Wherein Irv's nose commits hara-kiri

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So, another wasted Thursday afternoon and evening unloading a truck at the swamp.

We're a little bit into the unload when I hear, from the sanctity of my softlines staging area, "Geez, what the hell stinks?"

And then "Christ, it smells like piss! And it's leaking all over the floor!"

Curious, I step out a little bit, and it hits me like a fist in the face. A heady aroma of piss, puke and ass, and the culprit is sitting right on the conveyor belt.

A case of Liquid Fence. A chemical you spray around your yard to keep the deer, rabbits, and other animals from dining on your plants. I've heard it's not too effective, because it washes off in the rain and the animals build up a tolerance to it, even though the smell of the stuff would lead you to believe otherwise.

So two of the guys in back with me chuck the case into a repack tote and gingerly carry it outside, setting it by the fence. And we dump a bunch of kitty litter on the puddle of liquid fence on the floor. But the stench lingers on, even after I procure half a can of Glade from the service desk and empty it all over receiving and inside the truck (Thankfully there were no open flames anywhere near). The glade more or less mingled with the mud-bog liquid fence reek before finally overtaking it.

After having to smell that shit, I'll gladly take a fart in the face any day.

[Andara Bledin]

Ewww...

Yeah, never bother with any scented cover-up thing. All it will do is make things smell worse.

The computer guy at work used to be in our main location, and his work area was a disaster. At some point we had some critter decide to die in the rat's nest of wires he had going on. (I'd told the bossman not to put out poison, but he bought into the "makes them seek water" bullshit hype) So they emptied a can of some orange-scented crap in the same area.

I don't think I'd have complained if my sinuses had chosen to do their evil thing that week...

^-.-^

[Hyena Dandy]

>_> I hate that liquid fence stuff.

Besides, it doesn't work if the things actually LIVE IN YOUR YARD. Something my neighbors don't get.

[Seshat]

There are a few things which will actually neutralise scents - but you still have to remove the source of the offending odour for it to be a permanent solution.

Vinegar or carb soda are also excellent.

Whenever I do a cleanup, the last phase is a spray of Nilodor (an odour neutraliser), or a splash of vinegar, or a sprinkle of carb soda. Similarly, before vacuuming, I used to sprinkle carb soda into the carpet.

I have a hypothesis that the molecules in the odour neutralisers, or in the sharp vinegar scent, bind to the offensive odour molecules and either make them odour-neutral or make them too heavy to 'float' and thus get into our noses. I'm not sure how the carb soda works, though. Maybe it also outgasses, but we can't smell it.

Anyway, using those are much more effective than using a scent cover-up. But the single most effective thing is removing the source of the odour.

[Green_Fairy]

i can't stand the scent of popcorn butter due to the "great butter flavored popcorn oil spill of '07." one of the barrels was dinged when they moved it into the warehouse in the winter, then come spring when the oil warmed up...it spilled aaaaall over the place. gross.

[Android Kaeli]

I second vinegar, it works WONDERS for clothes too.

But, yea, that's disgusting. Even after the smell is long gone, there may still be something there that'll make it come up every so often.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I second vinegar, it works WONDERS for clothes too.

But, yea, that's disgusting. Even after the smell is long gone, there may still be something there that'll make it come up every so often.

Sounds like the tile in my laundry room . . . every so often, either when it's chilly or damp outside, I'll still detect the faint hint of Lysol from that time I got disgusted and bought a bottle of the liquid concentrate to eliminate the faint hint of dog and cat pee.

I will never buy anything made by Lysol ever again . . . that smell lingered for over a month and I had to raise the windows in the office and bedroom because the smell was coming in from underneath the door (my office is right off the laundry room and the bedroom is just to the left of the office.)

I know there's still some there underneath the tile, but the only real remedy to that is to have the tile ripped out completely as well as the flooring underneath and have it all replaced, which may end up happening in the not so distant future as the flooring right at the back door is starting to sag yet again.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

Oh that's awful!

Carpet Fresh might work on odors like that too; we used to throw some down the trash compactor when the smell was unbearable, and it worked pretty good.