put on perfume or cologne until they can smell it, it means the longer they use it, the more they use in a single session.

Originally, though I do not subscribe to "consipracy theories" as a general rule, the industry claimed the formaldehyde was simply a preservative and the deadened sense of smell was an unwanted or unanticipated side-effect. I don't think that's entirely true, but I do believe that they originally didn't know about the deadened sense of smell, then chose to ignore it when they found out. It's not really that big a deal, but it does explain a lot.

[AFpheonix]

Egads. The deoderant section with all those nasty body sprays is next to the in-window, so every time you get some idiot that sprays out half the bottle of axe to see what it smells like, we are enveloped in a nearly palpable cloud of stink for a very long time. We tried to get a fan to blow the stink back at people, but we were having issues with the assortment of loose paper that's endemic to our job...sigh...

[Becks]

My store used to have a stinky customer....
...Our boss...hadn't dealt with him before and thought our stories of stinky-man were exaggerated...
My co-worker and I...ran out the back door and left our boss to deal with stinky-man.

Soooooooooooooooo...how did your boss react? I'm dying of curiosity.

[HawaiianShirts]

I had one of those perfume bathers today. I sneezed several times while helping her find some computer speakers. After the third or fourth sneeze, she asked, "Have you tried using Claritin for those allergies?"

Argh. Some days I wish I had a mute button for face-to-face conversations...

[Spiffy McMoron]

At my old store, I found that alot of the smelly people didn't over-use their perfume/cologne. Most of them smelled-literally-of dirt. Odd.

[Erin]

I sneezed several times while helping her find some computer speakers. After the third or fourth sneeze, she asked, "Have you tried using Claritin for those allergies?"

I probably would have admitted to having scent allergies. Claritin never does anything for me when I've been exposed for a long time to some eau de stinky perfume... It does help my seasonal allergies tho.

[Mark Healey]

Yes!!! patchouli oil. That stuff smells like decomposed skunk ass if the skunk lived on hard boiled eggs and chilli.

And why is it that the people who use it know nothing of moderation?