Since moving, we’ve had the pleasure of welcoming several service people to help fix our stuff. There’s been a couple from the HVAC cleaning company (the first guy made the ducts worse, the second guy had to come re-do it all and get it cleaned up), several from the cable company (one the first time to wire but it didn’t work right so two more came out to fix what he did wrong then another inside to get the box working and yesterday another for the new box because the first one didn’t work right; did you add them up… yes, five just for our TV viewing pleasure), W/D delivery were two guys and I feel that I’m missing another fella but cannot remember where from.

Every SINGLE one of those guys reeked of cigarette smoke. As soon as I opened the door to let them in I got smacked in the face with an invisible cloud of ashtray smell that made a trail to wherever they were going and floated around them like Pigpen’s dust aura while they were here. Don’t get me wrong, every one of those guys have been very pleasant, helpful and professional (palms to the roof for the W/D main guy) and I certainly didn’t treat them any different than I would’ve if they hadn’t smelled. But, boy, as a non-smoker who doesn’t hang out in smoky environments, that stuff sure hits me like a ton o’ bricks (coincidentally, it’s actually not as bad as pumpkin guts).

Wonder where the unwritten rule is that says it’s a good idea to have employees reek when they come into our homes. Same would go for someone who had foul body odor, too much perfume or whose feet stunk so bad you couldn’t help but notice. Sometimes these things aren’t easy for someone to control (body odor), and I do not fault them if they’ve tried to un-stink themselves.

But, really, why is it OKAY (obviously it is or I wouldn’t have had EVERY ONE of my service people stink)? Has this condition been accepted for so long that it’d be next to impossible to get changed?

Maybe… when we make a request for an in-home service call we request that the employee doesn’t smell? I’ve known some smokers who don’t reek, so I don’t think it’d be fair to ask for a non-smoking employee (and wonder, in the Seattle area anyway, if it’s even a possibility that there’s a non-smoker service guy in the lot). I’m just talking about the stinky smokers, not the non-stinky ones.

And, yes, I do not smoke and have never enjoyed being around people who are smoking or who had recently smoked (so the smell lingered). Kissing a guy that smoked was gross and if I ever knew that a guy smoked before I kissed him then I wouldn’t kiss him at all.

I do not dislike smokers but I do dislike smoking.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }