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Stinky colleague
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What can I do about a stinky colleague?
He wears the same heavy clothes for two or three days on the trot. In addition he's always turning the office heating on 'cos he's "feeling cold". No one else in the office feels cold! Sometimes the temp can hit 26 degrees C and he sweats profusely.
The heating will then get turned off by someone but within the hour he's switched it back on.
It's a very pungent stale p1ss/sweaty type smell.
The branch manager used to have words with him but the result was only temporary. The Branch manager has now washed his hands of the whole affair, and it is "inappropriate" to take the issue higher.
What can we do?
He wears the same heavy clothes for two or three days on the trot. In addition he's always turning the office heating on 'cos he's "feeling cold". No one else in the office feels cold! Sometimes the temp can hit 26 degrees C and he sweats profusely.
The heating will then get turned off by someone but within the hour he's switched it back on.
It's a very pungent stale p1ss/sweaty type smell.
The branch manager used to have words with him but the result was only temporary. The Branch manager has now washed his hands of the whole affair, and it is "inappropriate" to take the issue higher.
What can we do?
Answers
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FORWARD HIM THIS
AND SAY I THOUGHT OF U
http://www.whenawomansfedup.co.uk/2005/01/smel ly-men-make-me-heave.html
AND SAY I THOUGHT OF U
http://www.whenawomansfedup.co.uk/2005/01/smel ly-men-make-me-heave.html
I have worked with people like this before and fully sympathise.....after all the indirect routes through management etc...i found the best route was the direct one.
This is simply where you and a few other collegues go up to the offender....tell him/her that they stink of p1ss/sweat and that you find it repulsive, and can they please have a shower and use some deoderant because its like working with a skunk.
Very direct, but it was effective!!!
Good luck
This is simply where you and a few other collegues go up to the offender....tell him/her that they stink of p1ss/sweat and that you find it repulsive, and can they please have a shower and use some deoderant because its like working with a skunk.
Very direct, but it was effective!!!
Good luck
I too have this year worked in a office with a bloke who smelt not so good, It was when i had left the office and came back in that you really noticed it , I did tell everyone in my department it was not me , it came to a head one morning after I splashed a nice aftershave on , he said to me ," bloody hell, thats strong " it takes my breath away , i said its better than smelling of B.O, he said he didn't smell , I said think again pal , theres something wrong with your nose.... After that some lads sent him some under arm spray via a young secretary , he opened it and "said cheeky sods", he left within the week , gratefull to say I now work in a clean smell free office ...mmm lovely .....
Thanks for all the answers so far.
So far, we have taken it as high as the branch manager. To be fair, he did try to sort the situation out by having words with the colleague, but I think he's now lost interest.
He's the most senior person on site and it's not approprate to go over his head mainly for office politics reasons 'cos head office will deem it "rocking the boat" and "trivial" etc.
Perhaps the bloke is doing it on purpose? It's been pointed out by all and sundry that the temperture is a reasonable 20-22 before he switches the heating on and that other people can't work when it's really hot without feeling sick. Still he does it.
Could this be "Little man" syndrome? ie he feels inadequate for what ever reason so likes to subject the rest of us to his foibles, smells and funny ways?
So far, we have taken it as high as the branch manager. To be fair, he did try to sort the situation out by having words with the colleague, but I think he's now lost interest.
He's the most senior person on site and it's not approprate to go over his head mainly for office politics reasons 'cos head office will deem it "rocking the boat" and "trivial" etc.
Perhaps the bloke is doing it on purpose? It's been pointed out by all and sundry that the temperture is a reasonable 20-22 before he switches the heating on and that other people can't work when it's really hot without feeling sick. Still he does it.
Could this be "Little man" syndrome? ie he feels inadequate for what ever reason so likes to subject the rest of us to his foibles, smells and funny ways?
Suggest you and your colleagues walk into your Branch Manager's office together and tell him that if he doesn't grab the nettle and give this employee 7 days to sort his problem out, you will collectively refuse to return to the office until he does, and that you are writing to your Branch Manager's boss to tell him that his Manager is incapable of dealing with "people management" problems. How your Branch Manager deals with it is his problem, but that it what he is paid to do. These problems crop up from time and to time and are not easy to deal with, but it is your manager's problem to bite the bullet. Just a thought though - does this employee suffer from some medical problem you are not aware of? I once worked in a situation where a "smelly" employee, unknown to anybody, had undergone a colostomy - "intestine removal" procedure and was struggling to use a bag for removal of his body waste, without anybody knowing about it. And he was mortified when the problem became known, so sometimes these situations are not about people not washing or showering, but battling with more serious problems that their colleages are unaware of.
The smell is too p1ssy/sweaty to be a colostomy, I would have thought.
Is it a medical problem? Not sure.
The smell certainly isn't-it's down to not washing clothes and sweating 'cos it's too hot.
However, the requirement to have the heating up full bore and wearing heavy clothes probably is.
Does he have some sort of internal "thermostat" problem I don't know? Mind you, whenever the fact that the heating is up too high he just laughs and is fully aware he's turning it up hotter than anyone else can stand. He's aware of what he's doing.
If we were in the shop at the front dealing with customers he'd have been let go long ago.
As we are "out back" we're made to suffer.
Is it a medical problem? Not sure.
The smell certainly isn't-it's down to not washing clothes and sweating 'cos it's too hot.
However, the requirement to have the heating up full bore and wearing heavy clothes probably is.
Does he have some sort of internal "thermostat" problem I don't know? Mind you, whenever the fact that the heating is up too high he just laughs and is fully aware he's turning it up hotter than anyone else can stand. He's aware of what he's doing.
If we were in the shop at the front dealing with customers he'd have been let go long ago.
As we are "out back" we're made to suffer.
-- answer removed --
ROTF Red! Way to go!
To be serious, Whoever could have a point. There may well be a medical problem that causes the obnoxious smells. I knew one chap who had to have an operation on the sweat glands under his arms because even though he used anti-perspirants and washed regularly, within 15 minutes of being at work, his shirts were drenched with sweat. A lady who worked in my father's office also had an unpleasant problem. No one could bear to sit next to her. The only thing was to have a word with her - without making her feel even more uncomfortable - and explain that maybe she should use her hygeine routine a little more often. Turns out the poor woman needed an operation for a leaky bladder.
To be serious, Whoever could have a point. There may well be a medical problem that causes the obnoxious smells. I knew one chap who had to have an operation on the sweat glands under his arms because even though he used anti-perspirants and washed regularly, within 15 minutes of being at work, his shirts were drenched with sweat. A lady who worked in my father's office also had an unpleasant problem. No one could bear to sit next to her. The only thing was to have a word with her - without making her feel even more uncomfortable - and explain that maybe she should use her hygeine routine a little more often. Turns out the poor woman needed an operation for a leaky bladder.
Well, there is possibly a medical prob in that he doesn't feel the heat.....HOWEVER:
-He wears the exact same clothes day in, day out.
-Uses NO deodourant
-Doesn't bath for days
-Acknowledges that he doesn't feel the heat
-Jokes about it being "Cold" when other people are near fainting
-Admits doing things "to wind such-and-such" up.
-He wears the exact same clothes day in, day out.
-Uses NO deodourant
-Doesn't bath for days
-Acknowledges that he doesn't feel the heat
-Jokes about it being "Cold" when other people are near fainting
-Admits doing things "to wind such-and-such" up.
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