coworker constantly sniffing
Ugh, the patchouli/indie oil people I know best are white, so that didnt even occur to me, but it maybe should have. Im not allowed to wear headphones at work, but occasionally when the boss is out I sneakily put some on anyway and I can hear her sniffling even with white noise, pink noise, and any kind of music at full blast. She still cant stand to smell it. Every. Asking them not to apply perfume before work, is one thing, to alter their personal life by buying two sets of products or not lighting scented candles in the bedroom or not cooking with curry or garlic or whatever. And one year when I was a broke college student, the place where I worked had basically an endless supply of get a meal 1/2 off coupons from Moes, which was next door to the store and made it the cheapest full meal I could get most days. This exactly. Now I can only drink red. Call Him on It. Im going to ask that we stop with those suggestions now and instead focus on how she should deal with the coworker, which I think will be more helpful to her. but your coworkers will thank you. And if this is how OP functions, what about the other coworkers? ! the coworker is trying to make some kind of mean-spirited point. Hippie/hipster stink is the common parlance. If those same people saw the fire, theyd be grateful and not at all offended. I think this can have a lot to do with body chemistry, too I have one essential oil blend made for me that has a lot of layers, but the one that lasts the longest is kind of a candle-smoke scent. But frankly, you shouldnt be expected to cut something you enjoy out of your life entirely just because it annoys her. I also let them know Im ever so grateful they are taking my health concerns seriously. This is so true. 1. At this point, the issue is that she has a coworker whos being rude and snarky to her, not that she should just stop using bubble bath on weekends or so forth. It seems to help get the scents out, but it still takes several washings to get the scent out. Or maybe the scents linger in a vehicle that then gets stuck on you, so to speak, or on an office chair? I actually find the smell of patchouli very pleasant, but I do recognize that a lot of people have negative associations with it. You could try talking to your boss (Ive stopped wearing the scent she asked me not to wear, and dont otherwise use scented products. 7)Constant messaging and texting Constant communication at work (as well as at home) is a very very good sign of friendship and mutual understanding. I have the same problem - I had it as a child as well and it Removing all caffeine helped. I dont even own any alcohol-based spray-type perfumes, just oils and solid perfumes, and I still refer to them all as just perfume, so I think thats what OP meant. This is why Im scared to take up perfume, for fear of being 80 and having a personal cloud of smell. Ugh, this. You see the salesmen on the metro who wear little vials of oil on these cross-body belts. 2. We cannot lock ourselves in a room and stay there because we have to work, get groceries, and do all the things the rest of us have to do. I know the LW said she does not enjoy chemical-y scents, but are there any other scents that the LW enjoys that wouldnt bother the coworker? By using this Site you agree to the following, By using this Site you agree to the following. I understand that some people are extra-sensitive to smell and truly need to be accommodated, but its possible to be extra-sensitive and yet not act like the Perfume Police to ones coworkers, particularly a coworker who has already gone to significant lengths to mitigate any ill effects. If Im being charitable to the coworker, I think this may be happening; shes having a real reaction to a non-existent smell because she assumes its there. But again, this might be me being snarky. Yes, I think this is a big difference too. It can be super effective for getting odors out, although certain perfumes and oil-based scents get so embedded in clothes that they may not come out at all :(. This was my initial thought as well. Sounds like this is a common bullying tactic. I have to add that this isnt to imply that OP has an odd personal smell at all! Exactly. If someone is wearing perfume with patchouli in it, I get an immediate headache; if its a lingering scent from a previous days perfume, Ill be aware of it and will develop a slow headache over the course of the day the longer Im around the scent. I do keep it open when not in use, but it gets gross anyway. Offensive even. Agreed on the connotation, but I also note that its got some nice up-market uses as well; Chanels Coromandel is one of my favorite perfumes, and its built on a patchouli note. I love perfumes and scented bath products, but my scalp is really allergic to many fragrances. 