Blake sat in a meeting at his temp job, where his main responsibility was to take minutes and fetch coffee. During the meeting, he became increasingly distracted by a severe itching that spread across his chest and arms, making it difficult to focus on note-taking.

When Blake failed to respond to his boss Kenny, he was asked to get coffee. On his way, he overheard Kenny criticizing the quality of some temps, which made Blake fear for his prospects. Instead of immediately returning with coffee, Blake detoured to the men’s room to investigate the itching.

Blake unbuttoned his shirt and discovered an angry red rash covering his chest, arms, and back. He scratched until his skin was raw, then tried to determine the cause. He ruled out new shirts and typical detergents, recalling his known severe allergy to limonene, a citrus fragrance chemical.

Blake connected the timing of his symptoms to shortly after Whitney moved in. Since he and Krista avoid limonene at home, he concluded Whitney must be using a detergent containing it in their shared machine, leaving residual that contaminated his clothes.

Realizing he could not remain in the restroom, Blake splashed cold water on his skin to soothe the rash, put his damp shirt back on, and prepared to return to the meeting. He recognized he had delayed the coffee and likely hurt his standing, worrying he had ruined any chance of securing a permanent position and that he needed to regain control before it cost him everything.