How do you tell your gorgeous...

[Toks]

looking 22 year old work colleague that she's got bad body odour. At least three days out of five she's a bit pongy. She was inexplicably sacked from one job and I'm sure it was due to her smell. Since I'm her boss everyone says I should be the one to tell her. She's a smart, sweet lovely girl but I think she'll die if I tell her. Any tips?

[Toks]

[quote="Seanieh_Has10TktsWant1?©"]On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being really, really bad. How bad is it?

[Grahame]

I had to deal with this once, but with a male employee.

There's only one way to do it.

Meeting away from the rest of the workforce (meeting room, office) so she can preserve some dignity, pretend it never happened, etc., but probably with a witness so she doesn't claim harrassment. This is what HR are supposed to be for. This should happen either at the start of the work day, preferably before her colleagues have seen that she is in, or at the end of the day.

Tell her that you value her work and as a person, but that this issue exists and that for the sake of her career, she has to deal with it.

Offer to help by letting her know if the issue is recurring, than allow her to take the rest of the day off as she will (probably) be embarrassed and want some time to her self.

Hints and allusions to the problem may not be received or may be seen as insulting. Direct and straight out, no mincing of the words, is the only way.

[Andrew G]

Tricky one. Take her to lunch so that you're somewhere private and out the office and just be honest, but careful with your phrasing - steer clear of words like pongy . I doubt she realises and may thank you, bound to be a bit of embarassment but better than having people talk behind her back.

[Toks]

thanks guys.

[kieran]

toks, don't take her to lunch though, as a restaurant is hardy private, and if you're worried by sexual harrassement claims doing that is leaving you wide open to it.

[adrian]

Very difficult and delicate problem. I can't improve on the advice already given, but I do think it's oversimplifying things to suggest that it's merely a question of finding an effective deodorant.

I've always found the claims made for deodorant or anti-perspirants to be exaggerated.* Obviously hygiene has a major part to play - particularly dental hygiene - but I think that you are either lucky or unlucky: some people have a strong body odour whatever they do.

I worked with a chap who may have had impeccable personal hygiene standards - and effective deodorant - for all I know, but whose clothes had always taken that bit too long to dry, and so he stank to high heaven of soggy undergrowth.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying: it's a battle that's fought on many fronts. Good luck

*[size=75]This may explain why I get a desk to myself in the far corner of the office [/size]

[jon avery]

Just say "Look love it's been noticed that you f@ckin stink and if you don't sort it out you will be out of another job". Hope this helps.

[adrian]

[quote]Just say "Look love it's been noticed that you f@ckin stink and if you don't sort it out you will be out of another job". Hope this helps.

[Tony]

If it was bloke-to-bloke, I'd try the same approach as John Avery. One of my managers many years ago was developing a habit of taking off his shoes in the office. His feet absoluted reeeeeked. No other personal hygene issues - just his shoes and feet!

One of my colleagues took a direct approach to resolve - "Put your f****** shoes back on! Your f****** feet, f******* stink". The manager was a little startled - but that was it. Job done!

How to address this issue with a woman is, of course, entirely different. IMHO - it's not worth entering the debate as a man - the consequences are far too unpredictable!! I'd completely ignore the issue or find someone else to deal with it.

[Jon H]

Get one of those face masks designed to filter out all the nasty stuff from the air when commuting by bike. That should do the trick.

[Jon H]

A bloke in my office left his trainers under his desk after he'd been playing squash at lunchtime, and they were giving off a real nasty cheesy whiff. We just threw them out of the 5th floor window into the car park. He didn't realise until he was getting ready for his next squash match a week later.

[Andrew G]

Oops, yeah Kieran you're probably right I can't keep up with all this modern PC stuff. Then again it could work out well .

[Richard (Apples)]

[quote]Just say "Look love it's been noticed that you f@ckin stink and if you don't sort it out you will be out of another job". Hope this helps.

[Amy]

Let me just say that if I was in the same situation as that girl, I'd rather work for Graham!

Adrian's right though to point out that it may not be a personal hygiene problem - there's even a syndrome where people smell of things like rotting fish apparently. She may not be aware in any case that she has a problem.