sonia | Second-hand fragrance

At a meeting about enforcing our fragrance-free policy, I told the group calmly that I understand their concerns about driving away dedicated fragrance-users, and I won't hold a grudge if they decide to accommodate them - I just won't attend any more. A couple of people clearly stated that both personally and because of my contributions to the group, they pick having me there. (yay)

Others seemed lost in a fog of what-about-being-nice (to the fragrance-wearers) and what-is-your-diagnosis (excuse me?!) and lets-just-give-them-a-warning (but then I have to leave and I'm done with that game). What seemed to cut through the fog is when I said, "I hope to see second-hand fragrance treated like second-hand smoke, but we're not there yet."

All of a sudden, second-hand-smoke-bad circuits kicked in, and one person said, "If someone lit up a cigarette in the middle of the room, we certainly wouldn't hesitate about asking them to leave." The final agreement was to kindly and firmly ask people to leave if they're wearing fragrances. Yay!! I have a belated admiration for all the people who fought for smoke-free regulations.

I'd like to see second-hand fragrance catch on as a phrase. I did a web search and there were a couple of links making the analogy, like this one (pdf), but none for the phrase itself. Use it whenever you get a chance!