Main Menu

Y'know what really grinds my gears?

Started by Link Prime, 12 April, 2014, 01:47:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

TordelBack

#285
Quote from: sauchie X on 10 June, 2014, 05:21:41 PMIf you're the guy in the room who thinks nobody stinks, it's you who's reeking of BO.

The law of the playground endures.

We once had an immensely smelly lady working with us, who also had no concept of personal space and would loom/drape herself over you while you were working on the computer, bare reeking armpits exposed to the air like the fissile rods in a shattered reactor core.  The problem was that this was a conscious no-soap/deodorant choice -  she was convinced that her natural odour had somehow cleansed itself and stabilised in that manner beloved of hippy manuals: it had not.

She had a perfectly normal unsmelly husband and kid, so it's not like she was a hairy anarchist living on a narrow boat or anything.  We really tried to be charitable and tolerant, then we tried to be subtle, but it got to the point where people wouldn't work in the same room as her, and we were actively keeping her away from clients.  Finally straws were drawn and the direct approach taken, amid much tension and horror: and nothing changed.  No-one ever picked up the courage to raise the subject again.

Eventually she moved on (it's just possible she felt a bit unwanted, which is pretty horrible 'cos she wasn't a bad person at all...), but I occasionally run into her in the pub some dozen years later, and still nothing has changed.

ZenArcade

I'm pretty loathe to talk shop, but there are ways to deal with this issue. The approach is invariably fraught but has to be done. Z
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 June, 2014, 06:13:55 PM
she was convinced that her natural odour had somehow cleansed itself and stabilised in that manner beloved of hippy manuals: it had not

There's something seductive about the logic of that kind of thing, isn't there? Who hasn't read with wonder how if you stop shampooing your hair your natural oils take over and you actually get the best conditioned hair of your life ... and then abandoned their experiment after a fortnight of walking around with a solid, greasy wad of what looks like plughole hair that stinks up your pillow and makes you break out in plukes?


mogzilla

Quote from: Theblazeuk on 10 June, 2014, 03:55:58 PM
Gone to the GPs?

he didn't to be fair seeing how the nephew had to resuscitate his son on holiday he just went to hospital.
don't get into an argument with an idiot,he'll drag you down to his level then win with experience.

Montynero

That sounds quite sinister, Zen!

We had a serious B.O. monster at work once, and the arguments over who would  ask him to freshen up rang long into the night. When he finally moved on, we reorganised the room and moved the desks around. I put my hand under his desk to lift - only to recoil in horror like Peter Duncan pulling his hand from the tree stump in Flash Gordon, at the alienesque goo beneath. We looked down and were truly horrified to discover a vast hive of snot artfully hanging on the underside of his workstation. He'd basically been sitting there wiping his bogies on the desk for three years! Disgusting!!

Hawkmumbler

NOPE! NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE! Having NONE of that, thank you! Chewing gum is bad enough but SNOT! EURRRGH!!!!

ZenArcade

Oh in no way is it sinister monty. The resolutions reached are in everyones interest.  I have to be mindful that strong body odour has a detrimental effect on the persons work colleagues and as has been alluded to by TB, clients/customers. There are basic standards of comportment and behaviour expected in every workplace, and they should be adhered to. I don't work in a sack em cause you dont like the cut of someone's jib sort of place, so don't fret about anything like that. Z
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

8-Ball

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 June, 2014, 06:13:55 PM
Quote from: sauchie X on 10 June, 2014, 05:21:41 PMIf you're the guy in the room who thinks nobody stinks, it's you who's reeking of BO.

The law of the playground endures.



I have to concur with that. In my place of work we had a new start and he absolutely reeked of B.O. which earned him the delightful nickname of Pongo. Now, the people calling him this weren't that young and should probably have known better. The whole situation came to a head when he received some Lynx Africa and a car air freshener as a "Secret Santa" christmas present. He got the message but people still call him Pongo behind his back. That makes me more mad than the B.O. problem.
Whatever happened to Rico, Dolman and Cadet Paris? I'm sooo out of the loop.

ZenArcade

That is bullying and is an actionable offence in any workplace. I f**king despise the cowardly f**king pricks!!
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

von Boom

Where are the managers? If an employee is causing employees discomfort in any way, why aren't the managers pulling them aside and putting them straight? Isn't that their job?

ZenArcade

Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

8-Ball

Quote from: ZenArcade on 10 June, 2014, 07:08:38 PM
That is bullying and is an actionable offence in any workplace. I f**king despise the cowardly f**king pricks!!

So do I. Unfortunately it's the kind of place that still has a vile mid-seventies "blokes and dolly birds" macho culture where everybody who works there seems to get a secret (or not so secret) nickname. There's a guy with curly hair so he's "Poodle", there's a guy with a bit of a tan so he gets "Brownie" and my supervisor has a beard so everyone  calls him "Wolfie". You know, just typing this is getting me angry and I shudder to think what they call me.
Whatever happened to Rico, Dolman and Cadet Paris? I'm sooo out of the loop.

The Doctor Alt 8

Sounds like your firm could do with a timely visit from Sexual Harassment Panda. ..


Hawkmumbler

I'm jokingly refered to as 'The One Who Ganders". Mostly due to an instance in which I was chased half way through Liverpool Docks by a canadian goose.

Bloody immigrants.

ZenArcade

Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead