# Clean your reeking coats, you stinking morons! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 13, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823 "2011-11-13T19:16:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823/21 "2011-11-14T00:46:56Z")
I used to work with a gal who came into the office once or twice a year. Apparently she only owned one suit and it was suede. She absolutely REEKED of mothballs. I’m thinking that’s the only time it ever came out of the moth ball box. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823/22 "2011-11-14T01:52:14Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > The worst smell (besides death and **composition** , of course)… (bolding mine) Been reading the Bulwer-Lytton contest entries again, have you? ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823/23 "2011-11-14T04:45:32Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Seems like it’s always smokers. Don’t get me wrong, the coats also smell like dirty coats, but with a rank gray cloud of stale smoke around them. Smokers, in my experience, have very little sense of smell. Imagine a very large group of smokers who work in a factory at jobs that require spending 40 hours a week surrounded by the stench of cooking rubber. We kept our coats next to our machines so we could easily go outside in the cold for a smoke while our tracks cured or cooled. We STANK!! It was awful. The worst part was that we couldn’t smell it any more. One day, my sister had surgery on her foot so she was home with me after I got home from work (I worked 3rd shift) instead of at her own job. After about half an hour in the same room with me, she offered me her entire salary for a month if I’d go take a shower and wash all my clothing. I am still embarrassed that I had no idea how horrible I smelled. I’m so glad she told me. I’m also glad that I no longer work there, though I do still crave cigarettes all the friggen time. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823/24 "2011-11-14T12:50:10Z")
I will admit to being a bit passive aggressive when encountering stink. Most often it’s people who drown themselves in acrid cologne/perfume in elevators. I will mention that it stinks, but not directed at any one person. I’m sure one day it will get me into trouble, but not yet. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823/25 "2011-11-14T13:01:28Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > From the other side of this, I hate going to my husband’s aunt’s house for Christmas Eve each year - there are usually six or seven smokers there, and they puff away inside the whole time we’re there. I try to remember to wear a washable jacket - parkas are hard to clean, but since it’s Christmas in Calgary, it can be -30ºC when we go there, so I do have to wear _some_ jacket. I’ve had good results with putting my parka outside to get aired for a couple of days after spending time in their house, but I’d rather not get all stinkified in the first place. Maybe you could ask to put them back in a bedroom or on a closet. Smoking isn’t allowed in bars anymore, but when it was, I’d always leave my jacket in my car. People would always look at me funny when it was below zero out and I’d be peeling off my jacket and shivering. But it usually made sense to them once I explained that I’d rather freeze my ass off for then 30 seconds it’s going to take to get into the bar and the 30 seconds it’s going to take to get back to the car later tonight (and then warm up the car) then two spend the next 3 days having my jacket smell like smoke…and I’m a smoker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-your-reeking-coats-you-stinking-morons/602823.md?page=1)