Farting or Wearing Perfume...which is more socially acceptable?
Last month, I met a woman who made me gag. Professionally dressed and immaculately coifed, I could smell her expensive perfume from across the room. Close up, she was appalling to be near. Her smell was overpowering. Cloying. Nauseating.
I backed out of our conversation as fast as I could.
I also met another woman last month. We shook hands.
Then, improbably -- she farted.
The look on her face was horror and embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry!" she stammered.
I started laughing. She looked mortified.
I put my arm around her.
"It happens," I said. "Let's move away from here before the smell kicks in."
We continued our conversation a couple of dozen feet away. We had a few laughs and considered it a bonding moment.
The woman with the perfume offended me. The woman who farted didn't.
One scent was on purpose. The other wasn't.
When you wear perfume in public so that others can smell it, what are you communicating?
