Still cant eat red velvet after a stomach bug. Smoking stinks, in addition to all the other negative side-effects. My female coworker puts on a lot of perfume. Suggest management isolate her if living in the world is too much for her once accommodations have already been made and she wont. The thing with perfume is that lots of people arent putting on their fancy fragrances to go to work. I would also expect that I would be able to use work time to find these products, since this is a work-based request. But it is of course very possible that this is just a drama queen who likes to make a fuss and I agree the OP should be more aggressive about it and not let the boss take the easy way out of only responding to the squeaky wheel. :(. After we stopped that we smelled. Im actually okay with smells, its that alcohol or whatever base of them that gets me most of the time. Ive asked friends if they can smell it on my clothes since all this started, and none of them can, even when pressing the item up against their nose. In the case of sniffing, offer your colleague a box of tissues or suggest that she should stay home until she feels better. Even if she were aware the problem was on her side, the sensitivity would remain the same. 4. Fine. In the regions I have lived in, dirty hippy meant white, pretty much every time. Lying and denying A co-worker who is favored by management for no good reason. Yeah, I was wondering if OP burns incense or something like an essential oil diffuser at home and it sticks to the clothing even after theyre washed. The human brain is able to play some crazy tricks on us. Often people dont realize how heavy their perfumed things are, and it can interfere with others breathing & general ability to function. Thats rough, though I hope you can work it out. I dont think its reasonable to expect people to completely change their entire lifestyle around outside of work, just to accommodate someone at work. But doesnt hurt to try, and Alison and others offer great suggestions. Never again! This fear of imperfection keeps the Rooster on the fence. Im mentally picturing the co-worker as more of a powersuits and pantyhose type. Your coworker could merely be bothered, in which case its up to them to get over it. In the end, he just didnt ride down with me, but in the days since then hes retold the story to all our coworkers about how I made him feel bad by saying he smells. Which also reinforces my belief that your coworker can go walk off a pier. We got fried chicken and rode the train home together . All the time. I was more sympathetic because my brother used to smoke and I remembered what a raging jerk he became when he was quitting (which he eventually did, as did my friend). Ask Fergus, Does this scarf smell offensive to you? I live in DC and its more black women here. These are all instances she smelled. My mom had the same experience with TCBY yogurt. Coworker is being bratty and mean in a way that suggests she feels helpless (so, bullying but thinks she is the victim), and your suggestions were right on target for that aspect of the situation. I will ask do you still use your perfume on the weekends? This, in a nutshell, is why misophonia is so awful. I used to use an incense in my apartment and didnt realize how it clung until I started to get compliments on my perfume. I mean I get the idea but thats a heck of a food to ruin. /ramble. not wearing perfume to work). We confronted him a couple more times but the last time she said something to this person, the response was. You are a much nicer person than I. I would have drawn a line in the sand with your co-worker in a likely not-nice manner. There shouldnt be any fragrances lingering around. I think of my paternal grandma when I smell Jergens lotionthe cherry-almond scentand sunscreen because they lived in Corpus Christi and we always got drowned in Coppertone when we visited. How best to handle a situation like this? Also, interestingly enough, I have grandparents who live in another country. The only thing I can think of is that it was not washed as much as the other clothed. The sky doesnt have a smell unless you want to smell like pollution imo. I get youI dont like the taste of turkey. It is very distinct to those of us with sensitivities. Ah, I see you already made my point about how other people might have conflicting allergies. Alas she may feel singled out, but OP already has shown how much shes accommodated her. Even if there is some light scent hanging around (due to her conditioner or whatever) thats pretty normal. This is on her coworker to figure out now, with the help of the company. Its super easy to become immune to a constant smell. It helps keep dye from washing out of fabric, but it can also set a stain instead of removing it. Same goes for Sambuca (or anything licorice-smelling) and lavender-gin cocktails. Two, if youve been using these scents for a long time, odds are good that your house or apt smells like them, too, and its going to take a while for the old smell of you to fade. Its very abnormal, trust no one, he may e ur broda's friend and may e younger than u, who knows whether he's older than u in spirit or devilish act. Southern Comfort for me. This may be snarky.but perhaps the coworker could simply rub a bit of Vicks Vapor Rub just above her upper lip. I'm sure I've been a royal beeyotch to some very nice people, solely because they make noises that I cannot bear. Alison gave you the next steps so go from there. The runny nose, persistent stuffiness, and postnasal drip of the sniffles are often self-diagnosed as a cold. And they find a way to deal with that.because they cant control it. Calmly and professionally call out the patronizing person without making a scene or being dramatic by pointedly yet politely saying, "Gee, that comment sounded a bit condescending to me. That is what co-worker is complaining about. I mentioned to my manager that I was cutting out the one thing I could think of that could be leaving a scent, and so far there hasnt been additional complaints (that I know of). Conditioner is even harder to find. Talk about getting off topic . I started in the last year of primary school, I also drive my family insane and myself it's so irritating, it's as if I can't breathe and my nose is inflamed or tight and I need to sniff to clear it even though there's nothing there, it's really embarrassing and it tried loads of nasal sprays and even been to ent had a camera up my nose but he couldn't see anything. Now I don't know what to do. Im being highly unhelpful with the +1s and derails on this thread but I kind of love you for that line. Or, if OP isnt the type to be cold at work, perhaps a fan set on low that could blow the scented air away from the coworker? As her supervisor, you do not have the (extremely tempting) option of being passive. It sounds like you have misophonia. 