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Colleague has bad BO!! Help!!

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Phoenix

Phoenix

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There's a person who recently joined our group and she's been given the desk next to mine (about 10 feet away from me). OMG, OMG, she really really smells!!
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. Every time she walks by me, I have to hold my breath otherwise I might gag. When she sits down at her desk, I can still smell her.

So what do I do? HELP!! Is there anything I can do or say to her or anyone? Obviously, I can't just walk up to her and tell her to go take a good shower, but what do I do?
 
Ew. I''d go to her boss, tell them the problem, and let them deal with it.
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Date: 4/16/2008 9:12:03 AM
Author:Phoenix
There''s a person who recently joined our group and she''s been given the desk next to mine (about 10 feet away from me). OMG, OMG, she really really smells!!
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. Every time she walks by me, I have to hold my breath otherwise I might gag. When she sits down at her desk, I can still smell her.


So what do I do? HELP!! Is there anything I can do or say to her or anyone? Obviously, I can''t just walk up to her and tell her to go take a good shower, but what do I do?
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I agree tell her boss or report to HR. HR is pretty good about dealing with these sensitive issues.
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Thank you, Ellen and Kris. Unfortunately, her boss is also my boss and the person with the bad BO is the HR Manager for our dept!!
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Date: 4/16/2008 10:22:31 AM
Author: Phoenix
Thank you, Ellen and Kris. Unfortunately, her boss is also my boss and she's the HR person for our dept!!
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Could you have a quiet word with your boss in that case? Chances are, as they are also the other person's boss, that they may have had a whiff or two in their dealings with her
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, and have chosen not to say anything unless someone else mentions it. I know it is difficult, but it sounds like something needs to be done and it is possible the person with BO isn't aware of it....Especially as this lady is the HR person, it doesn't really bode well for her to be unpleasant to be around.
 
If you both report to the same person, I would definitely speak your boss about Ms. BO. Each work place has rules or policies about these sort of things. Does Ms. BO just not use deodorant?
 
lol @ Ms. BO!

I have to ask, how can anyone not know they smell? Unless they''re smelling has seriously been damaged.
 
Oh dear... I knew a girl with bad BO once and it was a medical condition she could do nothing about... It''s really sad for those people! If it''s possible I''d recommend talking to her boss.
 
Anonymous email via stink-o-gram.? http://alltooflat.com/funny/stinkogram/

I sent one to myself & this is what it will say:

This email has been sent to you by a concerned acquaintance. This person may be a friend, family member, colleague, or classmate. Whoever sent this email wishes to remain anonymous, but is concerned about you. Please do not take this the wrong way or be insulted in any way. This is purely constructive criticism and hopefully will contribute to a positive change. The fact of the matter is, you do not smell very good. In fact, your body odor has become a problem for those around you. The sender of this message believes you will benefit from this information. It is not intended to be spiteful or hurtful, but rather a suggestion that maybe you should consider a shower, deoderant, or many other miracles of modern hygiene. Good luck on your path to personal growth.

If your are worried about your company trying to track who sent the email you can always send it from your home computer. I guess if a co-worker wanted to tell me I smell I rather find out through an email rather than having my boss or HR tell me.
 
It could be her natural chemistry no matter what, or maybe she is sick. I think she likely does not even smell herself at all. Oh, that is a tough one.
 
I had this problem with a co-worker. It wasn''t really BO so much as she smelled moldy and just blech..(kinda like when your towels don''t dry all the way and they have that stink?) Anyone know what I''m talking about?

Anyhoo..our boss smelled it herself and told her that she needs to come to work showered and smelling fresh (in so many words.) It worked for a while but then the smell came back and another co-worker went and told the boss the "odor" was back and again, the girl had a sit down with the boss.

I think talking to your boss is your only option! Good luck!
 
Phoenix: I have to ask :are you from Phoenix? I am curious?

As for the problem: is it a poor body hygiene smell? Could it be due to poor dental hygiene?
Or something else? Could it be due to her diet? It would be helpful if you could establish that first.
Some people have a drinking problem and will try to put something on themselves to kind of "cover up "
So having said that if the problem is not due to their alcohol cover up, then why not just tell her directly.If it is indeed alcohol related problemthen obviously she needs more help and you have no choice but to go to your boss.

How to say it to her you may ask?: just pretend you are talking about the weather there is no other way to say this but directly.
Chances are she may not be aware of it she has gotten used to it.No one had the nerve to tell her before as if they did you would not smell anything around her.

Try to be helpful with suggestions how to improve.Once you know the cause then its easier to deal with the problem.
You never know she may be your best friend after that.She would know how difficult it has been for you to tell her .So just help her out before everyone in the office makes fun of her.
Good luck on this one.

eta: be very kind but firm the chances are she will deny it at first, because she is not aware of the odour.She may have some illness as mentioned above so remember to be firm and very kind..Just try to help her out.
 
Phoenix,

Is she from another country? Just a thought because I once worked with a lady from Kuwait. She smelled really bad and wore a lot of perfume to boot. We had to talk to our boss about her, who in return talked to her. She said in her country they do not wear deodorant. He told her, he understood, but in our country we do.

