I used to work in a grey cubicle as a payroll clerk. Two cubes away from me sat the Tampon Lady.
I don’t remember the Tampon Lady’s name. I only remember how much I hated sharing work space with her. She was nice enough. She did her job and had no annoying habits that I recall. There was, however, one issue, and I never figured out how to address it. They just don’t cover stuff like this in business college.
She kept a super-size box of Playtex Deodorant Tampons in her desk drawer. It had to have come from Sam’s Club to be the size that it must have been. I never saw the tampons but I know they were there and I imagine every person that worked on that floor knew the tampons were there.
Playtex Deodorant Tampons have a distinctive odor. If you have ever smelled one, you will always be able to recognize the sickening, flowery scent that they are saturated with. I can smell them in a strange woman’s closed purse when she walks by me at the grocery store. And I could smell them in my co-workers desk.
Monday through Friday, I smelled them, week after week. She kept them there all the time, not just at her time of the month. I was assaulted be the tampons as soon as I arrived at work each morning and I left work in the evening with the scent apparently stuck to the hairs inside my nose. I was not free of it until I had been out of the office for several hours in the evening.
I will admit that I have a more sensitive sense of smell than the average person. That’s surprising since I have been a smoker for many years. Still, the tampons were a menace and made for a hostile work environment if there ever was one.
I am allergic to flowery perfumes. I can’t walk through the perfume department at a department store without becoming ill. I can not read magazines that have perfume samples in them. I used to take the stairs instead of the elevator even when I worked on the 16th floor of an office building so that I wouldn’t be in a crowded elevator with someone who had marinated themselves in perfume and spend the rest of the day with a migraine.
So this was a problem for me and I didn’t know how to address it. Luckily, I got pregnant and had to quit my job. I wonder if the Tampon Lady still works there.
This article was inspired a blog entry I read earlier today.
4 comments
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January 10, 2008 at 12:15 pm
pandemonic
I’m so glad my tampon days are over. At least I think they are over. I hope they are over. One never knows though. Menopause might last until I die.
January 11, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Whimspiration
Wow, I didn’t know you had a real blog too! Neat. Does that mean I get to tag you from time to time? *laugh*
Thanks for the visit and the link love.
Just a tip, don’t get the Charmin flushable wipes, they smell exactly like those damnable Playtex tampons.
Imagine my shock, mere days after our rants about scented tampons, to discover that that stench is moving on from feminine protection products to other health care items.
Now I begin the search for an unscented wet wipe that is neither “antibacterial” or stored in a huge container so I can have something to wipe filthy faces off when I’m painting faces. I may end up just cutting down some of my fave wipes and stuffing them into the Charmin container after a good washing and airing out.
January 12, 2008 at 7:47 pm
TheOtherIvy
I would’ve noticed, too. Scents like that give me a headache and make me queasy. I have asked people to give me space when they have doused themselves in fragrance. They leave a wake of scent behind them that lingers for hours. Once, a woman was in my classroom for less than an hour but her perfume stayed the whole day.
January 21, 2008 at 2:59 pm
heathenly
Am I allowed to curse mightily (or mildly) on your blog? Because I fucking hate that Playtex Scented smell. Which is why I buy The Blue Box.
Thanks. Now my sinuses are clogged with the phantom odor of The Pink Box. Ooh, that sounded dirtier than I intended.