Mine is a pretty tame example: I never minded the smell of garlic was fine around it… but I took a job for DHL and they had these large tubs of garlic for horses that had to go out to people. There were about 10 of them coming down the belt.
Now I can’t stand it. I’m just reminded of how strong that smell was I was actually gagging. The tubs were heavy, the handles were feedble. Some of the tubs were damaged so I got a bit on me.
I stunk of it for the rest of the shift. It wasn’t even a normal garlic smell it was just so powerful and nauseating.
Christmas carols. Being forced to come back to a retail job over the Christmas rush a little over a week after my brother was found dead on the floor outside my bedroom :)
The boss there had a very personal bone to pick with me, made it clear she didn’t even have to give me any bereavement leave since I was part time, and when a customer went on a Mach 4 tirade because I wasn’t smiling hard enough (not kidding), she backed them up and threatened to fire me in front of everyone.
12hrs+ of this every day. I preferred working by myself in back because people would leave me the fuck alone to do my job, but it turns out it was also useful for intermittent off-camera crying!
To this day, 13 years later, I can still tell you the exact playlist that was on the radio. That was when The Fray’s How to Save a Life was still big and I used to really like that song, but I can avoid it now a lot easier than I can avoid “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
It got me forcibly stopped by the police once, when I couldn’t take it anymore, ran out of the store, and the owner assumed I stole something. I really just don’t leave the house after October.
Fuck! that’s rough.
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your ex-boss’s armpits.
As a side note I worked in a doctors office and how to save a life was on the radio station they had on. Every hour . On the hour. For days, weeks, months. It drove me insane. It’s such a shit song.
Finally I switched the radio station to classic rock for one day. It was amazing. The next day they had switched it to the local country station. Which was playing lone stars mr mom. Please go listen to it. Now imagine listening to that every hour on the hour for days, weeks, months.
I can still recite both songs by heart.
