Smelly Co-Worker

[devans00]

I have a situation at work you folks can probably help with. No need to beat around the bush. I have a new co-worker, who started this week, who stinks to me. I don't mean FONKY like someone who hasn't bathed or skipped the deodorant. I mean smelly like I don't like her personal scent, on top of which she piles on perfume.

My whole life, I've had this problem where I have to interact with someone who's body smell is repulsive and stomach turning to me. Luckily it's not that often but when it happens, I want to get as far away as quickly as possible.

It sucks because she walks by my desk at least 15 times a day and I think she wants to be pals. With careful planning, we could cut down the trips by my desk to about 5 per day. Since her smell is not her fault, not like she can lay off the perfume or take a bath, is it worth saying anything? I'd like to tell her to use another printer so she doesn't have to come by me so much.

My current solution is to hold my breath when I see her coming, then point a fan in my face for a few minutes until the smell is less and my stomach stops heaving. I don't have to regularly interact with her as part of my job, but people who sit near me do. No opportunity to change desks any time soon.

[Brother-Bile]

Oh shit! Lol!

Time to break out the fan and start breathing through the mouth! lol!

But really, I am trying to figure out WHAT kind of sent is it? And what nationality is she?

[aintnojoke]

SOunds like she could be suffering from a stanky Twisot...Is it a fishy smell?

[lynette_626]

i would not say anything... especially if you feel it is not her fault....


the summer of 04 i had an eight week physiology course so i had to go monday thru friday everyday from 8 - 12:30.... well my professor smelled really bad... i think it was musty underarms. since i always sit front and center in all my classes i was just forced to deal with it. i am not sure anyone else smelled him..even as loud as it was to me. i ask maybe two other people and they never smelled a thing.

i just dealt with it... it wasn't worth me saying anything to him.. and sitting somewhere else wasn't an option...

[jaila]

SOunds like she could be suffering from a stanky Twisot...Is it a fishy smell?


LMBAO stanky twisot!!! Oh my damn, i can't breath!!! girl u is a damn fool!!!! :D :cry: :D

[devans00]

Brother-Bile
But really, I am trying to figure out WHAT kind of sent is it? And what nationality is she?
aintnojokepudy
SOunds like she could be suffering from a stanky Twisot...Is it a fishy smell?

OK, let me try to explain the smell better. It's like an animal smell, but not like any I can think of. Not a dog, horse, cow, cat, goat or elephant. Since I'm not a gynecologist or a lesbian, it could be a stanky Twisot and I just don't know the difference. Not exactly a connoisseur on the topic. Well, on top of this animal smell is layers of perfume. It's like sitting on top. Kind of like when someone goes #2 then sprays air freshner. Yeah, you can smell the air freshner, but there's something more funky going on underneath.

I think the woman is white, but she could also be another nationality but wears make-up that's really too pale for her skin tone. She's one of those who wears so much face make-up in so many layers, it looks like a clay mask.

To me she looks in her late 50s, 60s or older, but she dresses and wears make-up like someone in their 30s. You know people like that. They were probably a cute little cupcake when they were young and now they are older, it's hard to deal.

lynette_626
i would not say anything... especially if you feel it is not her fault....
Damn! I was hoping this wouldn't be the answer. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the comments so far.

[bsmuvdotcom]

This is how you deal this that:

Wait for the next time she walks away from her desk, slip over there undetected and slap a bottle of FDS on her desktop in plain view so when she gets back she sees it. That don't work, next time leave a bar of soap and a wash cloth. SHe still not catching the hint, leave a gift basket of Comet, Ajax and Soft Scrub in her chair with a Brillo Pad. The broad still not catching the hint, print out the City Health Code Scoring they use for reasturants and give her ass a 12% and notate on there that failure to correct the problems listed will consistute a night in jail. If that don't work call the Health Department for real and tell them you think there is a dead body trapped inside that broads twat walls.

Oh there is always a way to tell the broad she stinks!

[aintnojoke]

Is she European? Native European, I know they dont bath as frequently as we Americans do. Or she could be one of those earthy types that thinks bathing deminishes the natural body oils.

