body odor complaint by my employer

reply to post by nobodysavedme


In total honesty the smell of bleach makes me vomit. If I stood next to someone and they stunk of not only body odour but blech as well I would have to say something.

Stop using the bleach... if you honestly honestly don't think you can stop using the bleach then you seriously need help and not for odours. Have you looked up the reactions of bleach on skin? Go do that...

Also stop treating a 'smell' when you don't know what it is or where it is coming from. You aren't an idiot or at least you don't come across as one so surely you must knwo if your body is clean and your clothes are clean daily then IF there is any odour it is coming from either inside your body or your shoes, outerwear, car? Something other than your body or clean clothes.

Also, I would have to counter complain and speak to someone in HR to inform them that this 'blanket' complaint about odour has caused you emotional and psychological distress. I wish I lived near you, I'm known for my blatant honesty and would tell you in a flash that you stunk and what of IF you did.

Oh another thing just occoured to me, we have a very good friend who quite often I have to tell them they smell.. they can't smell it at all and strangely enough neither can one of my children.

The smell..... is mildew... clothes that have been left damp for too long in a warm place.

A number of years ago I was a founding partner of a small design company. We had about 15 employees. Our receptionist was a truly lovely young woman but she had outrageous body odor --- to the point that even clients would mention it when they stopped by for meetings. Naturally we didn't know what to do. We loved this woman and knew it wasn't a hygiene problem --- she was always squeaky clean and well dressed. We had perhaps 8 women working in the office and I tried to see if one of them could approach our receptionist and do something about it. No one wanted that assignment so it fell to me as top dog.

This was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I'd fired people and even had someone arrested but this was awful. The receptionist was mortified when I had her come into my office for 'the chat'. I told her there was no question as to her hygiene and that it was almost certainly a medical condition probably related to some food. I asked her to make a doctors appointment and that we would cover all costs to rectify the situation.

After visiting a specialist it was determined that she was missing some enzymes and that the smell was related to butyric acid from her incomplete digestion of meat. She was put on some supplements, made some dietary changes and the problem was resolved. The tough thing for her, which the doctor explained to her, was that she could not detect it herself.

NO BLEACH!....for one its unhealthy and two, it leaves an odor.
There is alot of good advice given, but I'll put in my two cents anyway...

Wash well, scrub your scalp with your fingertips.

Use a cheap clean cologne like your dad wore...Brut or Old Spice...and use lots.

Make sure you buy ANTI-perspirant, not just deodorant.

Wash your clothes, and dry immediately...mildew smell can be nauseous.

-------------------

Have a trusted friend smell you midday for their opinion.

If you have no one you can trust that can give you a sniff, use a stranger.
Find an opportune moment when a kind looking old lady is near, catch her
eye and sniff your shirt. Turn up your nose, and then ask her if your shirt smells
funny...explain you just got it back from the cleaners or something.

Anyway...if it turns out you have an odor problem get advice from a doctor.
If you don't get advice from an attorney...

reply to post by nobodysavedme



Well there is a lot of sound advice being given here .

Just to add , perhaps you could use some of those sports brand anti-bacterial undergarments and t-shirts .

And a nuclear option:

If it is truly eating into your confidence, perhaps you could sacrifice a few minutes of your lunch break to shower and change your clothes.
Is there a Gym or somewhere with access to showers- a reasonable distance from your workplace ? A bit drastic ..? Yes, but peace of mind is priceless.

Work your way through the check-list of options kindly provided by the ATS membership , get second opinions .. and keep your chin up .

Change your deodorant. If that doesn't work, try yet another until you find one that works for you.

Some deodorants are crap. I recommend Mitchum PowerGel. I have always used this brand & very self-conscious about how I smell. It has never let me down.

I understand that a situation such as yours can't be very good for your self-esteem, but c'mon man. There are people out there with problems x1000 of yours. Instead of dwelling on it, do something about it.

