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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/hpfan1516 on 2025-07-06 19:52:31+00:00.
So, today I found the fuck-up that I did in January.
So I am fond of Bath and Body Works Wallflowers. They are nice to have especially in the holiday season, as I do not like to have to keep an eye on a flaming candle. Easier and much safer, right?
Well, I've had a few misadventures with the damn things. Unplugged, they are easy to knock over. I've returned to my place after hours of being gone, only to be assaulted with the pungent smell of colored, scented oil across my countertop--usually soaked into the sacrificial kitchen towel that likely knocked it over in the first place.
But this incident, indeed, was much more insidious than a sticky, smelly spill. No. This took over the entire pantry closet.
In January, as the holidays ended, I gathered up the Christmas nightlights, including two wallflowers. One empty, one with the Christmas scent still plugged in. I'd long since lost the cap to that one, so I left it in the wall plug, and carefully stored it sitting upright, and put the box away in the pantry with all the other extra random bits and bobs from the kitchen.
In the months that followed, I started noticing that more and more of my pantry items were sticky. I chalked it up to getting something on them while shopping, and continued on with my life.
Fast forward to July. I've long-forgotten that one still had the scent plugged in, and decided it's time to clear out the pantry. Remove everything expired, reorganize with new shelves and drawers and bins from that one section in Target. Makes it exciting!
As I pull out and organize cans, I start to notice that there are globs of stickiness, and a pungent cinnamon scent that rolls into my sinuses and kicks back in a chair. There to stay as I tally up cans of pinto beans and pasta sauce. It gets on my hands, permeates the entire stock as I am wondering what on earth might have spilled. I don't keep brown sugar, molasses, or even spices in here. I shrug it off and keep going. But there are no spills to be found. Just an odd stickiness like someone sprayed juice into the closet.
I started at the top shelf and moved down, finally reaching the bottom, where the infamous night lights sat, in the open-topped bin. At the bottom? The culprit. A now-empty wallflower scent bottle, attached to its plug. Next to it? Another night light coated in a thin film of brown, cinnamoney sheen.
I don't know how, but in the months since being sat there, the scented oil had evaporated in the pantry closet and had solidified in the cans above, as well as ruining two nightlights, and leaving a syrupy stickiness over all the plastic storage bags.
TL;DR: I stored a wallflower with an uncapped scent screwed in, and the oil evaporated and solidified onto the entire contents of my pantry. At least it smelled nice. My sinuses still have it stuck there despite a nasal rinse. It's everywhere. Send help XD