Cologne Guy

Last spring towards the end of the period where I was doing a lot of work my favorite coffee shop, this guy started coming in a lot. Older guy, seemed nice enough, but with one defining characteristic

Waaaay too much cologne.

There were times I had to move to another spot because it was just overpowering. I would later learn that he was a recovering alcoholic who was basically transitioning from spending all day at a bar to spending all day at a coffee shop, and he really was quite friendly, so you have to cut him some slack.

But at the time my reaction was, "oh crap, here comes Cologne Guy".

Well today I got another new neighbor in my office. I’ve mentioned the interesting types of businesses going on. A lot of non profits (helping people in Nepal and yes, the small business in Afghanistan/Rwanda thing), many web start-ups, some freelancers, even a plumbing company.

So today a guy comes into our section to take one of the open spots. Seems friendly, though he’s wearing a suit and sneakers (and not practical walking to work sneakers, there’s a foot of snow on the ground). We introduce ourselves and I ask him what he does.

He has his own business creating infomercials.

Now I made fun of the Afghanistan/Rwanda non-profit (c’mon, how could I not?). But my reaction to it wasn’t "ick", it was, "wow, good luck with that". This guy screams "ick".

And he too, wears waaaay too much cologne.

I’m liking original Cologne Guy more and more…