Most of us have had to withstand unpleasant smells on public transport at some point, but one Singaporean woman has turned her ordeal into a hilariously relatable story.
In a now-viral TikTok video, Eunice Tan, 25, shared how she found herself in a moral dilemma after a man with strong body odour sat beside her on the East-West MRT line on 23 July.
“I happily took a seat until I realised I’ve been enveloped with a very criminal smell,” said Ms Tan to MS News.
The man in question looked like he had a rough day, wearing a damp uniform with stains.
This very observation was at the root of Ms Tan’s inner debate.
Her first instinct was to maintain a straight face out of courtesy.
“With all my facial muscles, I tried my very best to maintain a poker face because I saw that the person seemed like he had a long day at work,” she explained.
Noticing how tired he looked, Ms Tan chose not to react in such a way that would embarrass him.
Apparently, this is not the first time she has been in such a situation.
“My MRT experiences have always been very happening,” she added.
“There was also another time I smelt a very strong fart and had eye contact with the culprit. I walked away.”
Source: @euncieeunice on TikTok
However, this time, she hesitated to leave.
“If I stand up now, is it rude? I don’t want to embarrass him and make his seemingly tiring day turn out even [worse],” thought Ms Tan.
“Yes, he smelt like fermented century eggs in vinegar, but he was quietly resting like everyone else.”
It was truly a moment of “do I put myself first?”.
In her TikTok video, Ms Tan joked about practising “new breathing techniques” to better deal with such situations in the future.
She referenced the popular manga-turned-anime series ‘Demon Slayer’, calling the technique the “fifth form: fermented armpit repellent breathing”.
Source: Marc-Anthony on YouTube
Updating her followers mid-ride, she asked: “Ok help, I have eight more stops. Should I stand up? 站不站 [stand or not]?”
Eventually, she powered through all eight stops as so much was going through her head.
“Would I want to go through this again? No. But with how packed Singapore trains are, I don’t think I’ll be so lucky each time,” reflected Ms Tan.
In response to her ‘Demon Slayer’ joke, a netizen jokingly said that Tanjiro, the main character of the series, “would be proud”.
Source: TikTok
Meanwhile, another TikTok user tried to encourage her, saying: “What doesn’t kill u makes u stronger” — to which Ms Tan replied that the odour was actually lethal enough to “kill” her.
Source: TikTok
Another commenter likened the situation to a toxic relationship, saying one should leave when it “intoxicates” you.
Source: TikTok
Also read: Passengers aboard China flight argue about each other’s body odour, flight gets delayed by 2 hours
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Featured image adapted from @euncieeunice on TikTok and The Pride. Image on the right for illustration purposes only.