Something is rotten in the state of Putnam.
It started off as a rather easy going Tuesday morning. The kids went to Ellie’s for the day, and Sofia was very excited (and therefore cooperative) at the promise of an afternoon in the kiddie pool. I actually remembered to pack and take my lunch, put on my make up, and grab a tee-shirt and socks for my afternoon walk. I was feeling quite organized as I was walking up the path to the back entrance of my building 20 minutes earlier than usual. Not too quickly…this time of year you have to keep your eye out for the goose poop strewn across all the walkways. Actually, last night when I left work I was almost chased by one who had brought his flock right up to the path to hunt for whatever it is that they incessantly pick at. Apparently he thought I had the audacity to walk in their direction, although I have no choice as it’s the only path to the parking lot, and gave me a very stern HISSSS followed by a few advancing steps forward. I got away OK, but that’s not the point of this story.
Goose poop averted, I complete the already warm walk up the path and anticipate basking in the air conditioned blissful lobby. I breathed deep, and gagged. The air was engulfed with the very distinct smell of pissed off skunk. I looked at the poor woman sitting in the security window and she was green. She was on the phone, and clearly not in any position, or mood, to talk to me. As I kept going to the badge access door, I could hear her behind me, “there’s just nothing we’re going to be able to do about it.” As I kept walking through the building I could still smell it. I was trying to ascertain if it was just in my nostrils by this point or if it really was still this strong 50 feet later. I laughed to myself as I imagined a little skunk running around the building and the old security guy trying to chase after it on his walkie talkie. “It’s heading down conference row!!!”
I asked a few administrators what happened as I passed. They are usually able to fill you in on any story yet they were surprisingly in the dark, with the exception of a resounding agreement that yes, it does in fact smell like skunk. A woman with the “Know” eventually passed by my area and informed us that a skunk had in fact only sprayed outside the facility, but that the spray had made its way into the ventilation system and had quickly spread throughout the entire building. Not long afterwards a guy from Facilities Services was walking around the building spraying air freshener down the aisles. So now we have Skunk a la Spring Rain.
The worst part about it is that the smell still lingers, but we are now desensitized to it. It’s easy to forget about it until you take a big whiff. Every now and then when you hear someone stretch and take a nice deep breath, it’s followed by a exclamation of “EEW, or YUCK, or BLEH”. I’m wondering, how long can this really last? Tomorrow suddenly sounds like a good day to work from home.
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