Memory of a coworker suffering from excessive pollen...

[fufufufu]

This observation is from a few years ago. I was working in a small cubicle-farm type of office. It was late spring and the pollen had gone completely berserk. Going outside was like a yellow snowstorm, with big clouds of it in the air and a coating of it all over your car, etc. Pretty gross but it led to pretty much my whole office sneezing...

A few days before the pollen got to the "big yellow cloud" stage, my coworker B was already suffering pretty badly from her allergies. B was about 30 years old, originally from India, with long black hair and what I'd describe as a sweet face. Every time I ran into her, B had her nose in a tissue. Her voice had gotten hoarse and she was very sniffly, and both her eyes and her nose were bright pink.

Once the clouds of pollen appeared, B's sneezing started up. I sat on the opposite side of a cubicle wall from her, very easy to overhear. She was trying to sneeze delicately, but she just sounded so, so itchy. They were some of the itchiest sneezes I have ever heard, usually in small, breathless, really intense singles and doubles.

"Wiiishuu! Uuwisshuu!"

Her sniffling had also gotten worse, as you might expect. Pretty much nonstop and very wet, only broken up by those itchy little "Wiiiishhuu! Wiiiisshhuu!" sneezes, which went on for most of the afternoon. I walked past B's desk and she was actually doing an okay job trying to focus on her work, even though her nose and eyes were streaming and she really needed those tissues.

I happened to be passing by when B got up to fetch something from the printer, and as she was walking she was suddenly seized by a huge, very breathy "WAAAAAAIISHOOOOO!" that doubled her over and made her stumble the last few steps to her desk The force and size of it seemed to take her completely by surprise, even with all her previous sneezing. I, personally, just about died.

After that, her sneezes tapered off a little bit, although she had a few more of the smaller and still itchy-sounding sneezes that afternoon. There were some other random sneezes around the office at that time, but nothing as sustained (or glorious) as B's.

[Raven Insight]

This sounds completely miserable! & yet, very, very cute. I love big sneezes that cure the itch.

[Privatedancer]

If you ate like me you definately had a tOugh tune getting your work done

[Hankysneeze]

She sounds like a dream

[PollenFiend]

Ohhhhh wow... What a wonderfully descriptive observation. Her runny, itchy misery sounds absolutely delicious. I looooove the mental image you so kindly put into my head. Thank you for sharing. You are so lucky to have experienced it in person.

[SneezySal]

If I had been in your shoes I wouldn't have got any work done that day.

[Floating Feather]

Lots of little ones and a gigantic one. I love it!