It Was Me, Okay? Stop Scrunching Up Your Nose When You Walk In

So you know how there is always that one person that decides in the middle of the day to make popcorn, and at first it smells heavenly from the kitchen, and then all of a sudden the smell turns acrid, and you realize the popcorn is burning?

Yeah, that was me. I went in to make my popcorn and diligently stood by as it popped. I’ve made many-a microwave popcorn and know it can turn on a dime from pleasant smelling to smokey mess. So I followed the instructions and kept an eagle eye on the microwave. With one minute still left on the clock it was still popping along, but I was paranoid about burning it, so I took it out of the microwave, and was accosted by the most foul-smelling bag of popcorn in years. I opened the bag and saw perfectly popped popcorn, but smoke was coming out of the bag, which concerned me. I poured out the first layer of good popcorn and saw in the middle of the bag was a clumped of incredibly burned popcorn, smoking like you wouldn’t believe. I smashed the bag closed and buried it in the trashcan, but not before the smoke filled the kitchen with it’s stench.

I sprayed Lysol and tried to get rid of the smell, to no avail. I ate my 1 cup of good popcorn (that’s all that I could get out before the smoke started taking over) and quickly left the kitchen, apologizing to the receptionist as I walked out (she sits near the kitchen).

But now, sitting at my desk, I know I reek of burned popcorn. With every breath I take my nose fills with the smell, and I fear the smoke went into my clothes and that for the next 2 1/2 hours I’m going to be forced to relive the popcorn disaster, breath by breath.