Extremely polite people make me anxious. I wonder what horrible unspoken thing they're waltzing around. Also: I want to crawl out of my skin whenever corporate people lead off by telling me what I did right. The other shoe will surely drop after the pro forma stroking. And I've already explained how effusive people never, ever stick around. I shudder whenever anyone starts flattering my wonderfulness, having a long history of making out infinitely better with those who deem me merely marginally tolerable.
By the same token, perfume and cologne repel me. It's not that I dislike strong aromas. It's because my attention is iexorably drawn to the underlying stink. Something about such fragrances hyper-attunes my nostrils to body odor. I suppose it's a result of three things: 1. my contrarian impulse to always resist misdirection, 2. too many stays in cheap motels where powerful deodorizers only marginally masked the atrocities requiring them (and the horror of gradually becoming aware of the masking's dissipation), and 3. this, which I still haven't managed to flip, except in fits and starts.
Thanks Jim! Holy crap are we living in interesting times! I hate perfume and cologne too. There are certain restaurants I've had to give up on since they seem to attract people who like to pour a bottle of the stuff on their heads before going out. Want my food to taste like food not perfume.
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