Tell your coworkers to lick your pits. They sound like a fine lot.

Originally posted by juniperberry
See your doctor. It might be a symptom of something very wrong.

Personally, I can smell those with diabetes and it's kind of disgustingly sweet and not in a good way.

Right, see your doctor pronto! I don't mean to offend you, but you are asking....

I've worked with alcoholics, and those that really get into the suds (beer) also have that sweet smell.

More than likely the complainer is a female and with a super sense of smell.

If you feel you job is at stake, be somewhat confrontational with your supervisor and say, "Smell me...."

It may well be the other person's problem and not totally yours.

Good luck.

Have you gotten a second opinion? Ask a loved one to give you a sniff test. Or whoever "calls you in", get them to confirm it. What do you get when you check yourself? I can tell when I'm "ripe" and when I'm ok. Maybe it's your laundry, try Gain detergent, it is more strongly scented than most others. Choose a "hot" water cycle. Don't sweat it too much, though. (har har, sorry, jk, I feel for ya)

Oh man... this resonated with me.

Some people DO have a very strong body odor after puberty hits. I was one of those people, so is my son. I'd bathe and wash my hair daily (sometimes twice daily) and would take along extra clothes and would wash in the bathrooms every few hours.

It's genetic. It can make your life miserable. The good news is that it *eventually* goes away... the bad news is that it goes away after years.

Strategies that worked: going to the bathroom and (in the privacy of a stall) using a washrag (I kept it in a baggie) and some baking soda to "wipe down" about mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Avoiding strong smelling perfume or deodrants (that just makes you smell so bad you want to throw up.) Take a bath (don't shower) -- removes more of the odor.

By the time my son suffered with this, there were also some diet suggestions going around. They're cheap and easy and may help reduce the problem (try several of them):

* chlorophyll tablets (I bought some for my son (who worked on a submarine, so you can imagine how bad this was for him)) -- they seemed to help

* baby wipes (instead of washrag)-- under the arms and around the genital areas.

* eat lots of parsley, alfalfa and other leafy greens will help neutralize body odor -- but chlorophyll tablets are less of a fuss. Eating more fruit was also recommended.

* drink sage tea (or add lots of sage to your diet).

* keep a food log for a week or so... are there certain foods that seem to "trigger" the smell (make it stronger or show up earlier)

Good luck... and if you need other suggestions, U2U me. I've had the same problem and my heart goes out to you.

(edited to add -- jtma508's story also gives excellent advice and kind of parallels my experience. I would take that story to a doctor ... a different one... and ask if this is possibly your problem. Problems with choline can also cause odor, as explained here: www.diagnose-me.com... )

See your doctor, however if your afraid of cancer from deodorants and bleach, try cleaning with coconut or olive oil. And ivory soap. Both are gental. And the oils are healing. Coconut oil is very healing period. Something about this sounds like a joke. But. I hope its nothing serious


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

nobodysavedme....
you seem to have made your mind up that you have a BO problem...
You have stated that your wife tells you that you smell fine but you don't believe her.
You are washing with bleach to the point where you are causing lasting damage to your skin.
You should seriously consider that you may no longer be able to trust your own 'better judgement' and may need to seek advice from a doctor.

Seeking advice on your personal suffering here at ats is not rational,
washing with bleach is also an irrational decision.

Get the help you need to heal you mind my friend...I don't believe it is here....

pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
You are not your emotions, you feel them but they are not you.
You can wake up in the morning & choose not to feel a certain way about 'this' or 'that' anymore..that is the first step, don't give up before you've even started...take the first step...then..
If you find you cannot overcome this on your own,
seek professional psychological help OR anti-depressant medication.

Asides from the fact that you stated it yourself, I'm familiar with depression, I recognize whats going on here and it isn't *simply* B.O. & poor choices of cleaning products...

-B.M

P.S) in my own personal belief system 'nobody saved me' will not fly in the afterlife, I think at the end of the day we're 'here' to learn to save ourselves....