10% off Management Today's Leadership Learning programme. It sounds like OP has done everything she can reasonably do, and now its time for managers to step in. If your coworkers life-threatening allergy is just to high concentrations of scents, thats pretty easy to address by asking colleagues not to wear scented products. Its so heavily scented (even the I scented version) that it will likely be much much worse. I have the sinking feeling that OPs coworker is going to be a classic case of you cant prove a negative. From what Ive read, it seems that if this happened to me I would have to spend several hundred dollars replacing every toiletry and all laundering supplies in my home, wash everything I own multiple times and most likely get all coats and heavy fabrics dry cleaned, and even THEN the coworker may still not be happy with my potential scent. Yes. You can smell her a mile away. If you're fighting a cold and are forced to sniffle repeatedly, consider stopping at the drug store for something that will relieve your symptoms. I was thinking that too. If you let mgmt/HR know you want to do what you can to address your co-workers sensitivities, youll be seen as proactive and sympathetic. The ones made with essential oils seem OK, its the more chemical created scents. Its not workable. For the people who dislike it or for whom it is an unexpected smell, it is hated. The readers have some great ideas. My female coworker puts on a lot of perfume. I really feel for you. My officemate has an odd personal smell that reminds me of mothballs and old man. Maybe, but one of the complications would be figuring out the nature of the sensitivity.. I sincerely dont mean to be rude, but in those moments its nearly impossible for me to contain my irritability. . I suspect thats why he found me attractive :-). Heres an article he wrote for CNN that was reposted on a blog (couldnt find the original): http://www.emilysstomach.com/2013/06/aversions-to-food-and-why-smells-make.html. That doesnt keep the other odors from actually entering, though; it just overpowers them. Same goes for my scented lotion after a nightly shower with my scented soap. I supervise a manager who falsified an employee write-up but I dont think she should be fired, getting out of shared intern housing, why are so many executives condescending, and more, interviewer fake-rejected me to see if I would fight for the job. Surely people grow out of this shortly after high school, surely a grown adult wouldnt comment on someones smell unless it was bothering them. Just dont feel bad anymore, because short of quitting, you can only do so much to accommodate your co-worker. Even if she still can smell something on you that youre not noticing, shes not bringing it up in a productive way at all exaggerated sniffing and snarky comments are not helping anything! That said, though, the perfume I was wearing the day she complained didnt actually have any patchouli in it, and I wear my patchouli-scented oils very sparingly. Scent is the one sense that bypasses the frontal part of the brain and hits directly into the limbic system of the brain. I have to agree . My parents have one of those. I think this will be one that everyone will want a follow up on. Agreed. I would love to see someone tell all my coworkers who smoke that they have to quit because Purple Jello has an allergy.). Hmm, I had no idea. The reason to ask someone who doesnt live with you is that we can stop smelling things after a while, so a partner or roommate might not be able to smell it either. The coworker is the problem here. :). Smoking stinks, in addition to all the other negative side-effects. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Now, I know that others who are sensitive cannot deal with it because of worse effects, but that doesnt look like what is happening here. Sounds to me like the only thing that stinks, is said co-workers attitude. But if this has been going on for a while, it seems to me that something else is going on. The best you can do is ask people to be considerate. My mom had the same experience with TCBY yogurt. Im incredibly sensitive to both man-made and natural fragrances. Scent-free initiatives always seem so invasive to me. Unscented my butt. This is a good point and may seem to odd if someone has never experienced it, but I definitely have had this reaction. I have a whole mess of oil perfumes and about half of them use patchouli as one of the base scents (I rarely wear them to work though, as in, maybe once every two months and no ones ever said anything). Yeah, you have definitely gone above and beyond to accommodate this coworker. If OP regularly wore scents, it is possible the scent is there and she is noseblind to it. I think coworker, at this point, enjoys seeing OP fly into a panic about stinking so shes keeping up the Ooh, you stink! commentary. The OP is probably very used to it, and if the coworker is very sensitive, I can see where he or she might think it was still being used. We offer this Site AS IS and without any warranties. I once sent an employee of mine home for this. And if that doesnt work, go to HR. This. Your nose remembers stuff your brain just doesnt and makes huge amounts of connections. For real I understand if people *like* the smell of Febreeze, but seriously, its not some magical odor-disapperating powder, so dont act like its automatically preferable to any other strong scent. They will tackle the situation without compromising your request. I would be very surprised if everyone in that office besides OP is living a committed scent-free lifestyle. I always smelled like pepperoni and pizza grease. You can do what you can to not overtly smell of fragrance, but I would be pissed if a coworkers extremely sensitive nose caused my employer to change my lifestyle so drastically outside of work. I used to enjoy perfume, but now find that even the slightest hint of perfume or essential oil can trigger a bad headache. OP has done a lot already and coworker is just being snarky. 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