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Bus rider 'scent' packing seeks apology from city
Calgary perfume row
Kelly Patrick
National Post
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A Calgary woman twice kicked off public transit because bus drivers considered her perfume too strong is demanding the city of Calgary apologize and punish the drivers.
"I was just shocked," Natalie Kuhn said. "I was very upset, very embarrassed."
Ms. Kuhn's first scent-related altercation with a Calgary Transit driver began on Thursday, the day before the start of an ongoing work-to-rule campaign by the transit operators' union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583, which is in the midst of contract negotiations with the city.
The 25-year-old chiropractic assistant said she boarded a bus at a transfer station in northwest Calgary around 8:30 a.m. wearing her usual two squirts of Very Irresistible by Givenchy, a perfume billed as bringing out a woman's "spontaneity, audacity and sensuality."
The scent did not appeal to the driver, however, and he warned Ms. Kuhn that its potent odour was interfering with his ability to operate the bus.
"He said if I continued to wear it I'd have to take alternate transportation," Ms. Kuhn said.
But the driver did not stop the bus or ask Ms. Kuhn to exit on Thursday.
Later that day, she called the city to ask if there were any rules in place banning perfume on Calgary Transit. She was told there are not, and a city transit spokesman confirmed that yesterday.
"We don't have any policies against perfumes or such things in the workplace," Tony McCallum said. "We rely on voluntarily compliance with accepted societal norms."
Believing she was free to spray and ride, Ms. Kuhn squirted herself with Very Irresistible and boarded the bus on Friday morning.
This time the same operator -- who had been driving the route since March 12, without Nat al ie Kuhn complaining about Ms. Kuhn's perfume -- stopped the vehicle and said he could not continue driving because he was allergic to Ms. Kuhn's scent.
"He humiliated me in front of other passengers," she said.
The driver radioed a supervisor, who arrived in a car and drove Ms. Kuhn to her office. Ms. Kuhn said the supervisor phoned her back later that day and said she could keep riding the route if she agreed to sit at the back of the bus.
"I was disgusted but I need to keep my job," she said.
Mr. McCallum said Ms. Kuhn was never ordered to sit at the back of the bus.
It was simply a suggestion she misinterpreted as a command, he said.
Ms. Kuhn told her story to two local papers. By Monday, word of her plight had spread and she said her fellow passengers were sympathetic when she stepped onto the bus on Monday morning. "No passengers have had any problem with [the perfume]" she said.
But a second driver did. On the same leg of her trip on Monday, a new driver -- the regular driver was off on a scheduled week of holidays -- pulled over and began opening up windows.
"He then said, 'In case anyone's wondering why I'm opening all the windows it's because someone on here is wearing strong perfume and I have an allergy,' " Ms. Kuhn said, adding it was obvious she was the person to whom he was referring.
Ms. Kuhn said the driver then pulled over into a left-hand turn lane on a busy street and flicked on his four-way flashers.
She asked to leave the bus. She said the driver initially refused saying it was unsafe, but agreed to let her off after Ms. Kuhn phoned the Mayor's office.
Mr. McCallum said the driver escorted her across the busy street.
Ms. Kuhn said that never happened and she negotiated the traffic on her own.
The city has launched an investigation. Neither driver has been punished.
The transit union, meanwhile, says the incidents are "completely unrelated to work-to-rule."
Mike Mahar, the president of ATU 583, suggested the fact that two separate drivers had run-ins with Ms. Kuhn over her perfume means there is probably more to the story.
"Some more things may come out about this," he said.
Link to article
Bus rider 'scent' packing seeks apology from city
Calgary perfume row
Kelly Patrick
National Post
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A Calgary woman twice kicked off public transit because bus drivers considered her perfume too strong is demanding the city of Calgary apologize and punish the drivers.
"I was just shocked," Natalie Kuhn said. "I was very upset, very embarrassed."
Ms. Kuhn's first scent-related altercation with a Calgary Transit driver began on Thursday, the day before the start of an ongoing work-to-rule campaign by the transit operators' union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583, which is in the midst of contract negotiations with the city.
The 25-year-old chiropractic assistant said she boarded a bus at a transfer station in northwest Calgary around 8:30 a.m. wearing her usual two squirts of Very Irresistible by Givenchy, a perfume billed as bringing out a woman's "spontaneity, audacity and sensuality."
The scent did not appeal to the driver, however, and he warned Ms. Kuhn that its potent odour was interfering with his ability to operate the bus.
"He said if I continued to wear it I'd have to take alternate transportation," Ms. Kuhn said.
But the driver did not stop the bus or ask Ms. Kuhn to exit on Thursday.
Later that day, she called the city to ask if there were any rules in place banning perfume on Calgary Transit. She was told there are not, and a city transit spokesman confirmed that yesterday.
"We don't have any policies against perfumes or such things in the workplace," Tony McCallum said. "We rely on voluntarily compliance with accepted societal norms."
Believing she was free to spray and ride, Ms. Kuhn squirted herself with Very Irresistible and boarded the bus on Friday morning.
This time the same operator -- who had been driving the route since March 12, without Nat al ie Kuhn complaining about Ms. Kuhn's perfume -- stopped the vehicle and said he could not continue driving because he was allergic to Ms. Kuhn's scent.
"He humiliated me in front of other passengers," she said.
The driver radioed a supervisor, who arrived in a car and drove Ms. Kuhn to her office. Ms. Kuhn said the supervisor phoned her back later that day and said she could keep riding the route if she agreed to sit at the back of the bus.
"I was disgusted but I need to keep my job," she said.
Mr. McCallum said Ms. Kuhn was never ordered to sit at the back of the bus.
It was simply a suggestion she misinterpreted as a command, he said.
Ms. Kuhn told her story to two local papers. By Monday, word of her plight had spread and she said her fellow passengers were sympathetic when she stepped onto the bus on Monday morning. "No passengers have had any problem with [the perfume]" she said.
But a second driver did. On the same leg of her trip on Monday, a new driver -- the regular driver was off on a scheduled week of holidays -- pulled over and began opening up windows.
"He then said, 'In case anyone's wondering why I'm opening all the windows it's because someone on here is wearing strong perfume and I have an allergy,' " Ms. Kuhn said, adding it was obvious she was the person to whom he was referring.
Ms. Kuhn said the driver then pulled over into a left-hand turn lane on a busy street and flicked on his four-way flashers.
She asked to leave the bus. She said the driver initially refused saying it was unsafe, but agreed to let her off after Ms. Kuhn phoned the Mayor's office.
Mr. McCallum said the driver escorted her across the busy street.
Ms. Kuhn said that never happened and she negotiated the traffic on her own.
The city has launched an investigation. Neither driver has been punished.
The transit union, meanwhile, says the incidents are "completely unrelated to work-to-rule."
Mike Mahar, the president of ATU 583, suggested the fact that two separate drivers had run-ins with Ms. Kuhn over her perfume means there is probably more to the story.
"Some more things may come out about this," he said.
