Woman's scent not 'Very Irrésistible' to Calgary bus drivers
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | 2:05 PM MT
CBC News
A Calgary transit rider says she was kicked off a city bus twice because the drivers complained about her perfume.
But Natalie Kuhn says she doesn't believe her Very Irrésistible by Givenchy was the real issue, arguing she was publicly humiliated because Calgary's transit staff are in the midst of a work-to-rule campaign.
"It's just a little too coincidental that I've been riding the bus without incident for five years and the first day of work-to-rule is when all this fuss happens."
Deb Angus, who works as an assistant at the University of Calgary (a campus that has a Scent-Free Awareness Program), said she sides with the bus driver because perfume causes pain across her head and whole left side.
"It's very difficult to work once I am under the influence of perfume," she said.
"These chemicals are affecting everything from our blood pressure, our nervous system, our lungs and our eyes and our major organs."
Angus said she wouldn't be surprised if a bus driver suffered in silence for a while before approaching Kuhn about the problem.
"That's the common thing with a lot of sufferers because this is a hard subject to bring up to people."
Kicked off Friday and Monday
The union representing Calgary's transit workers began a work-to-rule campaign Friday morning, refusing to work voluntary overtime.
Kuhn said a bus driver warned her Thursday morning that he couldn't focus because of her perfume and asked her to not wear it again. She said she checked with the city and was told there were no rules against wearing perfume.
On Friday morning, she got on the bus again and the driver walked off the vehicle, telling passengers it wasn't going anywhere because of Kuhn's perfume, she said.
A supervisor drove her to work.
On Monday, a new driver pulled over while Kuhn was riding the bus and told her to get off because of perfume, she said. Again, a supervisor drove her to work.
"Why is it the guy that smells like body odour or last night's booze, he doesn't get kicked off?" she asked.
"If you are going to make it a rule, that's fine, but this is a city of a million people. You don't single out one person. And as a bus driver you don't turn around and tell one person to 'Shut your pie hole.'"
A Calgary Transit spokesman told CBC News that the city was investigating the incidents.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583, which has been without a contract since June, represents 2,400 workers, including bus drivers, C-Train operators and office and maintenance staff.
