I was given the oversight of wiring a building that was to be used as a freight warehouse.  The building was not yet completed, so the window and door openings were open.  When we arrived we also found that the floor was unfinished.  We would be working on uneven, bare dirt.

Since much of the work was overhead we had a rolling scaffold to work off of.  Of course with the uneven ground, it made rolling the scaffold difficult.  We would take turns being on the scaffold or on the ground pushing it around on the frozen dirt.

On one side of the building we were treated to the aromatic issuance of an animal rendering plant.  On the other side of the building there was a commercial bakery.

I was the first one up on the scaffold.  As I was working the wind shifted and I was gifted with the wafting odor from the rendering plant.  It nearly gagged me.  I did as much work as I could but I finally had to come down to get some fresh air.

The other fellow got up on the scaffold and I heard him exclaim; “Mmm, that smells good.”  I laughed and laughed at his sense of humor.  He stayed up there quite awhile before trading places with me.  Finally I took my turn up on the scaffold again.

What had happened was the breeze had changed and the aroma from the bread baking plant was now coming through the open windows.  This might sound pretty good, but there is something else to consider.  If you were working up on the scaffold while the aroma from the bakery was coming at you, it could make you pretty hungry.  Then the scaffold would be moved and you would get the odor of the rendering plant.  Talk about cognitive disconnect!

Since that time the building we were wiring has been used for a number of different businesses.  The bakery is gone as is the rendering plant.

There was another rendering plant that I worked at down by the Spokane River, just below a community college.  I did some work for them and the smell was really bad.  The business end of the rendering plant made one serious mistake.  When I finished the job there, I waited for two months for them to pay me.

When they called me to do some more work I turned them down.  I told them I didn’t work for free.  Besides, I thought a man should get double pay to work in that facility.  Eventually they did pay me.

I believe the plant has since been moved because of the odor pollution that emanated from the plant.  At least, I don’t smell them in the wind when I drive by that location anymore.