Lunch Debacle.

"Dang it Jerry, you did not cook fish again?" Says the disgruntled employee with their McDonald's bag equally smelling up the lunch room. 

"Sorry Melissa." A genuine response.

A common topic where community lunches are as unique as the people that eat them is the smells that tag along. Now, this is not an insignificant topic and deserves the addressing. No, not dressing, it's not lunchtime yet. The smells that foods create can be a deterrent from an employee looking to make a lifestyle change. After all, there is nothing worse than finally deciding to eat the healthy versus the fast foods yet you are met with comments and sighs from your fellow coworkers.

"Jenny, what is that smell?" This as Barbara knows darn well it isn't a backed-up toilet, only her broccoli.

Yet Barbara might be a little jealous or a little annoyed that Jenny is taking a stand to change. Jenny is going against, the lunch-time grain and instead is choosing to consume foods that are better for her. Jenny might have even started doing some light weights or jogging in the morning and is taking a yoga class on Saturday. These small changes offend Barbara, because she is struggling herself with finding balance in life and wants to get out of the rut her greasy lunch bag holds.

Unfortunately, smells from cooked vegetables, fish, meats, any fermented foods, certain spices, definitely some cheeses, are going to have a certain, pungentness that is hard to ignore. These smells serve as reminders to just how far from nature our meals have gotten. It is far more acceptable to have candy sitting on a desk than it is to have bowl of almonds. It is easier to smell a friend's sandwich than it is to watch Melissa put her frozen broccoli in the microwave for 6 minutes. It is less stressful to just take a processed, non-smelly lunch to work to eat and move on without any recourse.

Though a workplace lunchroom is a common area where everything is out in the open, except for Pamela's sex life, there needs to be more acceptability and tolerance for smells that are out of the normal cheesy-inspired dish.

This isn't about what is right or wrong in what to eat, but to address an issue that is common in the lunchroom choices of satisfaction. If Jerry wants to have his fish, set up a procedure for some spray, or a way to prepare the fish without smelling the entire lunch room up. Also, a common occurrence for smells in a communal place is the trash. I personally put my fish cans in a sandwich bag along with any napkins, seal it up, and then throw it away. This prevents other people from have to catch wafts of my omega 3-rich lunch, snack, and 2nd snack. I recommend this with vegetables and their trash as well.

Anything biodegradable, a banana peel, food containers, any dairy that is thrown away, reduce the smell by taking out the trash at the end of the day, if no sanitation services comes to your aid.

Other steps to take are smells to mask, but focusing more on odor elimination and taking out trash regularly, cleaning up messes, and pay attention to where exactly the smell is coming from. I always suggest for people to check the counter tops for uncleaned or unsanitized spills, along with the sink drain for which any oil-based products can congeal with colder water being followed. Behind cabinets, refrigerator smells, and of course, any work place BO (body odor) needs to be addressed on a case by case basis.

Look, smells are an important part of our life. Companies like Glade and Febreze make millions on covering smells alone. My suggestion is to pay more attention to the earlier steps to reduce smells, accept that when Janette decides on January 3rd to make broccoli instead of her pretzel bites for lunch that you find it deep inside your heart to appreciate her efforts. After all, it only makes your day brighter when you allow yourself to see the good in people.