How do i tell my colleague he smells bad?

Question

i work in an office with 7 other people. One of them is still a student. It's very clear he gets out of bed 5 minutes before getting on the train to work. He shows up late every morning, clearly hasn't bothered to shave or brush his hair, and when you come near him, he smells bad. We all find it very irritating, but none of us know how to tell him tactfully. How do we tell him to take care of his appearance and hygiene without sounding mean?

Answer 1

Just tell him he stinks...and get everyone else tyo back you up on it, get the boss to issue him with a warning about his hygiene and appearance.

Answer 2

Well....Me and 3 other work mates had this problem with the bloke in our office. He stunk! and when I say stunk I mean he stunk the whole 2 offices out that we worked in. When people came into our office they would say ''Oh my gosh whats that smell'' and of course we had to blaim it on dampness and what not. One of my work mates told our boss about this situation because it was actually making us feel sick and it was worse when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy because his smell made my sickness worse. We told the boss who had a word (they have to so dont be afraid to tell your boss!) and he still didn't do anything to improve. Some days he would stink some days he wouldn't. One of my works mates got so pissed of with him she actually offered to do his washing! But he is a mess anyway, he obs gets out of bed chucks clothes on and comes into work. His clothes actually smell like they hav been washed and put straight on so it smells like damp! Its very off putting and I actually felt ashamed to work with him. To this day now he still hasn't improved no matter how many times our boss has said. We had to buy air freshners for our office and buy wall freshners! Good luck!

Answer 3

Send him an anonymous gift of some febreze and some underarm deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, and some of those disposable shavers.   Sign it, "Love, from someone close to you".

Answer 4

WELL YOU COULD TAKE IN SOME AIR FRESHNER AND SPRAY IT NEAR HIM HE MIGHT SOON GET THE HINT FAILING THAT CHUCK A BAR OF SOAP AT HIM AND TELL HIM TO USE IT

Answer 5

Talk to HR and get them to talk to him.

They will say in private to him, that he must dress appropiatly and take more pride in his appearence and at the same time mention, showering and deodrant.

This happened in the company i work for and this is how it ended.

Answer 6

Tell your boss.  It's his job to tactfully explain to Smells Bad that he is upsetting the coworkers, NOT YOURS!

Answer 7

I like what BOI said. thats a good idea and maybe talking about soaps and deodarants.

Talk to his boss and tell him you have a problem with this guy.

Answer 8

You could try to make little jokes everyday, and he may get it. Such as "Looks like someone just rolled out of bed." or "Wow you don't look so good." Eventually he should get it. If not, tell your boss. If he is distracting you and your coworkers he needs to handle it.

Answer 9

Why do you have to come near him? why don't you come a short distance from him and then you wouldn't have this problem?

Answer 10

Go out one lunch hour, buy a can of nice smelling mens deoderant.  

Back in the office, casually remove it from your bag (a female colleague has to be in league with you on this!) and say to her - loudly  "I had to buy the Boyf some more body spray, he wears this and he smells SO gorgeous with this on, it's amazing!!".

She can then spray it, sniff and then rave about how absolutely gorgeous it smells, etc etc.

Unless the guy is a complete and utter moron he should get the hint.

Answer 11

Honey, just come right out and say it.  If you can do it in a quiet area when other people are not around that would be less embarrassing, but there is really no way other than to be honest.  If this gets no results, then you need to start talking to his supervisor and it should be addressed from that direction.

Answer 12

I would not normally say this but forget about tact.  you are doing him a favour if you point it out at this stage in his life.  Maybe ask your boss to do it.  I had a junior secretary once who was very beautiful but must have washed only once a week.  You could identify the individual stink of every part of her body.  I used to send her home when she smelt really bad and it never seemed to bother her.  It is not unreasonable for your boss to ask the employee to wash before work and send him home, without pay, if he doesn't.

Answer 13

Most offices have a dress code.  My daughter works for a fast food chain and they go so far as to say part of the uniform is "proper undergarments".  They also state freshly bathed and neat appearance.

There is a way to do this and let the kid know he must look like a professional to be one.

Answer 14

The only ways that I can think of tactfully doing it are for your boss to tell him in private (which is difficult for the boss I know, but when you're in charge, it comes with the territory), or for a company memo to go around reminding 'staff' that everyone needs to present themselves in a clean and presentable manner for work and that it has been noticed that standards are slipping lately.  Everyone else will hopefully know who the memo is directed at and not be offended.

But if your boss tells him, they can get to the subject without coming straight out with it by asking him if he's having trouble at home financially, perhaps not being able to afford an iron or washing machine etc.  There could be a reason that he's smelly.  When I was younger, we had to go to the launderette to do our washing and when you have to do that, you do tend to make clothes last a bit longer inbetween washes.  Maybe that's his problem.

I would suggest putting a new can of deodorant on his desk with a post-it note saying 'please use me', but he'll probably be upset because he'll think the whole office are in on the joke.

just to add - make sure he hasn't got a sense of smell problem.  I knew a guy who had no sense of smell, but he used to tell us to tell him if he was smelly because he said he'd appreciate knowing - so that was OK (but I'm guessing this guy has no problem with that or he would have mentioned it).

Answer 15

Make little comments in a jokey way like... 'Woah you look rough'... everyday!! And hopefully he'll start to get the picture.. Also you could try constantly asking him 'Are you alright? You look really bad' He should get fed up of people pestering him and start to do something about it.

Good luck... :)

Answer 16

As he doesn't seem to consider how others feel about his body odour I wouldn't bother too much about being tactful. I thing you have to be blatantly obvious and tell him he needs to bathe more often as he smells. Either that...or show him your question on here...and all the subsequent answers!

Answer 17

happened in my office, one girl had a word with him and told him that he had a bo problem.

he still doesn't shower so i'd say the only thing to do is go on and on about the stench until he gets fed up and washes.