I think Vinegar man works in a Pickle Factory.

pickledeedee. Funny.
Sorry, I really do feel your pain.

Mouth-breathing doesn't help in the least..It soaks into your innards.

Bleah!!

And mouth-breathing doesn't help in the least..It soaks into your innards.

Bleah!!

Just *HUGS*
Sounds like you need 'em this morning, and i'm high on endorphins from the half marathon i completed here in Music City on Saturday. But i feel your coffee pain. Am considering the second cup that i usually avoid . . .

Thank God I work at home now.... I'm fairly certain Pickedeedee's siblings used to commute with me in Boston (think pregnant woman on an enclosed subway car in August heat with the Vinegar siblings... just praying the T wouldn't breakdown)

now, I've told you before about your petrol (gas) over there its CHEAP. And to deal with vinegar man carry some tiger balm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Balm
I've got some and its great for aches and pains but I was informed by some old folks home workers that it even blocks the smell of a senior citizen who's soiled themselves. Just a dab, under your nose and you can relax. I feel for you, I love my walks to work and I'd not give them up unless I could get a job at home.

"Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays."

I do hope you've seen "Office Space"!

You could do like Cardinal Wolsey did in ye days of yore, and hold a pomegranate stuffed with cloves to your nose whenever Vinegar Man comes near.

Or have a travel-sized spray bottle of air freshener with you that you can spray around him as he passes. If he remarks on it, you can just say, "I have to smell you, and I don't have a choice, so why do you think you can tell me what smells I emit into the atmosphere?"

It's worth considering...Of course, that's a little confrontational. Maybe killing him would entail less drama. :)

We have a guy here who is very smelly. But it's not vinegary, it's lack of bathing and putting on the same clothes kind of buttfunky. He is in our circle of friends - he's only an acquaintance of mine - instead of showering, he sprinkles carpet freshener in his cube and hangs air freshener on the wall. He's been talked to several times about his odor wafting over the walls and so this is his solution.

Apparently you can not fire someone for smelling. I do not know why this is, but it's wrong. I cringe when he stops to talk because it's icky. Unfortunately he's a very bright and interesting person. Just not hygenic.

Your comic timing was especially good today--I missed spitting coffee all over my keyboard by mere inches,,,

I think being stuck with CA gas prices and pickle vinegar man I would be forced to step out of my little box and look for carpool buddies. Its the only solution I can see to an impossibly horrific problem.

That or a giant clothes pin for your nose.

On the one hand, we had SNOW over the weekend. On the other hand, we had two of my least favorite harbingers of spring, a tick (on me) and a bat in the house. So I'm generally grumpy about the weather.

Plus I need to fill up my tank. I hope my "economic stimulus" arrives this week, it'll about cover the gas.

I, too, need more coffee. And probably some Tiger Balm.

I really, really, really love your blog. But please: Stop whining about the gas prices! Here in Germany one gallon of gas costs about 8.65$...

Sorry...

I understand your pain. There is a guy I work with who reeks of BO. That Seinfeld BO the one that travels,clings and lingers. I always think of the movie The Ten Commandments and the Angel of Death and how just the mist killed people. I think this guy would kill the mist. When I am readying for "Aunt Flow", the smell is overwhelming. I literally want to drop kick him if he comes into my office. The smell lingers 15min later and he could only have been in here for 2min.

I know it's not a great joke, but the first thing I thought of after reading it and seeing that final photo of the gas station, was that you should have titled this post "Oil and Vinegar." Get it, Laurie?! Just some Monday morning humor to get your day going...

How about carrying a travel size bottle of Fabreze and just spray him.

Or would that be rude?

Yuck, yuck, yuck. AND, to not know which bus he will show up on is horrible. I have to think V.M. is doing this on purpose, a rebellious get-back to society - like some folks who are an hour late to everything! Sorry, no way he is missing (for years) the reaction of everyone in the universe. Not being fired for perfume or super-smelly hand cream is one thing, but this guy sounds (smells) a bit past normal. I'd be angry...yeah, febreeze him a good one, or throw some baking soda on him, or some kitty litter. And, I hate it when that type of smell gets on me or gets stuck in my nose....yuck. How extra awful too, to forget your laptop. Bummer. OK, come on Tuesday.

Oh, how terrible! Yuck! Makes me want to barf just thinking about it.

But we have a FREEZE WARNING here in the Greater Chicagoland area [and maybe the midwest] and it's nuts because we have already had DAYS in the 70s! My freaken feet are cold and I'm wearing a shawl.

*sob cry*
.

P-U! some people have no clue...

kill those cheerful monday morning people! I can't even wake up until tuesday morning. I am like garfield in that regard.

gas at my corner this morning is $3.59.

hopefully you are not involved in any of the wildfires around your area.

Febreeze.

The vinegar man is probably a schizophrenic on his way to a day program - hence the poor hygiene. The envirosax bags are a great idea, but you will still need some kind of bag to throw your garbage out in and these sound like a really good idea since they are biodegradable:

http://www.greenfeet.com/itemMatrix.asp?MatrixType=1&GroupCode=5505-00081

Would it make pickle man easier to bear if you just think that maybe he can't help it? I used to work with a stinky guy - very nice man, looked clean, changed clothes daily, had a wife even, but he had a physical problem that made him smell. I have no sense of smell, so I didn't mind being around him. Other people in the office would literally have their eyes watering when he came near. Maybe if you figure that this guy also has a biological problem, you could cut him a break. And I guess try the tiger balm!

I am a frequenter of used book sales and there is one guy who is always there, and he's always smelly. We call him Smelly Book Dude, or SBD for short. The sales are always hot, crowded and frantic, and he has this long, stringy, greasy hair that brushes against people, freaking them out, and this incredible miasma of funk that wafts about him--much like Pigpen from Peanuts, you know? I think he does it on purpose so he can get all the good books, and he's impervious to comments.

Why don't you and the other commuters start a conversation about bathing, showering, personal hygiene the moment Vinegar Man gets on the bus? Do it quite a few mornings - maybe he will get the hint. Or spray air freshener around stating loudly that someone in the bus must have made a fart! After that happening a few times he must get the hint or else he has a skin thicker than a rhinoceros(That is what we say here in Africa if someone does not get the hint!). Or better still why don't you all pinch your noses the moment he gets on. I'm getting carried away here - will stop now. Good luck!

I'm sorry -- where did I whine about gas prices in this column?

WHERE?

I whined about a lot of other stuff, sure, but gas prices? No. I showed a picture.

Listen, I have been posting pictures on MY website of gas prices since 1995. I like to have a record of what I am seeing in my life. It interests me and I know my parents are interested in what we're paying out here so I post them.

I understand that you in Germany, Denmark and Blahblahzikstan have been paying 500 MILLION EUROS a litre for gasoline since 1812. I know that because every time I post a picture of gas prices some delightful person comes and informs me of that detail as if I have never set foot outside my cage.

Yes, you're right -- YOU HAVE IT THE VERY WORST EVER ON PLANET EARTH AN NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE IT WORSE!

YOU WIN!

I have the right to post pictures of my hiney if I want. Comments are now closed.