[Brightness]

If it's her personal scent and not being dirty then unfortunately, it's really nothing that can be done except for you to cope.

I see that you're in Cali and ya'll are definitely the melting pot when it comes to nationalities.

I've had friends of different nationalities or encounter other cultures who because of their diets (either heavy in curry or some other spice) emit a "unique odor"....it's not really all that repulsive if you understand what it is you're smelling, I guess.

And I know for a fact that some meat-eaters expel an odor from their pores, I guess it's all in one's body chemistry.

Have you tried the Wallflowers from Bath & Body Works or those Glade plug-ins......they have immediate fragrant results without the aerosole that would be evident if you sprayed when she passed by you.

Oh yea, you may also try something like a little jar of coffee beans or grinds because that clears the nasal passages by "dulling" the sensors. Don't know how or why but it seems to work for a lot of people.

Good luck

[devans00]

Well I left the Comet and the two sided scrubber sponge on her desk and that seemed to do the trick.

PSYCH!

Actually, my co-worker seems to have bathed over the weekend. The smell is now less stomach churning and more annoying. Instead of being able to smell her from the kitchen/breakroom (100 yards away), I don't get a whiff of the funk until I'm about 20 feet away. Unfortunately, my nose detects that the smell is getting more intense as the week goes by. So I'm guessing that she hadn't bathed in a good 2 weeks or so to get the stink up to the eye watering power it was last week.

I guess she noticed me cringing every time she went by. Now she sometimes takes another route back from the printer. That means less times coming by me. Plus no more trying to make nice. Thank goodness for small miracles.

I know I sound like a Mean Girl, but I have my sensitive stomach to take care of.

[zuriyahe]

OK, let me try to explain the smell better. It's like an animal smell, but not like any I can think of. Not a dog, horse, cow, cat, goat or elephant. Since I'm not a gynecologist or a lesbian, it could be a stanky Twisot and I just don't know the difference. Not exactly a connoisseur on the topic. Well, on top of this animal smell is layers of perfume. It's like sitting on top. Kind of like when someone goes #2 then sprays air freshner. Yeah, you can smell the air freshner, but there's something more funky going on underneath.

I think the woman is white, but she could also be another nationality but wears make-up that's really too pale for her skin tone. She's one of those who wears so much face make-up in so many layers, it looks like a clay mask.

To me she looks in her late 50s, 60s or older, but she dresses and wears make-up like someone in their 30s. You know people like that. They were probably a cute little cupcake when they were young and now they are older, it's hard to deal.


Damn! I was hoping this wouldn't be the answer. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the comments so far.


Dang. I know how embarrasing this may sound, but sheesh. Why can we not at least try to address this with the stinky party. Shoot, I remember, I had a shoe that my cat "attacked"...if you know what I mean. My neighbor told me that she smelled it...and although I was a little bit embarrased, I actually appreciated it.

So maybe there is a way to drop her off a anonymous note explaining about her smell.

Hmmmm. There used to be ways to send someone an anonymous email or something....

I will need to research.

[zuriyahe]

Dear Amy:

This is in response to the question letter ran 2-7of how to tell someone they have bad body odor.

My mother was unfamiliar with American products, and 40-50 years ago deodorant was advertised so subtly that it was unclear what it was for.

Our water heater was too small to allow for more than two baths an evening for the entire family, so each of us bathed once every four days.

Of course we didn't notice our own smells!

One day my high school gym teacher took me aside and asked if I knew that I had serious body odor.

It was excruciatingly humiliating, but when I told my mother, she supplied the entire family with deodorant, and the bath schedule was changed.

There is no painless way to fix this problem, but to this day I thank that gym teacher for preventing the same humiliation for my younger siblings.

Smellin' Sweet

I don't know. Someone should be able to tell your coworker that she STANK!

