Aromas and smells

Jane mentioned being assaulted by an aroma opening a bag for work.

I have mentioned being really annoyed by restaurants who pump their aromas (what seems like it must be on purpose) out into the areas around their locations.

One restaurant, attached to our shopping mall, exudes such a strong scent that I do not park/enter on that side of the complex.

I think I mentioned previously, one business in our area with either a grill or a smoker had the surrounding neighbors take them to court over the aroma. I think the guy might have died (unrelated) during the process, so there was no decision. Or there was a decision, but he was gone around the time it came.

There is a big bakery, downtown, and I totally avoid the shops in that area because of the baking smells.

I worked at a donut shop when I was in high school. Just one summer I think. And did not eat a donut for years and years. The smell became nauseating by the time I left that job.






If you remember, I changed grocery stores, after decades of being a loyal customer, because they had too many sampling stations, every day of the week.

That was several years ago.

This same, my new, rarely sampling, grocery store added a big, hot pretzel station a few months ago. This is just like one you might see at a mall, major baking station.

I had three (self help) options:
1. Switch stores again.
2. Shop late at night when the station was closed.
3. Acknowledge it was there and then ignore it.

When I need something, I need something, I like to settle down for the night early, the late night thing seemed too disruptive. I did not want to shop at Walmart and that was really my last option. I decided just to not let it impact my life any more than the cookie aisle or the pop aisle or the crunchy snack aisle.

I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed the grocery store added this station.

There are two of these stations at the mall, not located in the food court, and that annoys me too.

But I was not interested in making each shopping trip an angry event. So, I just got over it.

And now I entertain myself by seeing if the grocery store pretzel stand is busy. Youngest does this too. Instead of wishing for a pretzel, we look to see how many employees, how many customers, and if the employees actually have any work to do. We suspect business is not good.

I notice the aroma of the pretzel stands at the mall. I do not at the grocery store. So, either I am used to it, or perhaps there is a volume difference. The stands at the mall are super busy so they are probably always baking. The stand at the grocery, not so much.