I’m an intern at an advertising and media communications firm in downtown Philadelphia. Typically I don’t bring in food for lunch, just my trusty homemade raisin and peanut trail mix and a water bottle from home as a snack. Some days, as an excuse to leave the office, I’ll hit up Rite Aid and score chips or snacks as an inexpensive meal. In an effort to save money before my trip to Miami, I brought in a shrimp and scallop penne pasta with pick sauce dish I ordered the night before at a restaurant. If I would’ve known that the dish would create such a stir in the office I would’ve never brought it in.
So I am at the microwave, which is located at a small kitchen counter near my cubicle, heating up my leftovers. My supervisor passes by and asks if I am heating up some fish. I nodded, letting him know that it’s seafood and start gushing over how great my food was at the restaurant. He smiles and goes on about his business. I head back to my desk about to dig into my meal when… “Agh! God, what is that smell? Does someone have fish?”
I cringe! No sooner than one person said it, another crops up like, “Yeah, I smell it too. Kinda smells like fish and chips.”
“More like bad sushi,” another said. I managed to keep quiet the whole time. The way my cubicle is situated people cannot easily see my desk unless they walk right up on me. Thank God!
“It smells so skanky!” another said. Scared that I would get found out, I grab few more quick bites before getting rid of the evidence of my [what I thought was scrumptious even after a day] shrimp and scallop penne pasta. But it gets worst! About 30 minutes after tossing the food, the maintenance/mailroom/office supply manager (for lack of knowing his professional title) comes around asking, “OK, who has the fish?” I had to fess up at this point, but I still wait.
“I got a call about a fish smell. If it’s in the trash I have to remove it. Who had fish?” he went on.
I peek over my cubicle and whisper, “I had some fish.” Though it was actually shrimp and scallops, which is seafood and not fish. He proceeds to my desk, asks that I get up, and then sprays down my entire cubicle with floral-scented air freshener. I mean this guy did not let up from the nozzle! I think he created another hole in the ozone layer because I nearly choked on a cloud of air freshener. He continued spraying the kitchen counter area as well and all of the trash can. As we wiped down the microwave, he mumbled about how people can’t bring in and cook fish. “It wasn’t fish,” is all I could think.
I plugged in my headphones at and desperately tried to act like I was working. I felt so embarrassed. A small part of me wanted to bust out laughing at myself and the situation, but I mostly felt like running away. When he was done cleaning, everyone commented immediately on the improved smell.
“Hey, you guys, new rule. No fish, please,” he said before carrying away the trash bag with my penne dish in it.
“The fish smell is finally gone” or “It smells extra floral-ly” is all I heard from my neighboring co-workers for the rest of the day.
My supervisor crept over to my desk with a slight smile on his face and then, “You learned your lesson today?”
I nodded and said, “I am only bringing in sandwiches to work from now on.” We both chuckled and my supervisor gave me a sympathetic, “Don’t worry about it” look before heading back to his desk.
Ultra embarrassed and oh-so-AWKWARD.
Malaika Carpenter
Philadelphia, PA
mtcarpenter@gmail.com