Yesterday, when I went into work at 5 AM and entered the building, I thought I smelled something.
What’s that smell? I thought.
Smells niggle, don’t they — tickling some unreachable place in the brain.
Oh — I knew the smell, or at least thought that I did.
Cannabis.
I shook my head. I certainly was not going to be the one who turned in someone on the night cleaning crew, but sheesh, they should know better. What you do on your time is your business, but what you do when you’re on the clock — not so much.
It was about an hour later that one of my early morning co-workers came by to see me.
“Did you see that this morning?” he asked.
“What?” I replied, somewhat confused. I had seen nothing unusual on the way into work and we both drive the same route.
“Right by the side door,” he said, gesturing with his chin to the door he uses. I actually use a different door when I come in.
I shook my head. “I didn’t see anything,” I said.
“You must have smelled it then,” he said.
I shook my head again.
“That huge skunk?!” he said. “It had obviously just sprayed, but I was worried it might try to get me too! We were that close.” He indicated a spot about 5 yards away.
I shook my head now for a different reason. Do skunk and cannabis smell similar? A quick google search affirmed that they, indeed, DO smell somewhat alike.
I thought I knew what I was smelling.
Guess I was wrong.
Sorry, night guys!
This is in response to Linda Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt: What’s that smell?
I haven’t done SoC writing in a while — too busy, too tired, life too full, all the excuses. When I read her prompt this week, though, I had just had my cannabis-skunk experience so I wrote it out.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
I don’t think I realized that those two things smelled like each other!
I don’t think I realized that those two things smelled like each other!
I didn’t know that – glad I never accused … nice write .. 💞
Yes. Oh yes. While they are distinctly separate smells, there is a period of time when they smell so similar that you wonder which it is. Skunk stench overtakes the olfactory senses and lingers a long time—days—while the cannibis aroma fades soon. (I live where skunks are plentiful, and I have a neighbor who smokes weed. 😉)
Also, if you’ve ever opened a new container of ground coffee, the first whiff is strikingly similar to the first whiff of up-close skunk spray. You’d think that would be a stinky smell, but it’s not. Not the very first whiff. Then, of course, with the skunk smell, things deteriorate rapidly. Haha
A delightful tale! Yep. Skunky is the term.
Very interesting
Guess that is why they call it skunk.
And I have noticed that about the coffee too.
Good thing you stayed quiet…and that your co-worker didn’t get sprayed!
Yes, to both of those!
Have to ask myself every now and again – are the skunks out and about or are the students sneaking into the woods to smoke pot?? I’m surprised you didn’t know there was a similarity!
The skunk smell is usually so much more pungent. On the dog or emanating from the carcass by the side of the road. Cannabis is more of a lingering aroma to me — faint on the clothes or in the room. I really never noticed the similarity!