8.16.2010

I'm so tired of this

I'm sitting here writing this post, it's 11:02 p.m. Monday.  The temperature is finally below 85 and we can open the windows.  Alas, someone in the neighborhood just got home (or perhaps just went out) and the perfume stench wafts in on the evening breeze.  The headache is just starting.  The breathing is getting shallower.  Soon I'll get a painter's mask, take some painkillers and try to sleep.

I would like to find a solution to this.  I would like for the person who is wearing all that fragrance to understand how much it affects me (and, I'll wager, many others).  I believe in my heart of hearts that he or she would listen and try to grasp what the problem is, and would make an effort to stop poisoning my air.  What if I said his cologne was contributing to his daughter's chances of getting breast cancer?  What if I told her that her unborn child was being exposed to neuro-toxins and hormone disruptors? 

But how do I find him?  How do I start the conversation with her?  WHAT CAN I SAY? 

If it were you, how would you want to be told?  What would you be able to hear?  Talk to me.

4 comments:

Woodduck said...

I hate it. I have to move away from some folks outdoors! Hard to believe how much some wear.
I don't know how we can fight this. Most of my family members try to wear perfume/fragrance free products (soap, detergent, lotion, deodorant, shampoo); but others seem so uncaring. It hurts!

Self-righteous said...

Hi Woodduck,
Hopefully people are getting smarter. I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but there really is more and more awareness. Also, it is more common now to find fragrance-free spaces -- especially hospitals.
Keep the faith. We'll get there.

Anonymous said...

Try closing your window

Peter said...

Put a notice on the telephone poles near you with much of what you have written in this post with the hopes that he or she may see it. Perhaps title it in bold letters, "THE CULT OF SCENT"

BTW, I totally hear where you are coming from. Our tenants use highly scented laundry products and I have asked that they use unscented products. That fell on deaf ears.