Ok, people I'm all about being couth. But on another hand, I will let you know if you have lipstick on your teeth or if your fly is down or if you need a hair check... all done privately in a not drawing attention to you way. I am a polite person. So here's my thing, what in the heck do you do about people who smell. And I'm not talking about someone who poots and then it's gone or someone who wears too much perfume (because I've been known to be that girl). I'm talking about someone who is repeatedly gross smelling. And on top of that, the person smokes so burnt stench is what I get when I have to talk to this person. What do you do? Do you say, ahm... here's some Dial soap, you need to rinse lather repeat 400+ times or so... and along with that, I have you some Secret antiperspirant, put this on after you have RLR'ed... and last but not least, the creme de la creme, an economy size bottle of FDS, read the instructions.
Okay, is it an employee? If so, then you, as an employer, need to sit down and just let them know that there have been some concerns about their personal hygene, and while you know that this is an embarrassing and uncomfortable topic, you felt it best to mention it in private, so that the offender wouldn't be publically embarrassed. Then say something to the effect of, "You know, I used to wear a lot of perfume because I thought it smelt good, and then someone pointed out that a little went a long way. I was so embarrased, but so happy that someone said something, I don't want the whole world to say, Eww, there's that stinky girl, you know what I mean"? Then offer to give them the afternoon off so that they can take care of things and tell them you'll see them bright and early Monday morning. The End...
Hmmmm, do you have an HR person? If so, then let them politely handle it, in private to minimize embarrassment. It happens, they just need to be told that their hygiene habits are not up to standards. If not, then someone else in authority needs to pull them aside privately and bring it up. I worked in a REALLY small office once with a girl who had a bad habit of letting her thong show.............the boss asked me to tell her about it, but I told him since HE was the boss, he needed to handle it, as I was not her supervisor. He never got up the nerve before she quit, and no, he wasn't just enjoying the view, he was mortified! She would sometimes complain about being cold, and I would tell her to wear more clothes, LOL.
We just tell them that they stink and need to fix it. Then again, we are not a PC office, we call each other every name in the book and take every chance we can get to be-little each other. Seems to work out well for us actually.
Yeah... Me and another lady are kinda the HR peps, we may have to flip a coin. I just don't know how people can honestly not smell their own smell. I am so paranoid that I may stink certain times of the month, that's why I bathe in all sorts of potions and lotions.
Simply amazing isn't it? How oblivious people can be? I always wondered about the girl with the thong.............didn't she feel a draft? :jester:
O! K! Along with learning what people do with their hands, I just got an education on people's smells. Some women in this world, let their smells marinate in an attempt to draw the opposite sex. Apparently, SOME MEN like the smell...Yes, exactly like a dog. It's my call if I want to tell the person they stink. I just don't know if I can do that to someone. :neutral:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/yourmoney/11advi.html That about covers it - and it's nice to know you aren't the lone ranger of stinky co-workers :mrgreen:
You could do what a boss of mine did to someone who was very offensive smelling. He went and purchased some soap, shampoo, deodorant, cologne, toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash, etc and put it in a brown paper bag and stapled the bag up, to keep the curious out. He then went and typed out a note that read: TO YOU This was purchased for your personal use so that we can enjoy your company. FROM ONE OF THOSE THAT WISH TO ENJOY YOUR COMPANY. He did it that way so no one knew what was in the bag and it didn't embarrass the employee.
I once chaperoned an event for teen girls where one of the girls had this problem. It went on all year and even the slightest hint to her body order was taken. The person in charge tried to make a general "remember to shower and wear deodorant" statement. It didn't work. So I finally pulled the girl aside and had a talk with her. I started out saying I didn't want to offend her but she needed to be aware and I was able to say from a parental viewpoint. That's how my "BO" story.
What about those folks that eat so much spice that it just permeates from them, and no amount of soap and water is going to address it? And if they did try and offset it with cologne it would only make it worse. I have occasionally had this problem when I go on Curry binges, and actually enjoy the scent for the first minute or two, but sitting next to them for a couple of hours makes me want to heave. I know it is PC of me but as an HR director what do you do? Tell them they are no longer allowed to eat their traditional foods? That isn't right either.
Years ago, we had an Indian gentleman that used to come into the office regularly. The front doors were directly in front of the area where several of us sat. When we heard the doors open, we always knew it was him because the smell of curry would come wafting through and announce his arrival before he even got to where we were. :lol:
That's cool. I used to work in a place like that. Too bad people get their feelings hurt and start suing. In a typical corporate workplace I'd just be going to HR...
We once typed up an anonymous note that just politely asked this person to take a little more care with their personal hygiene and left it in their box. Not rude or anything, and she never knew who did it. Probably was paranoid after that, but got over it.
My algebra teacher in high school was just plain gross. Greasy hair, BO, never brushed his teeth...just a nasty smelly mess. We complained to the principal repeatedly how nasty it was when he leaned over you at your desk to answer a question, and how bad he smelled when he walked the aisles of the classroom...but nothing changed. So one day, several of us came into school early before the bell. The teachers each had little "cubby" mailboxes in the front office. We walked up to his mailbox and stuffed it with shampoo, soap, toothbrush, etc. We looked up at the secretary to see if she was going to say something...but she just smiled and went back to her work. Didn't do any good, though. I don't think he even used any of the stuff.
Many years ago when I worked as a teller there was one man who would come in and make the whole place REEK! I think he worked as a night security guard, probably alone, and he was always greasy and stinky, just nasty. I was the vault teller and as soon as I saw him come in, I would try to find something that needed to be done in the vault so I wouldn't have to wait on him. :lol:
Yep, dealing with the public can be stinky. When I worked for the cable company back in TN, you could walk through the lobby after certain customers came in and smell them long after they left. The CSR's kept spray cans of air freshener for such occasions. :ack:
