Perfume wearer ruins meal

My wife told me this story. She and her mother were having lunch at a small local Italian restaurant when a lady came in smelling as though she bathed in perfume. The only dining area is the main room which holds 8-10 tables. My wife said the perfume was so overwhelming it was as though it sucked all the air out of the room and all the flavor from the food. She also said others diners were looking at the lady and obviously talking about it.
My wife and her mother had their remaining food packed up to go as my wife said it was impossible to stay and enjoy the meal.
So, should anyone have said anything, like complain to the owner who was present? Should one person be allowed to ruin lunch for 20 people?
 
 

I find it unplesant when people come in wearing too much perfume.  It is very hard on people that suffer from Asthma or C.O.P.D. I am sure it is hard and or awkward for a owner to deny service to someone for this. But I sure wish they would.

I posted about a server wearing gallons of perfume and how it ruined my meal a while back, and was quite soundly trounced for being unreasonable about it.  Apparently those of us with breathing problems are supposed to stay out of public places, or just deal with the problem without complaining. I would imagine the same thing is true of a patron, unfortunately. People are allowed to do whatever they want no matter the consequences to others, and the rest of us should just suck it up...at least according to many people.
 
Edit:
I just realized, it wasn't on this board, but another food-related board I frequent where I posted it. Perhaps people here are more understanding of what is actually a major health issue for many of us.

I don't really have a health issue with it but I find it very unpleasant. The problem is there is no getting away from it in a small area.
Several months ago I looking over the menu at a fairly large place when a lady came on bathed in perfume and was seated a couple of tables over. I knew this wasn't going to work out so I ask the server to move me to the other side of the restaurant and told here why. I was moved and had no further issues. Of course since I had yet to order and there were plenty of tables available it was much easier to move than if I had a table full of food.

Tough call, kinda hard to tell someone they smell so good they are stinking up the place!

ces1948
 

My wife said the perfume was so overwhelming it was as though it sucked all the air out of the room and all the flavor from the food. ?

Flavor = Aroma+Taste
 
Too much perfume would indeed interfere with the flavor of the food.  In some high-end restaurants, the chefs insist that there not be flowers on the tables for the same reason.

Sometimes when i go to dunkin donuts for coffee the server has cream or something on her hands and then she gets it all over the cover of my coffee cup....nasty....then i have to clean it.....
 
This should be common sense not to wear it, no ?

I hate to stereotype perfume wearers and I'm probably wrong but in my experience the biggest abusers seem to be elderly women.  Having said that I've also run across men who fell into the cologne vat.

Perfume shouldn't be "smellable" much further away from the wearer than body odor would be.  Someone whose perfume can be smelled at even the next table (unless the tables are very close) simply doesn't know how to wear perfume properly IMHO (little dabs at neck and wrists will do ya).
 
Because Miami Don is 100% correct--any heavy scent can ruin the dining experience because it's a scientific fact that a significant portion of taste is really smell--this lady probably needs to be isolated from other diners even to the point, if necessary, of asking her as nicely as possible to leave.   
 
I seem to recall I have seen dining establishments in California actually post "No Perfume" signs.

It is mostly women, because mostly women wear perfume. Also it tends to be older people who have worn the same scent for years, because as time passes they can no longer smell it like they used to and start putting more and more on so it smells the way it used to to them. 
 
My mother always told us that perfume is for you and an intimate friend to smell, not the whole room. Of course, we all grew up to have such hellacious allergies it's a moot point, but I still remember the rule. I wish more people did.

ces1948


I hate to stereotype perfume wearers and I'm probably wrong but in my experience the biggest abusers seem to be elderly women.  Having said that I've also run across men who fell into the cologne vat.

 
You are correct, in my experience, on both counts.  When it comes to men, because the heavy wearing of cologne is considered in certain quarters to be less than masculine, many establishments in SF seeking business from the gay "leather" crowd ban it and post notices to that effect at the door.  That's actually the reason I'm not certain if I've seen "regular" restaurants, outside gay neighborhoods, banning scents--because doing so is so common in gay areas and gay areas are so common in SF.  One could come up against this prohibition trying to get a hamburger for lunch in the Castro, for example, though it's more common at bars than at restaurants.

All my born days I have prefered the smell of Ivory Soap,or equal, on a lady.  My ladies didn't need perfume to hide anything. 
 
How about in the old days when a guy would light up a cigar or pipe and send up smoke signals ------ my wife sitting across the table disappeared into a cigar smokers cloud----had to ask to have our 1/2 eaten food moved to a different area.

