Anosmia, as you can imagine, isn’t a very common affliction—or at least it’s not something that’s talked about or noticed very often. So the opportunity to meet fellow anosmics, in person, is a rare event. In fact, I’ve only actually met one other person with anosmia in my lifetime. Sure, I’ve “met” a lot of people through this website and through the Facebook group and I’ve often talked with people who have known at least one other person with anosmia, but in person (myself) I’ve only met one man, and I don’t even remember his name.

I met him when I was working my old high school job at PetSmart in the aquatics department. It was getting close to closing time and I was bagging his fish when a fellow employee came by and asked if he could take over bagging so I could go clean the bird room for him. You see, the bird room smelled really bad. Apparently, there was a plumbing problem where no matter how clean the room was the smell was unbearable to any olfie. And so, the task was always left for me. I explained this little fact to the customer along with the detail that I was born without a sense of smell and the man’s jaw dropped. I mistook his reaction for the mere amusement that most feel when learning that such a disability exists and so I started to explain what anosmia was in more detail. And that’s when he stopped me:

“No, I understand perfectly,” he said, “I can’t smell either! In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to smell.”
“Really?”
“Really.”

And so the bird room waited for a bit as we chatted about our various similarities with anosmia. We talked about how our parents and friends didn’t believe us at first, how people always stupidly asked if we can smell things for them, and of course we compared notes on the various foods we liked and disliked. We were both amazed and overjoyed by all that we had in common.

So, strange PetSmart man, if you are out there…HI!!!!!! You’re still the only other anosmic I’ve ever met in person!