Mine is a pretty tame example: I never minded the smell of garlic was fine around it… but I took a job for DHL and they had these large tubs of garlic for horses that had to go out to people. There were about 10 of them coming down the belt.
Now I can’t stand it. I’m just reminded of how strong that smell was I was actually gagging. The tubs were heavy, the handles were feedble. Some of the tubs were damaged so I got a bit on me.
I stunk of it for the rest of the shift. It wasn’t even a normal garlic smell it was just so powerful and nauseating.
My mom’s favorite thing is cherries. I love my mom and I love cherries, but she ate so many that I can’t stand the thought of eating fresh cherries. It’s been maybe 20 years since I’ve had a fresh cherry and I expect it’ll be many more until I can sit down with a bowl. Love cherries in dishes though.
It’s not necessarily a “normal” thing … but academia and university. I’ve been a university/academic rat for a bit and become so disillusioned with the place and its culture that I think I’ve got to the point of finding all of it, including those who subscribe to and participate in its value systems, completely off putting.
Mirrors and moreso scales. Having overcome an eating disorder makes me avoid those.
Bananas … Ate them before marathons for more than a decade and now they just taste like 3 hours of suffering.
Eggs. Scrambled, fried, poached, hard boiled, soft boiled, sunny side up or down. My little brother stuck Nickelodeon gak in my mouth while I was sleeping and it had the same texture/taste as cooked eggs after being chewed.
I can’t do eggs. After being pregnant even the smell of them being cooked turns my stomach now.
I’m ok now but for many years anything coconut would roil my stomach. Thank you Malibu rum.
Red Bull. For several years when I was late teen / early 20s, I’d go clubbing all weekend… always drinking red bull, then inevitably overdo it with the disco biscuits and have to puke.
~4 years of that, and I’ve anti-Pavlov’d myself so that even the smell of red bull sets me heaving.
I can’t stand the smell of pickles and vinagre anymore. I worked in a pickle factory for two months when I was in uni, and I smelled of vinagre 24/7. I also had some sort of alergic reaction where a billion pimples popped out on my face, and it wasn’t a good time.
The jalapeño production line was especially bad, as the hot vinagre dropping on the jalapeños releases this very strong smell that quite literally felt like it scratched and cut your throat as you breathed in.
Pay was good though, so I powered through those two months. I dont really eat pickles anymore.
Known locally as “Gin Bilog”. It is the cheapest gin in the stores. Back when i was a student, we used to dink copious amounts of this, mixed with soda or juice, water or even pure.
but one time i had a fever but did not want to miss a party so I still attended it. Even though i had a fever then, i still drank the alcohol as though i was not sick.
after recovering from the fever, i noticed that i am repulsed by the gin and cannot even stand the smell of it. up to now i haven’t drank a single sip of that drink.
Nacho Fake cheese that stuff make me vomit from a bad experience in the cinema
For me, anything “bubblegum” flavoured or smelling. When I was a teen, I had to have 4 teeth taken out, but it was done in 2 sessions so I didn’t have my entire mouth out of action (it was my back teeth on both sides, top and bottom), and both times the mouthwash, and the numbing gel they used before the injected one was bubblegum flavoured, and I can’t stand it anymore because of dealing with my teeth being pulled out my face
Christmas carols. Being forced to come back to a retail job over the Christmas rush a little over a week after my brother was found dead on the floor outside my bedroom :)
The boss there had a very personal bone to pick with me, made it clear she didn’t even have to give me any bereavement leave since I was part time, and when a customer went on a Mach 4 tirade because I wasn’t smiling hard enough (not kidding), she backed them up and threatened to fire me in front of everyone.
12hrs+ of this every day. I preferred working by myself in back because people would leave me the fuck alone to do my job, but it turns out it was also useful for intermittent off-camera crying!
To this day, 13 years later, I can still tell you the exact playlist that was on the radio. That was when The Fray’s How to Save a Life was still big and I used to really like that song, but I can avoid it now a lot easier than I can avoid “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
It got me forcibly stopped by the police once, when I couldn’t take it anymore, ran out of the store, and the owner assumed I stole something. I really just don’t leave the house after October.
As a side note I worked in a doctors office and how to save a life was on the radio station they had on. Every hour . On the hour. For days, weeks, months. It drove me insane. It’s such a shit song.
Finally I switched the radio station to classic rock for one day. It was amazing. The next day they had switched it to the local country station. Which was playing lone stars mr mom. Please go listen to it. Now imagine listening to that every hour on the hour for days, weeks, months.
I can still recite both songs by heart.
