Dear Ms. Demeanor: Diapers don't belong in the elevator
Dear Ms. Demeanor,
I live in a small 6-story building with no garbage chute. We have to take our trash and recycling to the basement using the elevator or stairwell. There are a few families in the building whose kids are in diapers and they insist on using the elevator to bring down their diaper pail contents. I don't have to tell you that the smell is unbearable and it lingers. Shouldn't they take the stairs?
Signed,
Post-Diaper Depressive
Dear Depressive,
Thank you. I have waited my entire career to put the following in print: So you think your s*** doesn't stink? Garbage is garbage... Are you telling me cat litter and last night's red snapper aren't vile smells that can linger in an elevator? Are you going to rate everyone's garbarge on the level of 'stinkiness'?
What will your cutoff level be for elevator versus stairs? Whose refined and sensitive nose will be elected to make the determination? Are people on the second floor allowed to have smellier garbage than people on the sixth floor because they are in the elevator for less time so there is less overall odor exposure?
New parents have enough to worry about without worrying how much the smell from those diapers they have spent the better part of a day or week changing offend your delicate sensibilities. Also remember that diapers may not be part of your present but they were definitely part of your past and very probably part of your future. Look in to improved elevator ventilation systems, not a garbage apartheid; your attitude is what really needs changing and FAST.
With love from the Diaper Genie,
Ms. Demeanor
Ms. Demeanor is channeled by a longtime Manhattan vertical dweller and real-estate voyeur who writes under the pen name Jamie Lauren Sutton. She is here to commiserate, calm and correct. Please email your quandaries to [email protected] and put "Dear Ms. Demeanor" in the subject line.
