A co-worker has really bad body odor

[Finklejag]

I work at a blue collar union job and one of my co-workers smells really bad. This person works swing shift and his shifts overlaps with dayshift. I work dayshift and I we are in the same area for about an hour before I go home. This guy is probably 6’5 300+. This person stinks up the whole breakroom when he‘s at work. When we come into work in the morning, the chair he sat in the night before is impregnated with his stench. Dayshift told the morning supervisor about this issue, swingshift told evening supervisor about the issue. The weather hasn’t been above 50 degrees until recently. It been a cold winter and spring here. If this person has body odor when it’s cold out, I can’t imagine how he will smell during the summer months. It makes you gag walking into the breakroom when he’s working. One of the supervisors took him aside and talked to him. From what we heard is he’s claiming a medical condition for the body odor. I guess HR is now involved and we will see what happens next.

If a person does have a medical condition, does the other 90 workers have to suffer with his body odor?

 

[Eddie]

We had a person like that at my place of work. We put a bar of deodorant soap on his desk to let him know. We found out it is part of his religion, so our head guy told us to deal with it. We did stay away from him, moving his desk to a corner and in effect isolating him. Discovered at a Christmas party that his wife is the same. Go figure.

 

[Zee09]

Your story reminds me of a teacher I had when I was just a teenager. I told my classmates she had "body otters" and when she sweats they come to swim...
I understand this lingo is still in use today...oh the minds of children .. Of course this helps no one and I have no idea why I even mentioned it. It's been one of those days.

 

[PWMDMD]

Yeah...I'm a big guy at 6'5" 275lbs and even after going to the gym you wouldn't be able to smell me. Speaking of the gym, there is an old guy there who smells like onions who can stink up a solid 1000 sqft around him to the point where I've gagged. Some people do smell more than others and some smell less (my arm pits don't even smell on hot day without deodorant) but there is a minimum level of hygiene that people need. That IS a work issue IMO.

 

[BAJA_05]

What a heck of a thing to deal with first thing in the morning. I am sorry, if you have running water & soap -- just use it. Deodorant is a must in summertime also people.

 

[dogememe]

Yeah...I'm a big guy at 6'5" 275lbs and even after going to the gym you wouldn't be able to smell me. Speaking of the gym, there is an old guy there who smells like onions who can stink up a solid 1000 sqft around him to the point where I've gagged. Some people do smell more than others and some smell less (my arm pits don't even smell on hot day without deodorant) but there is a minimum level of hygiene that people need. That IS a work issue IMO.

Yeah, I mean there’s being understanding and dealing with it but we had an employee at a store I used to work at that always stank super bad. Also a larger dude. Anyway he was a part time delivery driver and that car smelled gross for days after he drove it. It was just nasty and negatively affected other employees. Thankfully the problem solved itself when he called one of our managers something racist in front of multiple witnesses so we got rid of him.

 

[wwillson]

I had a student like that when I was a full time flight instructor. I would wait to get into the airplane until he was just about ready to start the engine and wouldn't close my door until it was time to take off. If I wasn't a starving flight instructor, at the time, I would have told him to find another instructor. Funny thing is, I ran into him 10 years later totally by chance downtown Chicago, and he was clean as a whistle, didn't stink, and was wearing a wedding band. I thought to myself, "She is the best thing that ever happened to you!"

 

[Passport1]

In boot camp guys like that got a 'GI shower'.

 

[BHopkins]

Many years ago, a Bosch pallet style automated assembly line was transferred, from a sister facility into the manufacturing facility that I worked at. One of our plants in France had the most expertise with this particular type of production system, so a crew of 5 or 6 technicians from the French plant worked in our facility in Kentucky for several weeks, assembling and programming the line. It didn't take long before word spread throughout the plant, that the difference in culture of our French friends, regarding personal hygiene, was easily to detect . . . with the olfactory glands.

They were nice enough of guys, and fun to talk to. If you could stand hanging around them for very long.

 

[andrewg]

I have a work friend that is grossly overweight and has the hygiene habits of a caveman. We share the same work station but on different shifts. He definitely reeks of nasty body odor. Sometimes it's just a sour sweaty smell....and other times it's from his....uh....pants. I haven't the guts to tell him he smells. I just can't deal with hurting his feelings that way. I clean everything he touches before I start shift and use a different chair entirely. I just put up with him.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I haven't the guts to tell him he smells. I just can't deal with hurting his feelings that way.

Yeah, that would be a very awkward conversation to have.

 

[Oillover]

I used to work in a small accounting office where there was a female who had this issue.
The smell seemed to originate from her lower feminine areas.
She had some personal issues (hubby passed away in his 30's etc.) so she got into a bit of a rut and it affected her overall well being.
We had to get HR involved so they'd have the chat with her.
There was only 3 of us in the office, so she knew it was one of us.

After that, no more smell

 

[ecotourist]

Not an uncommon problem. A HR department, or an occupational health nurse or physician are the people to deal with this.

For the record, this isn't a cleanliness issue. Some people think that as long as they bath often everything is fine. It isn't. Everyone should use deodorant.

 

[Finklejag]

This guy is probably early 30’s, neck beard, gamer, probably an incel. Being I live in the PNW, we had plenty of guys come through who were all natural. I know some had to be talked to. With this guy throwing the medical card on the table, who knows what is going to happen.

 

[Dave Hess]

This guy is probably early 30’s, neck beard, gamer, probably an incel. Being I live in the PNW, we had plenty of guys come through who were all natural. I know some had to be talked to. With this guy throwing the medical card on the table, who knows what is going to happen.

If he doesn’t get promoted will he go postal ?

Medical Card is a red flag warning.

 

[Rand]

They make all natural deodorant now.
we had a guy who wouldnt wear any.. its was bad.. its like it goes hand and hand with not showering for days too.

At least shower so your funk smells fresh.. and not days old.

 

[parshisa]

in the oilfield, it is usually solved quickly. If the roommate stinks, you tell him he stinks

 

[Dinoburner]

Being a gas service tech we got into a few odiferous situations of which we had to ignore. The worst were the ones who said they would have cleaned up if they knew we were coming. This after they had made the call for service.

 

[fisher83]

Yeah, that would be a very awkward conversation to have.

I had that conversation with a friend 25 years ago and we are still great friends. If handled with care it can be done.

 

[miden851]

Yeah...I'm a big guy at 6'5" 275lbs and even after going to the gym you wouldn't be able to smell me. Speaking of the gym, there is an old guy there who smells like onions who can stink up a solid 1000 sqft around him to the point where I've gagged. Some people do smell more than others and some smell less (my arm pits don't even smell on hot day without deodorant) but there is a minimum level of hygiene that people need. That IS a work issue IMO.

those people that sweat at least 3x a week or on a regular basis as a part of some activity, they tend not to smell generally

however, the smell gets strong in those that do not sweat on a regular basis, and once they start to sweat, they represent a bomb of odd smell always