Workers returning to one of San Francisco’s top digital ad agencies were stunned to discover their offices still wreaked of burnt popcorn. It’s been nearly 14 months since front-end developer Jason Curry accidentally set the microwave timer for 20 minutes instead of 2 minutes in the company kitchen and yet the odor still lingers.
Initial reports suggest the burnt popcorn hailed from an 18-count Pantry Pack of Orville Redenbacher's Ultimate Butter. Workers described the residual odor as resembling a mixture of burning hair and damp sweat socks left under the seat of a 2002 Dodge Intrepid with the heat on.
Many were surprised that the odor lingered at the ad agency so long after the pandemic shutdown. “The whole world has changed. Economies have collapsed and come back, but that smell, well, it's still here.” said social media marketing expert Kara Goodheart, who sits nowhere near the kitchen but still threw up in her mouth more than once.
The litter box in George Callahan’s home office allegedly smells worse than the burnt microwave popcorn stench lingering inside a top San Francisco ad agency.
Despite the stink, most creative agency staffers were thrilled to be out of their home offices and thus took the unpleasant stench in stride. “I’ve been working out of our spare bedroom for the past 15 months, which is where we keep our cat’s litter box. So, if I’m being honest, burnt popcorn is an upgrade,” notes head of production George Callahan.
Ever optimistic, SEO specialist Ginny Kerris, tried to make light of the situation: “One of the good things that came out of the pandemic is that we’re now all masked up at the office and this makes the smell less intense.” Unfortunately, the comment did not sit well with a slew of cancel-culture employees, all under age 28. They took what they describe as a, “stand for humanity,” filing insensitivity charges against Kerris with HR. “Yes, this office stinks,” says an unnamed whistleblower. “But to suggest that protecting the olfactory systems of a handful of well-compensated white-collar workers, while so many others are suffering, reeks of privilege.”
A Pringle’s bong, similar to one’s made by the San Francisco ad agency’s creative staff. Note the photo is neither a staffer nor a compression bong. But you get the idea.
This is the second time snack offerings caused trouble for the agency. In 2019, Pringles were banned after it was revealed that the cylinder-shaped packaging was being repurposed into compression bongs by some in the ad agency creative department. “Edibles are fine, and helpful in terms of the creative process,” says Frank. “But smoking in the workplace is prohibited by California law.”
At press time, no disciplinarian action had been taken against Curry for burning the corn and causing the odor. However, one employee tweeted how ironic it was that Curry had caused the problem as he shares a last name with a pungent spice. This led to another round of cancel-culture ire. Plans are now in the works for an educational workshop on spice shaming.
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