Hey man... Primary don't put yourself down for this... First thing I would do is ask a friend take someone you trust... tell him about it ask him if he minds doing a test with you if he's a true friend he wont... Then go jogging/gym whatever you want to make you sweat then go see him ask him if you smell anything out of the ordinary for a man's normal body odor when sweating. Get "anti-perspirant" deodorant some like speedstick are just deodorant its not going to cut it for some people that sweat more than other.

Second, are you doing very good at work lately? Is there upcoming promotion??? The reason I'm saying this is someone may see you as a threat and wants to get rid of you... I've seen this scheme happen in the past someone will got to management and complain about "abnormal/strange" body odors coming from you sometimes. Management who have been trainned/briefed on drug problem detection will instantly start doubting methamphetamine...

The usual scheme is the asshole will go an say "Hey boss... there's something I wanted to talk to you about I've been thinking about it for the last two days and its really bothering me I didn't know if I should talk about it or not but its really affecting me... 2-3 days ago he smelled so strange and it was affecting my work blah blah blah..."

This is evil genius plan since if they say you smell bad "sometimes" and they waited before talking about it the boss knows its useless to ask you for a piss test because meth stays in your body for 24-48 hours... its hard to prove if your a once in awhile user or not this along with increased work productivity they will have serious doubts then will likely find a reason to "not require your services anymore" before your potential problem become a potential problem for them...

Now I'm just throwing this out to help you in case this is whats happening to you but be careful out there bro.. you have no clue how some people can be vicious bastards... Before anything else I would take proper mesures to ensure the smell is not fictive... I would of bluntly asked the manager when he took you to his/her office... DO YOU THINK I SMELL BAD??? if he said no I would of asked him I understand he cannot say the name of the people complaining but there's something you can tell me... is it multiple peoples or always the same one??? If the manager is bright for two cents it will ring them a bell...

Keep and eye on your boss's office usually they will call you out soon as someone makes the complaint to establish if its true or not. Especially in case of bad/chemical body odor as I said earlier to identify possible drug problems to check for signs (odor, pupil size, glazed eyes, slurred or fast speech...) if you see the same person going to the manager's office all the time and you get called 5-10 mins after they come out...

reply to post by nobodysavedme


The same thing happened to me when I was a young lad of 20, working in a bank in downtown Los Angeles. I was crushed, particularly in the way I was hauled before the boss and she told me that my body odor had been deemed "extremely offensive" by "several members of staff."

A person rarely offends themselves, and yet I had occasionally noticed it. I'd already set upon a course of showering -- scouring, really -- twice a day, and had tried a variety of deoderants. At that time "Michum" was the leading antiperspirant for problem people like me. Nothing helped.

I was called into the boss's office again two weeks later. She gave me some advice that made all the difference. She also told me that she'd have to let me go if I couldn't get a handle on the problem. She suggested that the problem was residing more in my clothes, and less in my person. I protested, telling her that I washed my clothes regularly. She suggested that I use a liberal amount of bleach in the wash, as it was her theory that bacterium in clothing doesn't always get laundered out, and just compounds the problem. She gave me $100.00 of her own money and told me to go down to Penny's and get a dozen shirts. She said, "wear a new one each day, and if the problem is solved, then you know it's probably your clothes, and not necessarily all you." I did so. It worked. I began using both a detergent with bleach as well as additional bleach in the wash. Most of my shirts were light-colored. That worked also.

I was allowed to keep my job. I quit three weeks later, when I left $3000 in partials in the walk-up teller, and for three tense hours, until the money was discovered, I was accused and thought of as a thief. Banking was not for me. I paid back the $100.00.

I hope this works for you. I work outside now, most of the time, and I can still get pretty pungent. I'm 52 now, and I've noticed that if I haven't consumed my regular 1 1/2 gallons of water each day, I smell stronger. I'm a big guy, so if your situation is different -- and it sounds like it is, given that you work in an office -- your water intake will have to be adjusted, but recognize that sweating is a natural function and the odor associated can sometimes be intensified by a lack of proper hydration.

