The Smell of Rubber

If you work in a manufacturing plant, you hear, see, and smell all types of things.

I see machines, people walking around, forklifts, and tire carcasses. I hear whirring, beeping, honking, people yelling.... and I smell rubber.

Rubber has a distinct smell. Every morning I leave my office, walk down the hallway, down the stairs, stop at the doors and take a deep breath. I open the fire doors, walk down the hall, and push open the doors to the plant. And want to gag. I'm never ready for the onslaught. It attacks my nostrils and my brain cannot seem to handle it.

My job is far from fabulous. Along with the lovely smell, I wear steel toed safety boots, safety glasses, and ear plugs. While I could not seem to find pink or purple or blue boots, I DID manage to get pink prescription glasses!

That's what they look like for the most part, but pink with plastic shields on the side. (These glasses go for $94 on etsy!)

However, I will say wearing jeans to work every day is fabulous! It's kind of a free-for-all for us women IE's (there's only one other female besides myself). I wear sleeveless tops before Friday, which according to my mother is unacceptable (GASP!). It's slightly upsetting because I've spent basically years building up my wardrobe for the office -- buying dress pants from The Limited, shoes from Nine West, etc, etc and now being told that I shouldn't wear that... Rubber stains.