NJM #3 - Does This Make Scents? in These Foolish Things

I’m not going to dwell on it, but I will write a blurb about the hotel I stayed in for my job interview this week because it blows my mind that prospective companies don’t think about things like this.

When making the preparations for my travel to Utah, the company gave me three options of hotels that were all within walking distance to their office. I looked at all three choices and none of them looked good - in fact, the Yelp reviews made me nervous.

But I went ahead and booked one of their options instead of questioning any part of it since I was the interviewee. If it were up to me, I’d have found a super cute AirBnB closeby because there are tons of them. Still, this was on the company dime and because I don’t know them and they don’t know me, I played by their rules.

The outside of the hotel looked like any other mid-scale hotel. You know the ones, the LaQuintas, the Hampton Inns, etc. and I went inside to check in early Sunday evening.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that this was clearly not originally part of a chain - it had a funky layout with no lobby whatsoever, just a fireplace and one of those free breakfast areas, but this one had no rhyme or reason with the furnishings. There was mismatched woods and fabrics and it all looked like someone bought the scraps from several other hotels that had closed down.

Checked in, got room key and made it to the elevator, which was terrifying and creaky. I only had one floor to go up, so I wouldn’t be taking the elevator again.

Once I got to the room and poked my head inside, I almost barfed. It was musty and moldy and damp and dark and SCARY. Low ceilings, crusty carpet, dingy bathroom with yellow lighting. I thought this was a freaking JOKE for as much as they were charging for the rooms. But I told myself it was only for this interview…only for three nights…

THREE NIGHTS??!! No way in hell. THIS is what the company was putting me up in to impress me???

So I didn’t even open my suitcase or take off my coat.

I went right back downstairs and asked the poor young kid working the desk if they had any other room options. Like, maybe an updated room??

He looked at my like I had three eyeballs, so I told him that my room was dark and smelled very, very moldy. Surely they had a room that didn’t stink?

And look, I was much more diplomatic about it. I didn’t want to come across as the bitchy non-Mormon lady from out of town, so I tried to be as courteous as possible.

He looked at his computer and found me an “upgrade” for a King Suite and told me that the larger space should help the musty smell dissipate (????!)

Y’all.

It didn’t.

This new “deluxe” room reeked just as badly, but I was determined not to be a troublemaker and told myself I’d make it work.

So then I had an idea. I looked on the map for the closest Target and made my way over there to get a big jug of drinking water and a giant sized air freshener spray!

Once back in the room, I sprayed the shit out of that air freshener like I was fumigating for stink bugs. I had the whole place smelling like a fresh baked cinnamon apple pie!

Sadly, the scent dissipated after about 10 minutes, but at least by the time it did, my nose was kind of used to the mustiness of it all? Not really, but I tried. Each evening I would spray the whole suite about three times during the course of the night. Ugh. It was baaaaad.

I had trouble sleeping each night. I just kept thinking about mold and how it was probably going to make me sick and possibly make my cancer flare back up. I never let my bare feet touch the floor, and I was even kind of freaked out to take a shower for fear of something nasty crawling out of the drain and grabbing my toes.

What a nightmare.

And here’s the real kicker of the whole nasty situation: the company I’m interviewing with MAKES HOME FRAGRANCES!!! That’s what they DO! It’s literally their bread and butter! It was shocking that these people didn’t even THINK to send me to a hotel that at least SMELLS OK!!

I was so tempted to tell them at my interview that they really should send product samples to this hotel that’s literally steps away from their factory. I was also even MORE tempted to tell them to never, EVER send a retail buyer who might be visiting for a factory/corporate office visit to that hotel. But the topic never came up and they never asked me anything about the accommodations.

And honestly, I’m utterly shocked that they’d send a prospective employee to that hotel. They wanted me to get a sense of their company and the town, and MAN, did I ever!

And in a suuuuuper ironic twist, once I walked into their factory, I almost barfed again from the fragrance burst that smacked me right in the nose. It smelled like a massive Bath & Body Works blew up right in front of me, all over me, and inside my whole being.

Are you scentsing a theme here?? My nose will never be the same. I honestly think I damaged something.

Stinkily,
GS

Last updated November 03, 2022