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Heres the situation, a person at my work place today reeks of moth balls.  The term "reeks" may be too weak to describe it, rather "radiates" the stench of moth balls.  Everyone in the office has noticed it except the person themselves.  Its actually quite stomach turning. 

I truly believe that if a person stinks, as a society we should be able to say something. Of course I know my answer of "yes" won't cut it in the "real world". 

However the question is in a model society, should we be able to say something without fear of being fired or yelled at. 

At my last job the only thing we were able to do when a coworker stank was talk to a member of management and voice our concern that this person smells so bad that it's interfering with our work.  That's pretty much it.  Of course, this resulted in a couple people being sent home, and they were rather embarrassed.  Not very many people, save for the really crass ones, had the heart to tell these guys that they stank. 

What saddens me is that in one case many employees complained and the managers did nothing.  One customer complained and they sent him home. 

I don't know how your management team will take to it, unless you are this guy's supervisor, in which case you should probably tell this guy that he needs to freshen up. 

In my opinion, we should be able to tell them, but it's such a delicate subject.  You never know if you're going to p**s the person off, and it's not that they'll be mad at you as much as they'll be embarrassed and that's how a lot of people act out embarrassment. 

Well, I certainly feel you should be able to tell them without fear of being fired, but I also feel that they should have the right to yell at you, should they so choose. 

I think you should nominate someone to tell the person, maybe draw straws.  Or tell your boss and try to get them to do the deed.  That's what they get paid the big bucks for ya know.

Say it in a nice way, though. :wink:

Is it a one off ?
Or is it a repeat offender ?

There was a day at collage when I was really ripe...
No idea why I mentioned the above...except we all have our off days.

In a model society, yes, you should be able to tell someone that he stinks, tactfully. In a model society, though, would there actually be stinky people?  :tongueout:

It's really quite simple: set up a temporary email account called George'sCoworkers@whereever.com, substituting the person's actual name for "George." Send him an email saying something like: "George, we really don't want to offend you, but your clothes have the aroma of mothballs, and it has begun to affect our ability to work with you. We want you to be a part of our team, but we would really appreciate it if you could do something about the mothball odor. Signed, your coworkers." Send it from a library computer so that it can't be traced back to any one individual. If you word it carefully, and he reads it in private (i.e., he is not humiliated in front of the office), he may get the message and freshen things up. Or he may buy an AK-47 and go medieval on all your sorry a$$e$. Either way, you won't have to worry about him anymore  :teddyr:.

Why can't you just leave an anonymous note? "You Stink!  Love, Everyone" 

The other option would be to find someone who's more friendly with the person and ask that person to bring it up.  I'm pretty close with the girls I work with and I know we would have no problem telling each other that we smell bad.

Or even better! You come to work smelling really bad and hang out with him/her and then ask if you smell bad or if it's him/her! And then say maybe to be safe, we should both wash our clothes and take a shower tonight!

What do mothballs smell like?

I work in HR and I really don't think you could get in trouble for telling someone they smell bad as long as you put it delicately.  The "tell the manager" route would probably be our recommendation, but I think it makes the situation even more uncomfortable and embarrassing for the stinker.

To stink or not to stink, that is the question.

Years ago I managed a tobacco store here in town.
Two of my best employees were Darcy and Kelly.

One day I got several complaints from both customers and fellow employees that Kelly stunk like B.O.  Kelly physically looked like she might be stinky (she wasn't very attractive) , but I could never smell her.
My other employees would say, "How can you not smell her?  She stinks something awful!"
Maybe it was because I worked in a tobacco store and smoked a lot.  I considered that, but then realized that I had no problems smelling anything else.
The next day, I purposely leaned in close when she wasn't looking and tried to see if I could smell her.
I couldn't smell anything.
I communicated this to the other employees and they still said that she stunk to high heaven.

Finally, I ended up asking Darcy to say something to her about it.  I was training Darcy to be a manager of another store and figured she could use this human relations "experience".  Besides, Darcy was a lot closer/friendlier to Kelly than I was.

So yeah, I delegated that responsibility to Darcy and she took Kelly aside when no one else was around and explained it to her.
Apparently, it worked because Kelly started drowning herself in perfume, which to me was even worse.

If someone stinks badly enough, I have no problem telling them.  As long as it's a person of the same sex.
I find it difficult to tell a woman that she stinks.

I have gone to work in the past absouloutly reeking after a bender...and had a number of people telling me I stink of booze. Being as I work in a factory,and most of my co-workers have no compuctions calling one another a$$holes or idiots, they had no problem with calling me out about me stinkin'. And I wasn't offended. I knew I stunk. They knew I stunk. It was no big secret. I actually laffed when they said I reek. Of course thats just me. Others may not feel the same way. Like Ash...I would have a problem saying it to lady,though.

It's alright to talk to someone about the fact they smell if you do it the right way.

Right Way: Politely sit down with them and tactfully discuss the problem. Try to avoid anything which might embarrass them in front of a lot of people.

Wrong Way: Spray them down with a full bottle of Fabreeze or can of deodorant. Pour a bucket of soapy water on them. Show up wearing a gas mask when you speak to them about their odor. Start the conversation with the phrase, "You know, it OK to bath on nights other than Saturday don't you?"

As far as the person not being aware of the smell, well they are most likely use to it so they fail to notice it at all. If you are around an odor long enough, you tend to not notice it. I've known people who worked in a pet food factory and they were oblivious to the horrible smell the place gave off.

The best part about this person is they are so high up on themselves.  They talk so much trash about the way other people dress and act.  However, the fact they reek like an old actic apparently has no effect on them.

Since I've been out of power and I have no hot water ... I was smelling pretty good ... got my propane and got to heat up some water to bathe ... right now around here there is a lot of really stinky people.

Cripes! You guys are still down?!?!?! Sh!t! hang in there,man! Winter can't last forever...God bless you...! Your too tough to let a little ice rock your world!  :thumbup:

I recall when I was a bit younger, we took a certain amount of pride in being a complete mess the day after a night of heavy boozing. Some of the best stories involved a bunch of us going out for breakfast in the clothes we slept in, smelling of puke and sweat and beer.

And I agree with Ash that masking a stink with perfume or cologne just makes it worse. I can't stand anything that is loaded down with a lot of artificial scent, least of all people.

Dude we've be our for 8 days and they say it might be a month before we get power back ... going to be some really smelly people around here.