So, I got another email in my Outlook inbox at work about the break room refrigerator smelling again. And if you have a job with a communal refrigerator, I think you know EXACTLY the kind of email I’m talking about.

But as the office anosmic (and lover of fish, garlic, and forgetter of left-overs) I can’t help but become paranoid. Are my coworkers just being too nice to tell me my food stinks? I’ve told them to tell me if anything about, on, or around me smells and they’ve all offered the standard “of course we’d tell you” line. But I’ve just had one too many people tell me those little white lies…the ones that are meant to be kind…the ones that just spill out as self-preserving habit:

  • Oh, my cell phone died and I didn’t get your call until just now
  • No, that’s a great haircut!
  • No, of course you don’t look fat!
  • No, nobody can see THOSE gray hairs…

…and can’t help but wonder. [Sigh] I guess it’s time to go inspect the the left-overs…