What is the worst thing you’ve ever smelled?

A weird topic I know, but brought up today bc my wife decided to try for the record today.

She had borrowed a steam cleaning Bissle cleaner from the neighbor, and had been cleaning our couches and floors with it. She let it sit for like a week without cleaning, and finally tried to clean it out today. Lol she spilled it, slipped in it, and called me crying bc she had to pick up the kids from daycare smelling like absolute dick. I got home and volunteered to clean it up and instantly almost vomited when I smelled it. One of the worst things I’ve ever smelled. 

Worst thing I ever smelled was when I was working for 1-800-got-junk in college. Someone left a freezer full of seafood and meat on a patio not working, in 100+ degree heat for who knows how long. It was too heavy to carry so when we dumped it out it was by far the most disgusting thing I’ve ever smelled in my life. We have 2 kids and nothing they’ve ever done even compares. 

Anyone else have a good story? Worthless topic, but here we are.

Summer job during college working at county highway department… 95 degrees and a dead dog about to explode nearby the road….right where we were supposed to be working. One of the 300 lb operators told us summer helpers the best way to get rid of that smell was burn it. My buddy (who is now a big wig attorney for the state) doused the dead dog with diesel fuel and tossed a match on it…..flames shot up about 30 feet and then the simmer came and the work they needed done was no longer possible due to the insane smell. Everyone rushed to nearest work vehicle to hide from the smell…we were closest to the only truck with air conditioning and the 3 300lb operators were in the front seat squished with windows up in an old Silverado.

Good times….and next day there was no more smell.

One summer I did a detail at a small post office where I was the only employee.  Kinda like being in Mayberry.  Some interesting characters in the town.  Nearby was a family of little girls who would roller skate down the street, come into the lobby to say hi every day, and keep going.

Hot humid July day in the 90's.  The girls rolled in around 3 PM and said, "Mister, the mailbox outside has a lot of flies around it.".  Found out there was a big dead squirrel mixed in with the letters inside the mailbox, and I could tell he'd been cooking in there for a while.  Must have been a slow day in Mayberry, Opie and his buddies were looking for kicks or something.

The critter's juices had been leaking on most of the letters in the tub, and the smell hit me like a brick.  He went into the outside trash can.  Brought the mail inside and it smelled just like the squirrel.  Went thru two cans of Lysol spraying every piece of mail, and the whole place still smelled just as rank afterward.  Put the mail in the night pickup bag, and into the vestibule, figured it was the pickup driver's problem.  By the next day, most of the smell had gone.  Thank goodness for those industrial fans we used.

Always wondered what folks thought when they got those letters.

Clostridium difficile 

I guess I'm lucky that nothing really stands out. Lots of bad smells growing up in the country and spending most of my child hood on a farm but nothing with a story.

posted by justincredible

I guess I'm lucky that nothing really stands out. Lots of bad smells growing up in the country and spending most of my child hood on a farm but nothing with a story.

Those buildings they use to singe pigs are rough when their exhaust is turned on.

I was in Porto, Portugal.  Walking around the old city and I had to take a leak.  I found a small restroom and waited for the guy to come out.  He was a small, elderly Asian man.  The cloud he left in there was beyond anything I believed could be human.  I had to hold my breath and I still threw up a small bit.  It ruined my day because I couldn’t get the memory of the smell to leave me.  

This was 5 years ago and I remember it like yesterday.  The guy was radioactive.

Dead human flesh.

Second would be a freezer I had in my condo. Never went in the basement to get anything and it somehow got unplugged. When I went to move when we opened it up, WOOF, almost projectile vomited from the smell. Definitely was sporting the Jim Carrey/dry heave look from Dumb & Dumber.

Idk if any of you guys have kids that were c-sections and you were in the OR for it, but that burning skin smell when they make the incision is awful as well. 

Years ago when my wife still had her coffee shop I noticed what looked like every fly in town crawling and buzzing around the dumpster.  As I approached awful smell. Flipped the lid on the dumpster and there was a large cooler inside.  Sounded like I was in a hive with all the stirred buzzing flies.  Opened the lid to the cooler several large dead fish that someone had left for a long period of time in the hot sun.  The water looked disgusting and the smell was terrible.

People in Pittsburgh 

A little more than 20 years ago, I had an elderly neighbor that I helped do various things that called me an asked me to ride out to her cousins house and check on her because she hadn’t heard from her for a couple months. So I picked her up and drove the 7-10 miles to her house. We went up knocked, no one answered. She tried the door and it was unlocked. When the door opened I had to catch her because she collapsed from the putrid smell. I took her back to the car and held my breath and went back in while she called 911. Body count 1 German Shepard, 3 cats, and her cousin.

The sheriff would not even go in. The paramedics waited for the coroner before they entered. They found 1 survivor. It was a little jack russel terroir that apparently had plenty to eat 😢