Fragrance story / scent etiquette

Hello everyone,

So today's story is going to be a bit atypical of the ones normally seen on here but it still raises an important question of what is appropriate fragrance chit-chat/discussion with strangers. I'd like to hear your input on how you would (or have) approached a situation where maybe you really liked another person's fragrance and wanted to inquire about it or the like.

---------------------------------------------------------

For a bit of background, I had been painting all morning at my mother's while my girlfriend and another employee were there helping with my mom's business. And around noon time, naturally, we became hungry and decided on a local mexican restaurant to eat at, which is a casual atmosphere comparable to the Montezuma chain and a step-up from fast-food. Anyway, while the server delivered my food onto the table I caught a whiff of something familiar and thought to myself, "Oh, no acqua di gio for once. Where do I remember that from." Nascant to the fragrance world, I told my girlfriend sitting next to me that he was wearing JPG's "Le Male," and how I should've known that it was going to be a common fragrance (I have le male on the way in the mail).

So, I battled with myself whether or not to casually ask the waiter what scent he was wearing and decided I would. When he came back around to finish delivering our dishes, I nonchalantly asked, "Is that le male you're wearing?" He then looked a little perplexed and I took it as a.) I was not making myself comprehensible enough given English is likely his second language or b.) he never heard of Le Male and I'm completely off in my assertion. Well, it had been the latter because after I changed my original question to, "What scent is that? It smells familiar." He told me it was Joop!

Afterwards, I commenced chowing down and then my mom, gf, and friend mentioned that the waiter probably thought I was hitting on him. This hadn't even crossed my mind. So when the (a) waiter came back, I said, "Oh excuse me, sir. My friends (for the sake of simplicity) thought it sounded like I was hitting on you. I wasn't. I just wanted to make that clear." Then the (soon to be flummoxed) waiter replied, "Oh, ok," and walked away.

We-e-e-l-ll, my table then told me, "That wasn't the waiter you asked about the cologne. The original waiter had a goatee and this one didn't" (probable they are brothers). Feeling mired and beyond any chance of salvaging the situation I gave up and kept my mouth quiet the rest of our meal.

frug is right - normally in this scenario, I think I would've shrugged off my table guests' opinions and not have worried about it. I suppose today I was slightly more gregarious and didn't mind clearing any misunderstanding, if there was any, initially.

My friends, I know it sounds awful that I couldn't distinguish between the two waiters, but I guess a family-run business with similiar features and nuanced facial hairstyles got the best of me today. And I felt I would've further complicated matters by trying to resolve the confusion; so for the rest of the meal I assumed an air of having already forgotten about the awkward experience and moved-on.

Also, around my current place of employment it is not out of the ordinary for one of us to ask another male or female employee what they are wearing and/or compliment their fragrance. Just the other day, for instance, my boss asked me what I was wearing because he thought he recognized it as Polo original - nope, Kouros.

I ordered Pollo Guapo, by the way. A grilled chicken breast with pinapple chunks, sauteed onions and peppers, drizzled with a delicious tangy-pineapple sauce with fresh steamed vegables and some variation of rice as the sides.