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Smelly co-worker (1 Viewer)

We had a female coworker who smelled terrible (putrid, cheap perfume) who was a bit of a psycho (talked to herself, sprayed disinfectant constantly).  She was sitting in a cubicle on a largely open floor.  We ended up setting her up in one of the spare offices (even though people her level did not get offices) and no one complained at all.  Everything in her office started to smell.  Had a friend/coworker come to me one day and asked me to take a sniff at the files he was holding.  It reeked of her perfume.  He said he was in her office for 10 minutes and his eyes were tearing.  She didn't last long with the company.   

 
kentric said:
We had a female coworker who smelled terrible (putrid, cheap perfume) who was a bit of a psycho (talked to herself, sprayed disinfectant constantly).  She was sitting in a cubicle on a largely open floor.  We ended up setting her up in one of the spare offices (even though people her level did not get offices) and no one complained at all.  Everything in her office started to smell.  Had a friend/coworker come to me one day and asked me to take a sniff at the files he was holding.  It reeked of her perfume.  He said he was in her office for 10 minutes and his eyes were tearing.  She didn't last long with the company.   
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Kind of funny/sad the hoops we will jump through as to not offend anyone. An entire office had to suffer, rules were modified and she still didn't work out. 

 
Yeah, having good hygiene is just part of being a good employee. It's not out of line to ask him to clean up. Hope your colleague did in a "nice" manner.

 
Cjw_55106 said:
Kind of funny/sad the hoops we will jump through as to not offend anyone. An entire office had to suffer, rules were modified and she still didn't work out. 
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True.  We gave the guy who hired her hell for a longgggg time.  Kind of made up for it a bit.

 
Cjw_55106 said:
Kind of funny/sad the hoops we will jump through as to not offend anyone. An entire office had to suffer, rules were modified and she still didn't work out. 
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True.  We gave the guy who hired her hell for a longgggg time.  Kind of made up for it a bit.

 
NutterButter said:
This is the first I've ever had to deal with this, but I have a co-worker that most days smells like he slept in a puddle of urine.   He's on my software team so there's no way of avoiding him.  I've talked to a few people at the office and everyone is in agreement.  No one knows how to gracefully deal with this.  He's a 25 year old dude and he's a little emotionally unstable so we don't want to handle it in a way that's going to depress him.   He claims to have a girlfriend which I find hard to believe unless she also smells.   How would you deal with it?
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Send out a company wide memo/letter addressing hygiene at the work place.   Give too all employees.    That is step one. 

 
NutterButter said:
Ok, so my colleague had a talk with him about this before I got in.  That was at 9:30.  He immediately left the office and hasn't been heard from since.   Apparently, he had no idea. Its That can't be easy to hear that everyone thinks you smell really bad.  Its just shocking to me that his girlfriend or anyone in his family hasn't mentioned anything.
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:doh:

Does anyone have a brain at that place?

 
Could he be homeless? Are you in Silicon Valley? It's possible. Definitely weird. Probably has worse problems though. Sad, really. 

 
NutterButter said:
Ok, so my colleague had a talk with him about this before I got in.  That was at 9:30.  He immediately left the office and hasn't been heard from since.   Apparently, he had no idea. Its That can't be easy to hear that everyone thinks you smell really bad.  Its just shocking to me that his girlfriend or anyone in his family hasn't mentioned anything.
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He come back yet? 

 
brohan what you do is you take that guy out back and just hit him with a firehose then you delouse him and then you make him tar a roof and then when he is doing that you get a bucket of suds and everyone is like man you even managed to sound magnamouse and then he will probably hate you all so much that he breaks a hole in a sewer pipe and goes away forever by a black rock with a boat take that to the bank edited for grammer

 
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NutterButter said:
White dude.  He's a pretty nice kid so I don't want this to be embarrassing for him although that might not be possible.  It seems so unlikely, but its almost as if no one ever taught him proper personal hygiene.   His hair is a mess, he's has a big messy beard and he even has a bunch of hair coming out of his shirt at the neckline.   The lead for our team is a big richard so i don't want to ask him about it.  Its a somewhat small company, like 100 people, and HR consists of a lady that's also the head of finance.
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Didn't read the whole thread. Sounds like you are a good dude and have the best of intentions.

Would this work?

I would just hit up during the day and say, "Hey man, do you have a minute to hang around after work today. I want to chat with you about something."