Good luck!

reply to post by nobodysavedme

Please don't use bleach on your skin, it is a toxic substance on skin.

Also, I would avoid perfumes as mant people have allergies to then, and IMHO, they smell worse than body odor.

What you eat has a lot to do with your body odor, too.
If you eat lots of onions and/or garlic you could have a stronger than average odor.
www.ehow.com...
www.health911.com...

I had a LOT of trouble finding a deodorant that would work for me. Especially one withOUT aluminum....
Finally found ZINC DEO
www.luckyvitamin.com...
If you can't find it locally or online, try this
zinc deodorant recipes

Uh.

Don't drink booze.

Wash your clothes every week, and don't let them sit in the washer when they're done.

Use 91% isopropyl alcohol sprayed under your arms before work, at lunch, and when you get home instead of deodorant.

And quit worrying.

Oh, and ditch the bleach bath.

A safer alternative to using bleach on your skin, to eliminate residual body odor during a shower, is to scrub with baking soda and water. Baking soda is an odor eliminator. Combine this with Argentus' suggestion concerning your clothing and you should have a working solution. If it does not help - you need to see the doctor - IMHO - just to be sure. See a different one, if necessary, to the one you have seen.


ETA: I really hope this isn't another strawberry earwax thread, but even if it is, it resonated with enough people to be relevant and provided some good recommendations for anyone who may be affected by something similar.

reply to post by nobodysavedme


Don't soak your clothes in bleach and leave it on. It'll stink to high heaven. Just keep clean and don't use anything except a short burst of anti-perspirant, just one scoosh under each arm. Wear a clean shirt, socks and underpants every day. That should be enough. Honestly.

My mother in law has to wash stuff that's clean from the cupboard because it's gone all musty from the stuff she leaves on. It's over-doing things to the max. My nephew can't sit in her house because his eyes run from all lthe scented candles, sprays etc. If you're using a can of deodorant every three days then you're certainly over-doing it too. Those cans are stinkier than man sweat. I shout at my son for the same thing.

Sweat doesn't stink anyway. It's natural. BO comes from stale sweat, so if you sweat a lot take some freshen-up wipes to work with you and rub them over your pits throughout the day. Also, get some good advice from someone you trust at work and get the truth from them.

If your sweat ducts are working overtime get to your doc and see about botox injections.

Don't get paranoid and miserable about it and when you're lonely and need something to do, visit ATS and join in. That's what I do. I can't be arsed with folk around me, I much prefer the friends I can switch off at the wall .

Dude just throw a bunch of nagchampa on tell them they can either smell you or that. I personally dont use deodorant with aluminum in it because it calcifies your pineal gland and i personally dont give a damn if i stink because it is a natural indicator of my internal process and thats important. Even if a few people think i smell i know a few who think i smell delicious. its just your biochemics. scent of human being is different from one person to the next and its more on that person than on you

Sometimes you have to throw away your shirts becouse even clean they get that odor agian very easy, even if you are clean. Try to use a diferent shirt every day, if you still have that odor try to change your diet

Try not to get discouraged. I have a b.o. problem and use an antibacterial dishwashing detergent as a shampoo and as a body wash. It seems to do a pretty good job. I use a natural smelling deodorant and no cologne or after shave. I also put 20 MULE TEAM BORAX into my laundry along with my detergent. I also sprinkle it into my shoes, let it sit overnight and empty it out in the morning before putting my shoes back on. Borax helps to eliminate odors better than Baking Soda. I buy it in the laundry aisle of my grocery store. Good luck. I will be praying that you do not beat yourself up over this. Also maybe you could take a poll of people you work with and ask them for an honest opinion on your body odor. Maybe it could be done in front of your boss.