So gross I have to share....then probably go throw up

My office is in an old mansion built in 1842. The architecture is pretty cool and it's neat to think I work in a former bedroom or sitting room. The bathroom still has an old tub in it.

There are some downsides to working in an old building. Mainly the attic (where I have been once and don't plan on going back to) and the basement (which I've been told is like something out of Silence of the Lambs. I definitely won't be going down there!) The stairs are also very narrow and they curve sharply to the left under a low ceiling which you have to duck under. Various pipes run across the ceiling as well. I have hit my head more than once.

Now as you all know, I am smell-sensitive. (The B.O. smell went away, if you're curious.) But I completely understand that when you've got to go, you've got to go. We've all been there. Office poops are part of life.

So I'm heading down the narrow staircase to go raid the supply closet for some new pens. I'm half way down, positioned just under the pipes when I hear a flush. I pause and look up at the pipes, I guess as a reflex to hearing a sound above me. (No, the pipes didn't break...you think I would still be at work if I was covered in feces pieces? I DON'T THINK SO!)

As the water rushed above my head, just inches from my nose, I smelled it. IT. Poop. Crap. Doo Doo. HUMAN WASTE. I might as well have had my head IN the toilet. It smelled that bad. I was momentarily frozen in shock, the smell penetrating my unassuming nostrils and up into my eyeballs before I flew down the stairs and away from the offending odor.

Five minutes later, new pens in hand, I ran back up to my office taking two stairs at a time. (Who knew if the smell was still lingering? I didn't want to find out!) I'm still really grossed out.

I knew I shouldn't have ventured out of the office today.