Not in this building. Plus I'm familiar with the smell you're referring to, it's definitely not that. Appreciate the suggestion though!
A rotting mouse in the wall...
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Might not be in the wall then. Mice get into insanely small spaces.
Your new description of the odor makes a big difference. It’s apparently much much weaker than earlier implied. Putrizine really really potent and is detectable by the human nose in ridiculously small quantities. This means the source may not be particularly nearby. If it was in room the entire room would be nearly uninhabitable and everyone would smell it. Everyone.
It could be in building elsewhere or even under it. Possibly even nearby it. If you’re smelling it from the wall there may be a breeze bringing it.
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Hmm, you may be onto something because they still haven't found it in the wall. They've also checked under the floor and can't find it.
I certainly didn't mean to exaggerate the smell at first - it's really bothering me but I'm pretty sensitive to smells I suppose. I just spent 45 minutes with a family in the office, and they didn't smell it even once.
Twilight zone. It really is. I hadn't considered it being nearby rather than in the wall, so the plot thickens.
Bothering you but not other people. When you get close it will bother other people. A lot. If only you and a few others can smell it it could be far away. Is the building on blocks? Is there a crawl space?
There's a crawl space - they've checked it pretty thoroughly, nothing. Except for a couple of chess pieces (I'm serious - a squirrel must have grabbed them and took them under there, heh). They're still looking though, but it seems that it may in fact be elsewhere as you suggested. Not only can they not find it down there but they can't smell it down there, either.
I'm clueless at the moment as to where it could be. I have no idea what to make of it right now. The search continues...
I really appreciate the chance to discuss this. Gives me extra perspective / a chance to vent.
Yeah I was gonna say.... Call facilities maintenance and can't they move you, your computer and some stuff into like, a conference room or something?
You'd be shocked at smells. I one spilled (as a child) a full cup of milk in my carpet. I tried to clean it up.... THEN, the stink began. Like, as my parents tried with INCREASING like, intensity to narrow down the smell (like, my dad even got up on the ROOF to see if there was a dead bird there) I was increasingly fearful to reveal my milk "Secret."
I mean, I finally did the smell was awful. Plus, knowing I was the causative agent and saying nothing was AWFUL too. I don't think my parents were angry so much as bemused. They were like, "Why didn't you SAY something?" and I was like, 'I didn't think of it."
You can get away with that line if you are oh, six though.
They were a lot madder when I came back at age 18 smoking actually. My "I didn't think it would be so hard to QUIT," was not a viable excuse THAT time (although it actually happened to be true I though it would TOTES easy to quit I have NO clue what I was thinking, etc.
Anyone spill anything on your carpet recently?
Anna
You'd be shocked at smells. I one spilled (as a child) a full cup of milk in my carpet. I tried to clean it up.... THEN, the stink began. Like, as my parents tried with INCREASING like, intensity to narrow down the smell (like, my dad even got up on the ROOF to see if there was a dead bird there) I was increasingly fearful to reveal my milk "Secret."
I mean, I finally did the smell was awful. Plus, knowing I was the causative agent and saying nothing was AWFUL too. I don't think my parents were angry so much as bemused. They were like, "Why didn't you SAY something?" and I was like, 'I didn't think of it."
You can get away with that line if you are oh, six though.
They were a lot madder when I came back at age 18 smoking actually. My "I didn't think it would be so hard to QUIT," was not a viable excuse THAT time (although it actually happened to be true I though it would TOTES easy to quit I have NO clue what I was thinking, etc.
Anyone spill anything on your carpet recently?
Anna
Adirondack life - what a trip.
@stols001 (hi!
) There's no carpet in my office, and I don't really keep any kind of food or drink (sans water/coffee) in my office, so it's really confusing - I've torn apart all of the drawers, looked behind/under everything, nothing.
To further thicken the plot? The smell has been rapidly dissipating as the day goes on. This opens up yet another range of possibilities. Perhaps something else found the corpse and took it away. Perhaps it was never there at all and the smell was drifting from somewhere nearby, as mentioned by @bombastinator. The breeze has stopped for the first time in a couple of days. I don't even smell it when I sniff the wall right now.
This morning it was very noticeable to me (whole office) and three co-workers smelled it when they sniffed around the wall. Now nobody smells it. The two guests still in camp (Saturday is the change-over day but a couple families are staying longer) think we're crazy as they watch us tear the wall apart, crawl around under the floor, etc as they don't smell it to begin with.
I swear I'm not making this up. Hopefully whatever it is will just fade, but the search continues. They're now checking nearby walls and crawl spaces, not directly attached to the office by very close-by.
Maybe a rodent took a piece of something and left it there but it already decomposed.
I might be going crazy, but at this point that's preferable to a guest smelling what I swear I was smelling.
@stols001 (hi!
) There's no carpet in my office, and I don't really keep any kind of food or drink (sans water/coffee) in my office, so it's really confusing - I've torn apart all of the drawers, looked behind/under everything, nothing.To further thicken the plot? The smell has been rapidly dissipating as the day goes on. This opens up yet another range of possibilities. Perhaps something else found the corpse and took it away. Perhaps it was never there at all and the smell was drifting from somewhere nearby, as mentioned by @bombastinator. The breeze has stopped for the first time in a couple of days. I don't even smell it when I sniff the wall right now.