2. Idk why he doesn't use a tissue. Im bringing this angle up because your coworker was wearing it after a weekend and doesnt seem to wear it every day. For scent specific examples: Someone using scented shampoo, fine, using so much hairspray, the scent fills the room, not fine, a bit of perfume the average person cant smell unless they are rubbing elbows, fine, a cloud of perfume, not fine. Complaints may be about your work performance or personality. So many great suggestions here for how to deal with her from that perspective since she, not the scent, is the problem. If most people cant smell whatever your current perfume load is, then its not your problem if one person is bothered. And certain West African men wear cologne. Even when I blow my nose a lot it doesn't help sometimes. It's often better to overlook your coworkers' mildly annoying habits for the sake of office harmony. (I say this as a person who finds patchouili nauseating, but it is clear you have gone the mile on this front now it is she who is the problem). I literally had to blow my nose all through my second pregnancy. At this point I feel like it would be a bad idea to wear *any* perfume around her, patchouli or no. Or she hates the smell of all shampoo. I agree. Sorry, but no. The bosses had a fit at the landlords there was a fountain in the courtyard that nobody ever checked up about and it was leaking water from pipes in the walls for who knows how long. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. I am completely sympathetic to people who are sensitive to fragrance but short of ceasing to exist there was nothing else I could have done. It's much like giving small children a new toy to play. OP has done everything possible to accommodate them. Theyve been here since February and they still smell the same I wonder what it is! The only thing Id point out is that the coworker specifically mentioned patchouli when making comments about the smell, and lemon definitely does not smell like patchouli. Next day had the worst hangover of my life. Exactly. They are everywhere and they are stronger and longer lasting. I was thinking that it might be something like this for the OP. But seriously? I got to Let her sniff your jacket or your bag for example. . Step 5. The more you use it, the more you want it, but the less effective it is, Dr. Reisman says. Indicate gently, very gently, why it's a problem. If the interruptions continue, speak to the person in private. He finally had a doctor who asked just the right questionand after a few more tests and exams, it turned out it was a tic and that he has (a very mild form) of Tourette's syndrome. She likes the idea and often makes it a part of our sexlife. Fully cooked blondies? He doesnt wear cologne, and keeps up his hygiene (and doesnt use mothballs). I also switch my perfume up pretty often, so its not like I have one scent that Im repeating every day. . To clarify the role of habitual sniffing caused by nasal diseases in the pathogenesis of middle ear diseases, 112 pediatric patients with secretory otitis media (183 ears) were examined for associated nasal diseases and habitual sniffing. Assume the best of your coworker. If someone was spraying any form of Febreeze, *I* would go to the Manager. It is however, possible to have a runny nose, water eyes, etc., due to a scent, but these are not life threatening. There could be other causes: My office got new carpet and my other pregnant co-worker and I had to work from home for a week because we couldnt deal with the smell. Time to go on the offensive here. Thats a good idea! I find it appalling. She needs to figure out a way to disperse the smell at work (with a fan? Also I get that OP is bending over backwards completely to try to be scent free, but honestly, even scent free soaps are not. Oils, especially, can seep into fabric and smell forever, even though you are no longer wearing scented products. On an airplane I dont need to interact with others, so being anti-social is not an issue. This only hit home for me because it was related to scent sensitivities, and this issue just happened to me today. If I was told to not ever use it again in my personal life because it was bothering someone at work, Id be mighty peeved off. I love the essential oil, but I abhor the incense sticks. When I mentioned it to the host, she looked baffled and said she couldnt smell anything. Amazing. Theres no legal definition of unscented and fragrance-free, so companies can slap that label any product. Youve done your fair share in this situation, she is the one lacking. Sneaky jerks. I am so so sorry. As someone who is also sensitive to strong smells and doesnt often up about it for fear of pushback, your reaction is exactly the kind Id appreciate. I think its like color blindness, there must be a receptor that some people have that make them aware of something in the patchouli/patchouli type scents and the wearers arent actually able to detect the same scents. If you feel as though you're about to burp, get up from your desk and walk to the washroom or even an empty part of the office. Unscented my butt. The jerkishness is out of line, but even if its all in her head, its still real. OP, I think you can let yourself off the hook at this point. Oh, man. The only crossover is my jeans, but I dont wear any scent on my lower half. I think this will be one that everyone will want a follow up on. I agree that Alison has given you some very good advice and some good conversational points to start with. Regardless of what is going on with the scent mystery, the coworker is handling it tremendously inappropriately and management needs to address that. But there is a question of how much you can accommodate a co-worker as an individual. Sinus infections famously cause your head to pound and your eyes to throb. If I was told to go scent free, I would expect my office to pay for the price difference between my affordable scented products and unscented products, which usually cost more in my experience. Under that paradigm, even the Free version would need to announce its presence. Her conditioner or whatever base of them that gets me most of the time wear cologne, and can! She is the problem was on her coworker to figure out a way to disperse the smell at (! She needs to figure out now, with the +1s and derails on this thread but I the. Her if living in the regions I have one scent that im repeating every day on. 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