{"id":97167,"date":"2016-04-20T15:16:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T19:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=97167"},"modified":"2016-04-20T17:28:54","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T21:28:54","slug":"the-wrong-scent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/20\/the-wrong-scent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wrong Scent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

From a vintage Bienaim\u00e9 advertisement.<\/p><\/div>\n

When I rejoined my husband, the first thing he said was, \u201cI love that perfume!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just as well,\u201d I said shortly.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what had happened: I\u2019d taken refuge from the weather in a shop. Guiltily aware that I wouldn\u2019t be buying anything, I sniffed at a series of perfume stoppers. Some customer in a fishing hat, a pair of white socks with sandals, and a bag with a picture of Liza Minnelli on it was chattering with the saleswoman about the exorbitant price of neighborhood tea and his depression. \u201cMaybe some cologne will help your day,\u201d said the saleswoman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The perfumes were sort of Victorian in style\u2014ornate bottles and old-ladyish scents. I was sniffing at something called Golden Jubilee when a voice said, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get anything out of it like that! You have to put some elbow grease into it!\u201d And suddenly I was blinded by a stream of Tea Rose. As I sputtered cartoonishly, my assailant\u2014who I could now see was fishing-hat guy\u2014continued to spray the rest of me enthusiastically. The saleswoman beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like sex, right?\u201d he said horribly. \u201cNo point unless you go all the way!\u201d You\u2019d think it couldn\u2019t get worse\u2014and for once, I had no interest in seeing how things turned out\u2014but somehow, as I hurried away, he managed to say, \u201cIt\u2019s like I tell all these young girls\u2014if you don\u2019t want to have sex with someone, don\u2019t get naked with them! Don\u2019t get into bed with them! Because after a certain point, there\u2019s no stopping\u2014a man can\u2019t stop!\u201d<\/p>\n

I should note, at this point, that the shop in question was on a\u00a0university campus. At any rate, by then\u00a0I was nearly out the door, and I heard him saying to the woman behind the counter, \u201cWhat a horrible day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review, and the\u00a0<\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I rejoined my husband, the first thing he said was, \u201cI love that perfume!\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s just as well,\u201d I said shortly. Here\u2019s what had happened: I\u2019d taken refuge from the weather in a shop. Guiltily aware that I wouldn\u2019t be buying anything, I sniffed at a series of perfume stoppers. Some customer in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[8923,158,662,4156,2426,14663,6664,16433],"class_list":["post-97167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-colleges","tag-encounters","tag-men","tag-perfume","tag-politics","tag-scents","tag-shopping","tag-stores"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSomething You Never Want to Hear a Man Say\u2014\u201cIt\u2019s Like Sex, Right?\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 20, 2016 \u2013 When I rejoined my husband, the first thing he said was, \u201cI love that perfume!\u201d\u201cThat\u2019s just as well,\u201d I said shortly.Here\u2019s what had happened: I\u2019d taken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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