This headline grabbed me . . .

As an editor for Ragan, I go through a couple of dozen publications a week, looking for stories. (By the way, if you're reading this and Ragan is not on your mailing list, can you put us on there? Ragan editors are constantly fighting each other for 'pubs'—hiding the best ones when they come in, rifling through each other's desks, and flat-out stealing piles of publications and taking them home. Well, I guess I should say that I do all that stuff . . . I'm not sure if anyone else does).

And as I wade through these pubs, I see a lot of crappy headlines: Synergy! Challenges and Opportunities! Senior Management Team Meets Offsite!

But every once in a while, a headline will really jump out and slap me in the face. I was reading a pretty good waste-management company's publication last night after the seminar in Atlanta, when this headline jumped off the page at me:

The Sweet Smell of Special Waste

That baby just defies the reader to ignore it, doesn't it? The sweet smell of special waste, indeed. It reminds me of an old college roommate, who was convinced that his waste was, in fact, special. And that it did, in fact, smell of roses and lilacs. It most certainly did not, but you couldn't tell him that.

For the record, the story (of course I read it, wouldn't you?) was about non-human waste, obviously. Here was a quote:

'Chanel No. 5, ThermaSilk shampoo, and marijuana are all part of [the company's] special waste mix.'

'Special waste' is waste that is 'too dangerous or too sensitive' to go into a standard landfill, according to the story.

Of course, that line begs an obvious question, doesn't it? Who the hell is throwing out perfectly good reefer?