I\u2019m usually in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and remote the rest of the week, so it\u2019s sometimes a surprise at the temperature in my office since I leave the door closed when I\u2019m not there.\u00a0 This week, Tuesday saw me assessing an overly warm office and\u2026 a smelly one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I couldn\u2019t place the smell but it was some kind of gas. I sniffed my way around the small office and opened all the cabinets and drawers in case it turned out to be a dead mouse or something. Eventually, I determined it was coming from the overhead vent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t great, but I eventually got used to it – though I did end up with a headache. I also wasn\u2019t in the office much that day since I had so many meetings, but with the door open all day it was tolerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I pretty much forgot about it overnight, but the next morning when I came in the smell was overpowering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once one of my co-workers came in, I asked if he would come smell my office. He tried, but had a cold and couldn\u2019t smell much of anything. When other co-workers arrived, I had them stop over as well. They could smell something and one suggested it almost smelled like propane. The other said I should report it to the maintenance office – just in case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I called the office and told them there was an odd smell in my office – and that a co-worker thought it smelled like propane or another gas. They said they would open a work order and get someone dispatched. They didn\u2019t seem too concerned, but my headache was getting worse. I grabbed a laptop and headed for a conference room ahead of my next meeting – and left the door closed to make whatever it was easier to detect. When I got set up in the conference room I got an email confirmation – and they had listed as the problem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cODD SMELL IN HIS ROOM.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Suggesting, perhaps, that it was somehow my fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took longer than expected, but a technician came over and I let him into the office. The smell hit me like a wave, but he didn\u2019t seem to notice. He said he didn\u2019t smell anything, but admitted that he didn\u2019t have a very good sense of smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seems like the wrong guy to have been dispatched for this one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he would check around the building for malfunctioning equipment and try to bring over someone from Safety or Plumbing with a \u201csniffer\u201d to check the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I closed the door again, updated my coworkers, and continued being an office nomad. When I left for lunch, I noticed a similar smell in the stairwell. I went back into the office and had my boss come out and check as well. He confirmed it and was worried enough to escalate this while I went on my way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I got back, the first tech returned – along with 3 other guys. Two had different kinds of devices to check the air and when I opened the door for them I was blasted again by the smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, somehow, none <\/em>of them smelled it either – though one of them also admitted he didn\u2019t have a very good sense of smell either.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They suggested that there had been a diesel truck parked outside yesterday and maybe that was what I smelled. I noted that the smell would dissipate with the door open – to an extent – and then build back up again with the door closed. Meaning that the source – whatever it was – was still there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They suggested I open a window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told them it had also smelled in the stairwell and the two guys with devices followed me to the stairwell. This time, they did smell something and thought it might be a \u201cdry trap\u201d. They went off to search the stairwell and I went back to the office to get my phone. The original tech told me they would update the work order when they had a resolution – and then he left too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was skeptical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did open the window and kept the door closed the rest of the day – bringing over more co-workers to check and confirm that I was not just \u201csmelling things\u201d.\u00a0 They all reacted strongly, but none could quite figure out what it was. \u00a0 I joked about the office exploding and that even though I smelt it, I had not delet it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the day, I went back into my office – with the very strong smell even with the window open – and closed things up for the winter break. I\u2019m a little concerned about what I\u2019ll find when I\u2019m back in 2025 – but since the devices didn\u2019t find anything harmful, I guess I\u2019ll be okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working from home the next day, I got an email – with no notes – saying that the work order was closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seriously, if the work order is \u201cODD SMELL<\/strong>\u201d – send the guys that can smell things next time, okay?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m usually in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and remote the rest of the week, so it\u2019s sometimes a surprise at the temperature in my office since I leave the door closed when I\u2019m not there.\u00a0 This week, Tuesday saw me assessing an overly warm office and\u2026 a smelly one.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t place the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2831,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2830\/revisions\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}