can air conditioners in shops give off a smell?

can those mitsubishi (well could be another make) Air condition units in the ceiling of shops throw out any kind of smells at all?

I was upstairs in a shop yesterday and getting a very strong smell on that floor of what could only be described as the kind of smell a person would get in an old person's care home like old people and urine (sorry to be so graphic but thats the only way i can describe the smell. - have visited old people in homes before)

I thought it might have been some other customer that had been around but then when i stood underneath the air conditioner in the ceiling and as it was blowing down cool air I think I pinpointed the smell coming from there - very pungent it was, couldn't hang around any longer the smell was making me feel quite nauseous - feel sorry for the workers in the store if they have to put up with it , unless of course they have got used to the smell and it dont bother them any more.

so yeah, can those air conditioners give off smells?