This is the week of the big outside consultants’ evaluation. This means there are lots of meetings and lots of people to-ing and fro-ing and wandering through our department on their way to and from the conference room. Not at all distracting! Ahem.
Anyway, the consultants began the week with a library-wide presentation. I hate being crammed into a huge lecture hall with a bunch of strangers, mostly because it’s inevitable that someone obnoxious will sit next to me. I thought I was going to be lucky this time, though. There were a few stragglers, but no one took the seat next to mine. And then, about halfway through the presentation, it happened. There was one last straggler.
Oh. My. God. I have never smelled anything quite like the olfactory cloud enveloping the woman who sat next to me. It was a mixture of rancid onions and garlic, with an undertone of something equally rank but unidentifiable. I turned half-way toward the person on my other side, covered my nose with my hand, and I still could not escape the smell. It was just awful.
But, wait, it gets worse! I was crammed all the way into the far side of my seat, but the woman kept elbowing me and hitting me with her foot. I’m sorry, but she had no business invading my seat space. She was in the end seat and had plenty of room to lean out into the aisle, so there was no need for her to take up any of my space. Hrmf!
Later in the day, I walked past the cubicle cluster where she works, and the same smell was present. It had radiated a full 15-20 feet from were she was sitting. I feel sorry for her cube neighbors.
As for the presentation, the first half was fine. I have absolutely no idea what was covered in the second half. I was a little distracted.
Also, y’all should be thankful that there is no smell-o-vision. My eyes were literally watering.
