Have you ever washed your hands in a public restroom only to have them smell worse after the scrubbing than before? I’ve had it happen to me a few times. I went into a restaurant bathroom, washed my hands with some sweet smelling soap then wiped them on some paper towels. Instantly the sweet smell was replaced by a foul odor.
Recently, the same situation was reported by dozens of residents in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. After using paper towels stocked at area bars, restaurants, stores and office buildings people reported that their hands smelled like “wet dogs” and “stinky feet.” Those were in fact the exact words used to describe the odor being emitted by the paper towels in question.
According to local newspapers, the problem became so prevalent that an investigation into the odor was conducted. The investigation revealed the malodorous product was being stocked at six area businesses and in more than 20 county government buildings.
An employee in the county clerk’s office said county employees didn’t talk about the odor at first – but then it became a topic of conversation between workers:
“It was like, ‘Have you noticed?’ When you wash your hands, they should smell nice, but they smell worse… it’s gross,” one county worker told a local newspaper reporter.
Investigators uncovered the source of the smelly towels-a business owned by the local mayor, which distributed the towels around town in September. Upon further investigation the mayor said the real source of the problem was in the towels’ manufacturing. (Ironically, a company located less than five miles from my neighborhood was to blame for manufacturing the stinky towels. Who knew?) In a statement from the company, a paper towel executive said, “odors in our products are a highly unusual occurrence.”
Residents of Jackson Hole say the smelly towels may have been disposed of but the memory of their odor still lingers.