u/Salt-Maintenance6857

My boyfriend and I were talking about our conditions for moving on romantically in the case of one of us passing away. I said that I wouldn’t want him to date anyone that I knew personally while I was alive - with the only exception being my best friend.

Why would I not want the two people I love most to be happy with each other if they can? I know my best friend would keep my memory alive and also help my boyfriend move on respectfully. He’s a great partner and she deserves that. She would be too and he also deserves that. She wouldn’t try to replace me as a mother or make my boyfriend pretend I never existed.

It’s not like I actively want them to get together if I pass, but I wouldn’t be mad at all. When I told him this he was completely floored and said that if he had a best friend, he would haunt us for getting together. I told a few people about it and they all felt equally if not more strongly. I was so surprised that I made a poll in a group I’m in, and 156 out of 163 people think this would be a hauntable offense. Personally I would be happy for them.

To get what I’m sure will be the initial thoughts out of the way… They’re not homeless or troubled, and they’re not mentally ill. They simply don’t care about hygiene to the absolute utmost level that you could not care about something. “Well how do you know” I’m sure you’ll ask. They’re infamous in our town for this, as I found out. People who know them personally weighed in. And yes, of course people have tried "just telling them". They do not care.

I met these people about two weeks ago but I’ve seen them from a distance before at their lake house. They came into my place of work and once they closed a certain amount of distance, it was IMMEDIATE. The stench of years worth of sweat, sh*t, p*ss, and mold. They smelled worse than death itself.

My coworker threw up twice. We both had an INSTANT migraine that lasted nearly 48 hours. I am never and have never been prone to migraines. I also stay very hydrated. But ever since I met them, I have had a horrible migraine at least every other day. It’s affecting my ability to function at work, at home, in my parenting. I still feel like I can smell it sometimes and it’s been almost two weeks.

Apparently, other people have experienced this as well. Many people know of them and their “natural living” lifestyle, but nothing can be done because it’s not technically illegal to smell bad in public and we can’t exactly force them to bathe.

But it’s not f*cking okay. Once it starts physically hurting people and causing medical issues, you are using your body as an actual bioweapon. No smell should cause migraines for weeks. I feel like pursuing it legally is the only way to get anything done about it before anyone else encounters them, and it has actually physically affected my life and work.

I would never even consider it if I wasn’t aware of their situation (or lack thereof). But every time I get a phantom whiff and my head splits open again, I get more mad about it. I know it would be petty, but would it be TOO petty?

I have to stay composed at work but I absolutely have to talk about this and I don’t know where else to go.

I just had 2 customers who (either they or their dog) smelled so bad that it made my coworker actually throw up. Twice. The only reason I didn’t is because I found a chance to slip a spare covid mask on.

The smell stuck to the mask so bad I had to throw it away as soon as they walked off. It gave me a migraine. We used half a can of Febreeze and it STILL smells. It’s been 45 minutes.

I don’t know if it was the man, the woman, or the dog… but one of them smelled like somebody covered old roadkill in all the mustiest laundry they could find under a teenage boy’s bed.

I’ve been working retail and service jobs since I could legally work. I thought I had smelled some god awful things from the public. I was wrong until now. That was a smell that I think warrants arrest as being a bio-weapon.

People will read this and think I’m being dramatic, or exaggerating, but I am not. The smell is still in my throat. My head feels like it’s being split open. The other coworker who was there said she’s experiencing the same exact thing.

How the fuck can a human being, or a dog being bare minimum cared for by a human being, smell THAT bad. I had to talk about it but I can’t exactly talk about how bad a customer smelled in front of other customers.

So… thanks for reading I guess, even though I wish I never had to write this.