Linda
 
Date: 4/16/2008 10:34:27 AM
Author: Ellen
lol @ Ms. BO!

I have to ask, how can anyone not know they smell? Unless they''re smelling has seriously been damaged.
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Apparently some people are unaware of it, as crazy as that sounds, as they are with the....odour all the time, the brain and nose tunes it out!
 
Can you get an airfreshener to place on your desk? I can''t see how broaching this subject with that woman will end well.
 
One of my favorite advice columns (Tomato Nation) has handled this a few times: the general consensus is to basically always go to the boss and address it as diplomatically as possible to avoid coming off poorly yourself. The air freshener hidden discreetly in a corner of the desk sounds like a pretty good idea, too ....
 
Date: 4/16/2008 10:38:23 AM
Author: VegasAngel
Anonymous email via stink-o-gram.? http://alltooflat.com/funny/stinkogram/

I sent one to myself & this is what it will say:

This email has been sent to you by a concerned acquaintance. This person may be a friend, family member, colleague, or classmate. Whoever sent this email wishes to remain anonymous, but is concerned about you. Please do not take this the wrong way or be insulted in any way. This is purely constructive criticism and hopefully will contribute to a positive change. The fact of the matter is, you do not smell very good. In fact, your body odor has become a problem for those around you. The sender of this message believes you will benefit from this information. It is not intended to be spiteful or hurtful, but rather a suggestion that maybe you should consider a shower, deoderant, or many other miracles of modern hygiene. Good luck on your path to personal growth.

If your are worried about your company trying to track who sent the email you can always send it from your home computer. I guess if a co-worker wanted to tell me I smell I rather find out through an email rather than having my boss or HR tell me.
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Oh wow, they really have a service like this? I sent myself on to see what happened...too funny!

Besides doing the above, I am not sure what I would do in your situation! It is sad if she has a medical condition and cannot do anything about it...or maybe she doesn''t now?! That is also sad to think of her walking around, minding her own business, and having people think she smells!
 
She may have Trimethylaminuria. I saw a special on this on TV. It''s a terrible affliction. Here''s the youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy4f7rUicVA

I would be very careful before you do anything to address this issue, just in case it relates to a medical condition.

You may suggest to your boss that you be moved to another location....and if necessary tell him why, in a tactful, compassionate manner.
 
Maybe go to HR. They can handle these situation tactfully.
 
Oh no, just read that she is HR. Yikes, that is tough!
 
It may be something she is aware of but can''t do anything about (like a medical condition). If that''s the case, it could be really embarassing for her.

If it''s something she is not aware of and can do something about- definitely go to the boss. Maybe there could just be a general "inservice" about making sure everyone showers and uses deodorant and not too much perfume, etc. and that employees even not thinking it applies to themselves, to check their "scent" anyway.

If the boss isn''t doing anything about it, maybe the anonymous note. I like the idea of the stinkogram, but if I saw something like that, I would just delete it (which is ok since I don''t stink lol).

I was just at Long''s Drugstore and they had these little air purifier things... a personal one you wear around your neck LOL (you could always glue some rhinestones on it and give it to her as a necklace
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)... but seriously they also have one that can go in a room. I''m not sure if it required a plug and I have no idea if these really work to eliminate the odors... but they claim it gets rid of germs and odors. I would def want something to neutralize rather than attempt a cover up.

Such a hard situation because you don''t want to embarrass the person, but also you don''t want to suffer with the smell. Hopefully it''s something fixable in a tactful way.
 
Hehehe... I just sent a stink-o-gram to my FI... brb gotta hit up little sis now ROFL
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I knew someone that always smelled off, and when she drank alcohol it metabolized oddly and she exuded this really odd smell. I know she showered and used deodorant so I think it was some strange chemical thing in her body. It was not pleasant.
 
I googled on the disorder togal posted about and web sites say that it cannot be entirely controlled and people become suicidal over it. A year back there was an article in my local paper about a 12 year old boy who was teased so much for his body odor that he killed himself!

Ask to move your desk!
 
I''d be direct and tell your boss. Who cares if it''s her boss too?

How about placing a gift basket on her desk filled with deodorants, bubble bath, lotions etc...

We had a housekeeper growing up. The smell was terrible. My Mom gave her the gift basket, and said, enjoy!! She used it all. It was magic. Till she ran out of the stuff. LOL.
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Lisa,

That is toooooooooooooooooooo funny!!!
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Linda
 
Date: 4/17/2008 12:05:02 AM
Author: Linda W
Lisa,

That is toooooooooooooooooooo funny!!!
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Linda
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I cracked myself up remembering her. She didn''t last long, got the boot after one summer. Funny thing, all the housekeepers had names that began with an E.

That''s for another thread. Everready, Edna, Elma, And my saint Elizabeth.
 
Lisa,

Everready???
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Date: 4/17/2008 12:54:20 AM
Author: Linda W
Lisa,

Everready???
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Yeah, good ole Everready, she loved cleaning out the bar.
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She didn''t last long either.
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ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I almost woke up hubby laughing Lisa. Now you stop this right now.!!!
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Linda
 
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