This morning it was very noticeable to me (whole office) and three co-workers smelled it when they sniffed around the wall. Now nobody smells it. The two guests still in camp (Saturday is the change-over day but a couple families are staying longer) think we're crazy as they watch us tear the wall apart, crawl around under the floor, etc as they don't smell it to begin with.
I swear I'm not making this up. Hopefully whatever it is will just fade, but the search continues. They're now checking nearby walls and crawl spaces, not directly attached to the office by very close-by.
Maybe a rodent took a piece of something and left it there but it already decomposed.
I might be going crazy, but at this point that's preferable to a guest smelling what I swear I was smelling.
Another factor: a breeze that has stopped blowing coinciding with dispassion of smell. Which direction was it blowing from?Adirondack life - what a trip.
@stols001 (hi!
To further thicken the plot? The smell has been rapidly dissipating as the day goes on. This opens up yet another range of possibilities. Perhaps something else found the corpse and took it away. Perhaps it was never there at all and the smell was drifting from somewhere nearby, as mentioned by @bombastinator. The breeze has stopped for the first time in a couple of days. I don't even smell it when I sniff the wall right now.
This morning it was very noticeable to me (whole office) and three co-workers smelled it when they sniffed around the wall. Now nobody smells it. The two guests still in camp (Saturday is the change-over day but a couple families are staying longer) think we're crazy as they watch us tear the wall apart, crawl around under the floor, etc as they don't smell it to begin with.
I swear I'm not making this up. Hopefully whatever it is will just fade, but the search continues. They're now checking nearby walls and crawl spaces, not directly attached to the office by very close-by.
Maybe a rodent took a piece of something and left it there but it already decomposed.
I might be going crazy, but at this point that's preferable to a guest smelling what I swear I was smelling.
From the west, and the wall I've been smelling it from is to the north. But, the way the breeze hit the trees and buildings around me, it could have re-directed enough to bring it from the north.
BUT - have a weird update. The search has concluded for the day and we are going to see if the smell fully dissipates or returns. Maintenance brought to my attention that down in the basement, a jug of paint thinner had regrettably been left open for the past couple of days. Now, I would like to think I know what that smells like - but, I'm actually wondering if that was it.
My allergies are a bit intense right now and my sinuses aren't great. It's entirely possible I was misinterpreting the smell. The jug is now closed and has been moved to a different location. Tomorrow morning it will be interesting to see if I can smell anything in the office, after it's been closed up all night. I currently have the doors open to let fresh air in.
edit: oh and @stols001 I could move to a different location, but today's not a very feasible day for it. The process would be pretty significant. However, if the smell is bad again tomorrow, I may do that until we figure this out.
paint thinner doesn’t smell anything like death. It can cause it but it doesn’t smell like it. Have you never smelled a dead thing before? It’s pretty unmistakable
Bombastinator has his bombastic days, just like I have my rapidly shifting mood days.
Death is an unmistakable smell, yes, but I am telling you it doesn't have to be a dead animal.
Milk dying (I suppose it's organic material) smells JUST like death which is what prompted my dad to get up on the roof to look for dead birds and etc. Really there are a LOT of bad smells.
I discovered this when we went to the sewage plant treatment facility in HS. Halfway through I was like, "I do not want to know this, I do not want to smell this, and I'm sure I can at least get a B PLUS if I write about it eloquently enough." (My high school was like that.)
So I went and sat in the van. I hear I didn't miss much.
Anna
Death is an unmistakable smell, yes, but I am telling you it doesn't have to be a dead animal.
Milk dying (I suppose it's organic material) smells JUST like death which is what prompted my dad to get up on the roof to look for dead birds and etc. Really there are a LOT of bad smells.
I discovered this when we went to the sewage plant treatment facility in HS. Halfway through I was like, "I do not want to know this, I do not want to smell this, and I'm sure I can at least get a B PLUS if I write about it eloquently enough." (My high school was like that.)
So I went and sat in the van. I hear I didn't miss much.
Anna
? Wasn’t meant to be sarcastic or rude. Some People haven’t smelled putrizine before. It happens. The world is cleaner than it used o be these days. They rarely forget it but there’s always a first time.
I realized I made an assumption thinking the odor unmistakable. There really isn’t anything like it. Your brain screams “DEATH! PUTRIFICATION!” at you and then makes you think about vomiting. She said dead animal and I didn’t think it might be a mistake.
I figured it wasn't the intention, but sometimes it's difficult to tell what someone's tone is through text alone. I'm familiar with the scent of dead animals. Originally, this smelled more like sewage to me, but then I started to think it was a dead mouse. That's partly because of the high mouse activity lately, but I'm not sure if my brain is causing me to misinterpret the smell or not.
At this point I just have no idea and I'm grasping for anything that helps make sense of the situation. Fortunately, I just had my second-to-last check-in and nobody has batted an eye (or a nostril) all day.
Now if only my final check-in would come so I can close this rathole up.
Final check-in hath arrived. I'm closing up in a few minutes and going to relax with the doggy. Thanks everyone for the helpful companionship! Hope everyone has a great night
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