Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[Renalt]

If it makes you feel any better, I once crossed paths with a frequent homeless man that shopped at my old store years ago. He was quite overweight, almost never bathed, wore a blue plaid overshirt and a bright yellow speedo. We called him Speedo Man whenever he was in the store shopping.

We had no idea where he got his money. Or why he didn't bother to get any sort of soap to wash himself with. All we knew was that he REEKED. Like burn your nosehairs and you struggled to keep from wretching kind of reek. It was twice as bad whenever it was summer and temps would rise, as he would ride his bike and sweat on the way to the store.

He once passed me in the Deli while I was waiting to get something for lunch. Some lady tried to ask me where something was, and I caught a horrendous wiff of Speedo Man. I could only cough in reply that 'I don't know,' before walking away trying not to hack up a lung.

When someone is homeless and smells it's almost to be expected. They don't have the ability to catch a shower as often as we can. However when I know the dude/dudette has a home and yet they still reek is when I judge. I've only had to kick out someone once and that was because other customers were complaining. I took him to the side and explained it...tried to make it less embarrassing for them then it already was.

[Cincierta]

When someone is homeless and smells it's almost to be expected. They don't have the ability to catch a shower as often as we can. However when I know the dude/dudette has a home and yet they still reek is when I judge. I've only had to kick out someone once and that was because other customers were complaining. I took him to the side and explained it...tried to make it less embarrassing for them then it already was.

The area I had to work in, last I checked had several homeless shelters that offer shower stalls for them to use. I'm not sure why he never bathed to at least rid himself of the reek. I'm still not sure as to why he would buy the expensive stuff like ice cream. He was polite, nice, and at least buttoned up his shirt before coming in, so we really never had any grounds to kick him out of the store due to the stench.

The people that shopped at my old store didn't seem to genuinely care or were just too high to notice. The ones that did notice the stench more often than not gave him a wide berth.

I did feel bad for the cashiers that had to do checkout with him. According to one I had talked to a while ago, he took wads of money out of the fanny pack he wore just above his speedo, and even the money had an odor to it, like it had been sitting in places that were best left untouched. It was because of that encounter that almost every single checkout lane had a bottle of sanitizer under the counter from then on.

I do wonder what happened to him after these past couple of years.