Stinky family kicked out of museum


Recommended Posts

PARIS, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Security guards told a poor family visiting a Paris museum they had to leave because people were complaining about their smell, a charity official said.

The couple and a young child were on a free trip to the Musee d'Orsay with a charity that supports struggling families, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

The family was browsing a room with paintings by Van Gogh when guards told them they had to leave.

"I argued with the security man, telling him the family were all decent and properly dressed," said a worker with the charity Act for Dignity.

The director of the museum told French news sources he was saddened by the incident.

Claire Hedon, vice president of the charity, said she wrote to Aurelie Filippetti, the French culture minister, to complain about the incident.

source

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People's enjoyment of a museum shouldn't be compromised by the presence of others. If somebody's smell is offensive to others then it is reasonable for them to be asked to leave, just as one would a person being rude or noisy. It's not something any organisation wants to have to do but the museum has to balance the interests of all its visitors.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being poor is no excuse for bad hygiene, I'm not exactly rich and I wash every day.

Depends on how poor they are. There are families living on the streets and do not have access to a regular shower/bath. Besides, I have seen some really nicely dressed people stick....either they dont shower either, or spray on enough perfume/cologne to choke a horse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on how poor they are. There are families living on the streets and do not have access to a regular shower/bath.

In which case the charity should have made the appropriate arrangements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not something any organisation wants to have to do but the museum has to balance the interests of all its visitors.

The Director said he was saddened by what happened....so he doesnt agree. Seems like someone complained to security and they took it in their own hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Director said he was saddened by what happened....so he doesnt agree. Seems like someone complained to security and they took it in their own hands.

Being saddened by something does not necessarily mean one disagrees with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being saddened by something does not necessarily mean one disagrees with it.

Regardless who agrees with it...it shouldn't of happened. Museums are big places and if someone doesn't like the way someone smells, then they can move on and come back to that spot later.

Society used to be very tolerant of others...just seems that everyday the tables are turning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear than many French people have an odor problem. Don't know for sure but people that I know that have been there told me.

So, I'm remembering completely wrong when I remember you being one of those who say people shouldn't stereotype all americans under the same stereotype then. I mean, I must be since you find it perfectly ok to stereotype other nationalities ?

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At least people who smell, just smell, which can be bad enough. it's worse with the people who bathe in perfume and give you headaches for the rest of the day, those are the people who should be banned from public places. I'll bet the one who complained was some upper class bitch woman with enough headache inducing perfume to knock out an elephant :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would rather have a headache due to too much perfume than be vomiting due to someone smelling like ass.

Not me. Certain smells, like to much perfume, will give me a raging headache if i breathe it in to much. Same with cleaning products. Over the past 20 years, I have gotten a few headaches so bad I was in bed and sick to my stomach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being poor is no excuse for bad hygiene, I'm not exactly rich and I wash every day.

It is an excuse if you cannot afford hygiene products.

I would rather stink than let my partner and our children go without food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regardless who agrees with it...it shouldn't of happened. Museums are big places and if someone doesn't like the way someone smells, then they can move on and come back to that spot later.

As I said, nobody wants to have to ask people to leave due to their poor hygiene but if it ruins the enjoyment of the museum for the other visitors then it is not unreasonable.

Society used to be very tolerant of others...just seems that everyday the tables are turning.

You're joking, right? Black people didn't used to be able to vote, were prohibited from frequenting the same establishments as white people and were hung from trees if they stepped out of place; Jews were massacred because of racial intolerance; women were treated as subservient to men; gay people were publicly shamed and killed; the poor used to be jailed; Christians massacred Muslims due to religious hatred, etc. Society is more tolerant than it has ever been. Asking a family to leave a museum because they are ruining the enjoyment of others doesn't even factor on the scale of intolerance. Let's keep things in perspective here!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said, nobody wants to have to ask people to leave due to their poor hygiene but if it ruins the enjoyment of the museum for the other visitors then it is not unreasonable.

And as I said, museums are BIG places and if someone doesnt like the way someone smells, move on and come back. It takes less time than to go over and talk to someone and have the person leave. Museums are for everyone and not just the people who smell like roses and as long as the family wasnt causing a disturbance, then this should never of happened.

You're joking, right? Black people didn't used to be able to vote, were prohibited from frequenting the same establishments as white people and were hung from trees if they stepped out of place; Jews were massacred because of racial intolerance; women were treated as subservient to men; gay people were publicly shamed and killed; the poor used to be jailed; Christians massacred Muslims due to religious hatred, etc. Society is more tolerant than it has ever been. Asking a family to leave a museum because they are ruining the enjoyment of others doesn't even factor on the scale of intolerance. Let's keep things in perspective here!

Racism is a different story and different topic. Dealing with someones individual quirks and commenting on them is different than dealing with someone as a whole and making comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I'm remembering completely wrong when I remember you being one of those who say people shouldn't stereotype all americans under the same stereotype then. I mean, I must be since you find it perfectly ok to stereotype other nationalities ?

I have yet to meet an American who didn't stereotype the rest of the world and at the same time was ok with everyone stereotyping America.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Racism is a different story and different topic. Dealing with someones individual quirks and commenting on them is different than dealing with someone as a whole and making comments.

You said that society used to be more tolerant of others, which is factually untrue as evidenced by the examples I listed earlier. Racial intolerance is still intolerance.

At the end of the day, people were unhappy enough to complain and the security guards did what they thought best. This is barely worthy of an article in a local paper, let alone complaints to the culture minister or international scrutiny. They weren't discriminated against (discrimination being defined as "[making] distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit").

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being poor is no excuse for bad hygiene, I'm not exactly rich and I wash every day.

You have a computer and internet, you can't exactly class yourself in the same league....

Unless a charity is providing your computer and internet access...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You said that society used to be more tolerant of others, which is factually untrue as evidenced by the examples I listed earlier. Racial intolerance is still intolerance.

Did I say anything about race? When someone posts in a thread, they normally go by the topic and stay on it. And skin color/ethnicity is again different than the way someone smells, dresses, religious views, attitude, or the way they talk.

And maybe things were the same and its the because the media is more present and why people appear to not tolerate others more than they once did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said, nobody wants to have to ask people to leave due to their poor hygiene but if it ruins the enjoyment of the museum for the other visitors then it is not unreasonable.

You're joking, right? Black people didn't used to be able to vote, were prohibited from frequenting the same establishments as white people and were hung from trees if they stepped out of place; Jews were massacred because of racial intolerance; women were treated as subservient to men; gay people were publicly shamed and killed; the poor used to be jailed; Christians massacred Muslims due to religious hatred, etc. Society is more tolerant than it has ever been. Asking a family to leave a museum because they are ruining the enjoyment of others doesn't even factor on the scale of intolerance. Let's keep things in perspective here!

These things still happen even in liberal U.S.A.

An African American got hung from a tree recently for daring to sit on the same wall as a Caucasian.

Iran, they stone homosexuals to death as well as women.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.