Wellness

[chessylady]

I don't think body odor is a cultural thing, it has to do with consideration for others.If a person doesn't know they have body odor, it is the supervisor's place to talk to them. Several months ago I read that Gwyneth Paltrow has terrible body odor because she doesn't wear deodorant. She has all the money in the world to seek a solution if she has allergies.

[focksie]

This is definitely an issue for administration whether it's the Principal or an A.P. who supervises her, unless she has a very, very close friend at work who can gently let her know. If anyone else tries to do this, it will be mortifying for her. It's very possible she has a sensitivity to deodorant. I know I did. I had been using the same deodorant for 20 years and all of a sudden I got the ichy-est bumps. It kept me up at night. I tried a few deodorants for sensitive skin and even those can be problematic. Sometimes I will skip a day for that reason. Oh, I tried the crystal rock but that was completely ineffective.

We had the opposite problem in our workplace. A woman wore so much perfume, she would leave a trail throughout the building. You always knew where she had been 10 minutes earlier. Someone, somehow told her and thankfully that problem was solved. I gagged every time I smelled her perfume.

[focksie]

On 6/29/2014 cotto22 said:

Do you have cubbies or drawers in the office for correspondence? Perhaps someone could leave her a stick of dove deodorant or secret or some other brand anonymously if all else fails! (We had Secret Santas when I was teaching, and that is how our Secret Santa gave us our gifts.)

This is a very immature tactic and extremely hurtful to anyone.

[oceanbreezy]

Back in the 1970's, we had a co-worker who had an odor problem. She was a very nice person. She dressed really nice. We all worked together in one big room as Dictaphone machine operators. There were about 15 of us, and we all got along. Our supervisor's office was right there in the same room, but in her own office with the door open. We did not discuss the matter. Someone told me she had a sweat gland problem or something and deodorant would not solve the issue or would aggravate her ailment. Some days the odor was worse than other days. We ignored the issue and became immune to the odor. Today, I would think of her as a good person and co-worker and what fun we had.

[Annabellethecat66]

I used to work for the government. I was a civilian but my bosses were 2 Lt Colonels, a Captain and 1 Major.

The Major had the worst body odor I'd ever smelled. Everyone talked about it. Whispered about it and so on.

Finally, I went into my boss (and his boss, the Lt Colonel) and said, "I can't stand this any longer. I found out I'm pregnant. From the time I get up until I go to bed I vomit. Unless you do something about his smell, I'm going to be sick right here in the office".

I don't know what the Colonel said to him, but suddenly the problem was gone.

[gazelle77]

In a small group of employees the only thing we could do was tell our manager. It was a guy that smelled up the work room......the manager told him, he got ticked off for a while....but used deodorant after that and the problem went away.

[Mmsfoxxie]

On 6/29/2014 Dharma_Initiative said:

The principal is the boss of the teachers, therefore whether she/he likes it or not, it is her/his JOB to address this problem with the teacher. Period.

Correct...principal or assistant principal. The nurse is on the same employment status as the teachers. It has to be someone with authority that the person with the problem can't get angry with. They get paid the big bucks to do this stuff.

[Tissyanne]

On 6/29/2014 Dharma_Initiative said:

The principal is the boss of the teachers, therefore whether she/he likes it or not, it is her/his JOB to address this problem with the teacher. Period.

True, but I had a boss for several years that refused to deal with the issues that were her JOB. So, it is not always cut and dried. She had no boss over her.

[hckynut]

My way of doing everything is to "speak up". If she takes offense so be it. Who knows she may appreciate it. Ya got a 50-50 chance, right?

Heck I've told more than a few of my hockey players to start cleaning their hockey equipment. I also told them if they didn't they would have to dress at home or in the "john" not in any of the locker rooms.

When I was still skating as a Ref, I told them to clean them and if by the next game they had not done so? They would be "former players" in this adult league of mine.

I ain't one to hold back with anyone on anything and been that way since my high school days.

[jetts_mom]

There could be an underlying medical problem causing this as well. In my ex's family, I know of at least 2 people that have had something with their glands in their underarms that caused excess sweating and odor. One had them surgically removed, which really helped the problem. The other one will probably have that done. but isn't in a financial position to be able to do it now. For both of them, it is/was a source of great distress.