PERFUMED LEMON CHICKEN...

I decided to stop by a Chinese restaurant and have a $6.95 lunch special. After looking at the special lunch menu, I asked if I could get lemon chicken in place of the almond chicken. No problem.

It came with choice of soup, fried rice and chicken chowmein. As an afterthought, I asked for a half order of butterfly-fried prawns. When the tea arrived, I began noticing a strong perfume odor. When the egg drop soup arrived, I realized the odor was very strong. It was strong enough to make my nose run and to cause a headache, and I had not even tasted any food with MSG at that point.

However, when the lemon chicken arrived, I became fully aware that it was my food server who was wafting the cloud of stench. Have you ever had lemon chicken that tasted like bad perfume? It is quite an experience. How would it be possible for Chinese food to taste like bad perfume. I say bad, only because it was sooo strong. She must have poured it on in places. I began to wonder if she was trying to hide a bad body odor problem.

Food servers, male or female, should realize that they need to tone it way down, or better yet, do not wear any scented products when working with the public. If you like to wear perfume to work, you might be wearing too much. If you use scented products on a regular basis, you could become desensitized to the scent. Thus, you might use more so you can smell it.

Other people could be allergic to your scented product. No matter what the workplace setting, strong perfume or cologne is not very appropriate, unless you are pole dancing in a cocktail lounge or biker bar.

Most people wear a fragrance that becomes part of their persona, their being. They need to realize that for many people, the person wearing the fragrance would have a stinky persona or being. If the goal of wearing a scented product is to “be noticed,” it could have an unintended, undesirable or negative result.

I wish that more business owners would expand their views of good customer service, to include some concern for people who are chemically sensitive. Had there been a sign at the door, “WARNING – OUR FOOD SERVERS WEAR PERFUME,” I would not have gone inside the business. That is only fair warning.

In the meantime, lemon chicken and perfume is not a good mix, and you can trust me on that one.