[Andre98]

I think I know what you mean. But, some people just smell. They can wash, use deodorant, but their glands - they seep bodily fluids that just get all up your nose sideways. There were a couple girls in school, one as far back as elementary that had that problem. Kids are, of course, unceasingly cruel. I kind of liked the girl in Junior high but I couldn't get by that scent. It was kind of like milk as it starts to go bad, or that musty smell when you have a wet towel but don't hang it up to dry properly. That corner of the basement smell. I suspected it came right from the pits. I had just gotten over the new stink of having my own hormones kick in in a summer or two before that. I used to wash the pits 6 times a day, but as soon as they dried, that scent secreted out. My sister dear was a great help, choosing to tell me I stink right in front of her fine ass girlfriends. I tried Arrid Extra dry, Tussy, even something out at the time called Body All, until I finally found that Ban Roll On stifled the fumes proper. Been with Ban ever since, through its dry/solid incarnations. Anything else just doesn't keep the funk at bay. For most of us, that eye watering sting of body funk is just around the corner, creeping in after 8 hours if we put in a long day, or after a good sweat on a hot day.

Anyway, back to the 7th grade girl, she was West Indian and i only say that because I think her accent helped set her apart. She was shy as hell. She once had her girlfriend pass me a note in the 7th grade, and I talked to her a little. She had that tight little fro that made her look like Minnie Riperton on the cover of "A Perfect Angel". Sweet girl, but I couldn't take the smell. There was no nice way to tell her either. So I didn't. Don't think that they are clueless either, especially as adults. You can't be the first one they've encountered. i have to believe they've met people that are old enough to pull no punches. Some people just smell.

[zuriyahe]

I definitely think that this is one of those "double edged swords" scenarios. There are plenty of examples of folks who smelled, but did not really know and there are example of folks who did know, but could not do anything about it. In this litigious world, it makes it very difficult to decide what to do.

But if you ask me, I think that companies should start to address these kinds of issues and find some way to inform a person while allowing them to have some kind of dignity. But how?

[misha]

We have a coworker that smelled so bad, she was walked to the door by our supervisor, the library director, and the personnel director.....you are on medical leave, don't come back until you don't smell anymore!

[mack_black]

Have you considered that maybe you just have an unusually sensitive nose....

[devans00]

Have you considered that maybe you just have an unusually sensitive nose....
Most definitely. I know I'm more sensitive than most, otherwise I wouldn't get stomach cramps and diarrhea from smells (and tastes) that bother me. I can deal with most end of the work day type mustiness, but some people seem to have something extra. I worked here 6 and a half months before this new co-worker. I can honestly say, I can't remember anyone else smelling like anything, other than perfume, Downey and stuff like that.

Growing up, from about puberty, I was that girl that some folks described above. I was blessed (?) to be around people who pulled no punches and were straight up about telling me that I stunk like old farts or whatever. Since I haven't heard anyone say anything negative like that since shortly after college, I guess I outgrew THE SMELL in my early 20s. Or else I've just been around people who keep their comments to themselves. Or maybe I've just mastered camouflaging the aroma?

Similar to Andre98, I had to do a lot of research on which products could help me out. But I haven't been as lucky. There is not just one brand that will last me indefinitely. I usually rotate between Secret, Right Guard and Sure every few years. Nothing else works or it makes my skin break out.

Now, back to my co-worker. The fact that she piles on perfume on top of her smell makes me gag even more. Oh, well. At least I'm getting really good at holding my breath until the fan blows the smell away. I'm leaning on the side of not saying anything. Looking at her mask of too much make-up and her overly dyed, too long hair makes me think she has enough issues without me piling on.

Thanks to everyone who threw in their $.02.

[Andre98]

We have a coworker that smelled so bad, she was walked to the door by our supervisor, the library director, and the personnel director.....you are on medical leave, don't come back until you don't smell anymore!
Dang, that's about as blunt as it gets!

[devans00]

The one month update is that I try to work from home as much as possible. I also get to the office butt ass early to minimize the overlap time we are in the office. The smell is still that bad, still gives me stomach cramps.

Guess this is someone's way to tell me it's time to move on.

[zuriyahe]

Damn!

That's a smelly situation!