Hit a tripwire of smell and the memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.
Diane Ackerman
As the quote implies, smells have the power to transport us from the present to another place and time. Any mother knows a baby’s delicious scent never gets completely washed out of the blanket. A former boyfriend of mine claimed the single spritz of perfume I sprayed into the case of his sunglasses, and the great memories it provoked, lingered for years.
Sometimes though, smells lose their power to transport, and simply overpower. That is why the State of New Hampshire is considering banning perfume for certain state workers. It is House Bill 1444 which prohibits state employees who work with the public from wearing fragrances or using scented products during regular business hours. It seems quite overreaching for the state whose motto is “Live Free or Die”. Perhaps some think they’re dying from other people’s fragrances.
I read a statistic once that stated the average American woman has a 100 year supply of perfume on her dresser. I’ve probably got 500 years on mine. I love fragrances. Just about anything from Chanel works for me and now I’m going back to my college days by considering the purchase of Estee Lauder’s Azuree once again. I don’t think I’m doing that to return to the free-spirited times of my youth. I’m finding this particular scent makes me feel, well, comfortable. Does that mean without it, I will remain uncomfortable? Scents can bring out the silly.
I’ve been on the opposite side of the fragrance argument too. When I was pregnant and working in the cramped newsroom at WTVH-TV, I was just about knocked over each day by the particular fragrance of a co-worker whose desk was near mine. Pregnancy changes everything, including the way familiar foods taste and familiar scents smell. To my sensitive system, that particular well-known perfume was toxic, worse than seafood rotting in garbage cans in the sun. And I was convinced my colleague was bathing in it every morning.
It’s not my way, but I was so repulsed and distracted I made the bold request that the worker go a little lightly on the application of the stuff and though I don’t recall her verbal response, the olfactory answer was a resounding ”the only person who has to love this scent is me”. Day after day, week after week, month after queasy month, my survival depended on finding an empty desk elsewhere in the newsroom to do my work once this woman returned from reporting in the field to do hers.
How would I respond to a mother-to-be’s request to lower the volume on the scents I wear today? Empathy is everything. I would remember in a heartbeat how sick I felt from that perfume in 1986 and ask if a different scent might work better. If it didn’t, I’m not sure if I would stop wearing perfume the whole 9 months of someone else’s pregancy, but I would certainly be aware the fragrance I enjoy is causing extreme discomfort for somebody else.
We’ve all seen the signs in doctor’s waiting rooms saying perfumes are forbidden here. No one would wish to make a sick person sicker. But to assume every person is offended by every fragrance is overdoing it, don’t you think? I enjoy the fleeting wisp of someone’s perfume when I’m out and about, in the same way a little elevator music makes a store more pleasant.
What do you think about banning perfume for state workers who deal with the public? Is it a good idea? Please weigh in.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Maureen,
I think proposing a bill which I’m assuming would become a law if passed is a little over kill. Yet I have experienced a few co-workers that you would swear bathed in what ever it is that they wear. We can always tell when the offender is close by or has been in the area.
On the other hand it has always amazed me how certain scents can trigger memories. Just a whiff of Old Spice takes me back to being four years old and my father carrying me. And I’m fifty eight years old now. Also certain perfumes like Ambush or Taboo remind of a couple of girls back in high school. Powerful stuff, scents are.
Mike
When Liz went away on her first long trip (six weeks in France with her teacher and classmates) I saturated a small piece of cloth with my after shave and put it in a plastic baggie so she would have a familiar aroma if she got homesick. She told me (much later) that it was an important touchstone for her. Sometimes dads can do something right!
I’m a fan of wearing cologne, but I try to keep it lite. I know what my nose loves, others may find offensive. A state law may be a little extreme. It would be better if fragrance lovers simply respected people around them.
Your mention of rotting seafood made me think of another memorable workplace odor. A co-worker had a habit of warming-up leftover fish in the office microwave. The smell would last for hours. Painful at the time…yes…but my former colleagues and I love retelling this story when we’re together!
Maureen, love ur Blog and comments. Such good memories of Old Spice, my Dad and others. However my job in high school and college was in Hamlin’s Drug Store, Binghamton , N.Y. Cosmetics Dept. Each woman was responsible for a line. I would always come home with a headache. Part time job. Finally realized that it was the “Tabu” and till this day I cannot be in close contact with that aroma. I love the scent of perfumes, but am cautious as to what I can wear. I agree with Michael, fragrence lovers should respect people around them.