Then when the time comes just be as courteous and as kind as you sound and let him know that his body odor is not tip top or the hygiene products you are using are not that great. Tell him he is a cool guy and we all like you, but I wanted to give you a heads up on this. 

And then I would segue into a conversation about a work topic...maybe you can act like you need his help with something so that he knows you aren't dropping the hammer on him and ostracizing him...but instead are doing your best to make him more welcome into the group.

 

 
NutterButter said:
Ok, so my colleague had a talk with him about this before I got in.  That was at 9:30.  He immediately left the office and hasn't been heard from since.   Apparently, he had no idea. Its That can't be easy to hear that everyone thinks you smell really bad.  Its just shocking to me that his girlfriend or anyone in his family hasn't mentioned anything.
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He'll ask his girlfriend about this when she gets home from work at the slaughterhouse. 

 
SWC said:
brohan what you do is you take that guy out back and just hit him with a firehose then you delouse him and then you make him tar a roof and then when he is doing that you get a bucket of suds and everyone is like man you even managed to sound magnamouse and then he will probably hate you all so much that he breaks a hole in a sewer pipe and goes away forever by a black rock with a boat take that to the bank edited for grammer
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Wait, what?

 
Start by dropping subtle hints when only he can hear it.  "Wow, something smells in here.  Do you smell that?"  Do that a couple of times and if he has any self awareness he'll get the hint.  I would try my hardest to take care of it without HR and the embarrassment that comes with that.  But I totally understand why people say to defer to HR.

 
Answer A:   Is it mr Furley?  HE looks like he smells terrible.  I bet it's mr Furley. 

Answer B:   This guy probably has other issues besides just stinking.   Usually lack of hygiene goes with mental illness or depression like turds in a ceiling tile.    While an anonymous email or a bar of soap may get the point across, it also leaves him looking sideways at everyone wondering if they did it.   If you don't want to pull him aside and tell him face to face that he stinks and needs to do a better job with showering, laundry, and deodorant, then let HR handle it.   Point being, someone should have a talk with him, not just leave him a passive-agressive little clue.  

 
Well the Christian thing to do would be for everyone on "stinky's" team to become stinky as well.  Rub some rancid meat on yourselves before your next meeting.  This would allow everyone to feel part of the team and build a more cohesive unit.  

 
SWC said:
brohan what you do is you take that guy out back and just hit him with a firehose then you delouse him and then you make him tar a roof and then when he is doing that you get a bucket of suds and everyone is like man you even managed to sound magnamouse and then he will probably hate you all so much that he breaks a hole in a sewer pipe and goes away forever by a black rock with a boat take that to the bank edited for grammer
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sounds like a code red to me

 
told the team lead about my other co-worker breaking the news to stinky today.  so he texts stinky who responds back that he's taking a sick day.   hopefully he hasn't been at the gun range all day.  i'm working from home tomorrow luckily.

 
NutterButter said:
told the team lead about my other co-worker breaking the news to stinky today.  so he texts stinky who responds back that he's taking a sick day.   hopefully he hasn't been at the gun range all day.  i'm working from home tomorrow luckily.
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How did your co-worker break it to him?  This is important info to know.

 
Just had a one on one in non-smelly co-worker's office.  He tried to be as diplomatic as possible considering the circumstances.   

 
Still breathing and much better since that sit down.  Whatever stinky has changed up, its been working.  The big test is tomorrow.  He'll have the whole weekend to revert back to his old ways.  As far as I'm concerned, he's been warned. My co-worker stepped on a landmine to address this which is above and beyond what most would've done.   Whether it be public shaming or a trip to HR, the gloves are coming off. 

 
NutterButter said:
Still breathing and much better since that sit down.  Whatever stinky has changed up, its been working.  The big test is tomorrow.  He'll have the whole weekend to revert back to his old ways.  As far as I'm concerned, he's been warned. My co-worker stepped on a landmine to address this which is above and beyond what most would've done.   Whether it be public shaming or a trip to HR, the gloves are coming off. 
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So tomorrow is the day you should call out?

 
Update: For the most part, stinky has been keeping the stink under control.  There's been a few days where there was some concern that he might be reverting back to his old hygiene, but that never happened.  We got some great news today though that will be the solution to all our problems.  Stinky gave his 2 weeks today.   I don't know if being confronted by my coworker had anything to do with it or if it was mostly b/c like myself, he hates our team lead.  Regardless, the air is going to be clear starting in 2 weeks.

 
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