…when you wish you would have just kept your mouth shut.

I’m at the gym yesterday, waiting at the front desk to hand in my membership card. The client in front of me is arguing with the attending clerk. All of a sudden, I get a whiff off him, of that cologne I hate so much. I make a little face, and the man behind me catches it.

- Patience, he says.
“Oh, it’s not the wait”, I say confidentially. “It’s that horrible Gaultier scent I can’t stand.”

He immediately looks hurt, and I understand that he’s the olfactory offender, and that I am an idiot.

“I’m sorry”, he says, “it was my ex who gave it to me”.
“I’m such an idiot”, I say, wanting to crawl into my gym bag. “I had no idea it was you”. As if that’s supposed to make him feel better.
“Eh, don’t feel bad. Can I make you feel better by buying you a coffee afterwards? I’ll wash it all off first.”

But I guess I wasn’t that sorry.