"Aromatic" colleague

[NikkiB]

Any ideas on what to realistically do about a colleague who smells bad? "J" has very bad body odour like pungent old onions. Despite her good salary she appears to wear the same garments for days on end. Every time she passes me I want to gag. Many of us have brought her into conversations about perfume and deodorant and even pass around a cosmetic catalogue. J claims that she can't be bothered with "all that soap or beauty stuff". A further complication is that she is extremely forthright and pro-active. Her attitude is often of the ****-you variety. She likes battles and litigation.
Apparently every year the Secret Santa gift she recieves is always wash stuff which she claims sets off her asthma. This asthma doesn't stop her smoking like a chimney, though. At lunctimes she will loom over me with her nicotine and onions aroma and ask what I'm eating or surfing for. It so puts me off my food that I now spend 15 minutes out of a 30 minute lunchbreak walking to the canteen and back. I don't hate her as a person. She can be bright and entertaining but I find myself less keen on conversing with her because of the aroma.

[cooljayadevi]

email her this question. and this answer. get an anonymous friend to do it if you must.

Take the hint, madam! This means you!

[andy-hughes]

If you've tried the usual hints, and thy obviously haven't worked, and she is as direct as you say, then bite the bullet and tell her straight.

Get her on her own, tell her you'd like a word, and then just tell her that her hygene is a talking point, and you;re sure she'd rather know than be talked about, and you know she'll be keen to address the issue now she is aware - then beat it!

The embarasment is only going to be brief, compared with weeks and months of this unpleasant situation, so I'd just go for it. She's a professional adult - she must learn to accept being addressed as one.

[WoWo]

We had a chap like that were I worked, however we didn't have a problem telling him. It wasn't helped by the fact we used to put crab sticks in his coat pocket.

[Cheekystar]

speak to your boss and get him or her to speak to her

[WendyS]

If she suffers from asthma, she may well be allergic to many of the ingredients in deodorants and other toiletries.

However, as you say she's extremely forthright, she must be prepared to accept as good as she gives.

Somebody in your office (and why shouldn't it be her boss ?) needs to take the bull by the horns and explain to her that her body hygiene has gone beyond a joke and that none of you can put up with it any longer.

A word of warning though. We once had an individual where I worked who had similar problems. He was absolutely mortified when he was tackled about it because he had suffered bowel cancer and had to wear a colostomy which he was desperately trying to keep quiet from his workmates. So you might need to tread carefully.

[macspeedy]

sorry to say but sweat doesnt smell not from not washing anyways or wearing the same garments, b.o is caused by emotional sweat and is indeed a medical condition in some cases putting added stress on this person like your bitchy backstabbing bullying you are indeed making the situation worse i worked in admin and there was a collegue in our office who got the usual stick like bars of soap left on there desk and deoderant when the boss asked them why they wouldnt wash it wasnt long after they left that job and commited suicide its a shame people feel the need to pick on others but hey you got a problem with them no one asks you to converse with them do they .......... !!!!!!!!grow up !!!!!!!!