
I left my unfinished chicken salad lunch in my classroom that doubles as an office for myself and two other co-workers over the weekend. Upon entering the room, I was immediately greeted with a smell like the one when you're driving in your car following a garbage truck. Wow, something had cured over the weekend. My quick Sherlock Holmes investigation led me to a plastic Safeway bag that encased the smelly culprit... two plastic containers with the remains of Friday's leftovers. I never realized how much a smell can leak out of a plastic container. When my co-workers entered the smell zone they immediately questioned with great interest, "What's that smell?" I don't know why I didn't want to part with those cheap plastic containers. They must have cost at least a buck at Wally World. But, I didn't want to throw them away. I guess I'm too cheap. So, I tried putting them in an empty filing cabinet. It didn't work. The smell was still seeping out and hanging like a dark cloud in the room. Finally, I put them in the trash can, wrapped them up in the trash bag and threw the whole thing out. The wonderful smell of rotting food finally left the building. The smell remained until we had it removed. I've always kinda felt sorry for those guys who collect my garbage every Friday morning around 6:30 am and have to ride on the back of those trucks. Do they get used to the smell? I'm glad those guys do their job. They probably feel unappreciated.