As long as states are banning smoking in restaurants (for health reasons), with the support of the general population, I see no reason why perfume, cologne and other assorted non-food fragrences shouldn't be also banned (also for health reasons as indicated by some of the posters above) in restaurants and other places of close public contact, with appropriate signs on the door, just as is done with smoking.  There are enough deodorent (odor bacteria destroying) soaps on the market now that it should no longer be necessary for anyone (male or female) to smell like (as used to be said) "a French 'ho'e house" in order to be presentable in public.  (No reflection on anyone of French descent.)

The owner should have come over with an alcohol wipe, or several & asked her to go into the bathroom to take some of it off. GROSS.

Make her stand outside with the smokers.

How about making her rub a heavily garlicked spaghetti sauce in her hair, make sure to tell her , " it's a tradition in here for first timers"!

the ancient mariner


Make her stand outside with the smokers.

HAHAHA!  I was thinking the same thing.
 

cTF you are too tough on her.  Poor thing may not have a working shower and need the eau de cologne. May wee.

the ancient mariner


Make her stand outside with the smokers.

I got a hearty laugh out of this AM.

Seriously,  I can see no way that the owner has much control over this.  If a patron  objects to the odors from a person seated near them,  whether it is too much  perfume   or  bad  body order,  they  just have to ask to change tables.
 
I used to go to a dermatologist who had a  sign outside of his door which said  "No one is allowed in here wearing any kind of  fragrance.  I have many patients who are allergic."    so he has his rules posted on the door for all to see..  However, I think that a restaurant would have a difficult time doing this.
 
I am very sensitive to strong fragrances...........I cannot even walk by a candle store with out coughing or choking  so  I  fully  understand where people are coming from on this issue.

Hospitals post signs to the same effect not to wear perfumes and colognes when visiting patients.

Greymo-----I can understand that.  4 guys in college walking around Macys'
34th street and they had those atomizers out for the ladies to try some
fragrances.  One clown "friend" grabbed an atomizer and squirted the other 3 of us.  I got the brunt of it and stunk for a week.  Took all kinds of ribbing .  Worst part I sneezed for an hour or so. Yuk. 
 
We gave him a lovely wake and funeral though he didn't deserve it.

Greymo-----I can understand that.  4 guys in college walking around Macys' 34th street and they had those atomizers out for the ladies to try some fragrances.  One clown "friend" grabbed an atomizer and squirted the other 3 of us.  I got the brunt of it and stunk for a week.  Took all kinds of ribbing .  Worst part I sneezed for an hour or so. Yuk. 
 
We gave him a lovely wake and funeral though he didn't deserve it.

I think Greymo said it best.

I thoroughly agree about asking to be moved to another table. However in a place as small as I was describing moving to another table means you still couldn't get far enough away from the perfume wearer. I guess you could talk to the owner at that point, tell them the situation and say you have to leave your half-eaten meal. It would put the owner or manager on the spot.
 

Greymo


Seriously,  I can see no way that the owner has much control over this.  If a patron  objects to the odors from a person seated near them,  whether it is too much  perfume   or  bad  body order,  they  just have to ask to change tables.

I used to go to a dermatologist who had a  sign outside of his door which said  "No one is allowed in here wearing any kind of  fragrance.  I have many patients who are allergic."    so he has his rules posted on the door for all to see..  However, I think that a restaurant would have a difficult time doing this.

I am very sensitive to strong fragrances...........I cannot even walk by a candle store with out coughing or choking  so  I  fully  understand where people are coming from on this issue.

I work with 2 guys in their late 50's. They sit across from each other & they both like to wear cologne. The one puts it on with a trowel. Sometimes when you're coming down the main hall from the other hall, his cologne will hit you in the face...3-4 cubicles away.
 
The best is when their colognes meet in midair and have a fight (they sit across from each other in the cube farm)
 
"cTF you are too tough on her.  Poor thing may not have a working shower and need the eau de cologne. May wee."
 
Please don't get mad, I didn't make this up, but this is known as a Mexican Shower.
 
An Italian Shower is when you wipe down your face, hands, face, feet, pits & bits with baby wipes, then put your fragrance on.

City's perfume ban is no-non-scents, but some say it smells like Big Brother
Saturday, May 27, 2000
By COLIN NICKERSON
THE BOSTON GLOBE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- Perfume is meant to provoke passion, but not the sort stirring this historic seaport.
To the horror of perfume makers worldwide, Halifax has become the first major center in North America to prohibit the wearing of all cosmetic fragrances -- from Giorgio to grandmother's lavender soap -- in most indoor public places, including municipal offices, libraries, hospitals, classrooms, courts, and mass transit buses . . . .

Source:  http://www.seattlepi.com/national/fume27.shtml