Office Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell bad

Office Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell badOffice Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell badIf you work in an open office space, collaborating with your colleagues is as easy as leaning over from your desk and talking to them. But working in close quartersalso means getting up close and personal with all of your colleaguesquirks - and their sounds and smells.Office pet peeves are born from this cramped petri dish of people working closely together well-meaning co-workers can turn into your frenemies who chomp food with their mouth open, talkloudly on phones, humalong to their music, wear pungent perfumes, carry the medieval body odor of someone whos never worn deodorant, and will never, ever change their behavior on their own.If its a temporary situation, the best thing to do is remove yourself, bodily, from expoaya to the irritating behavior until its over. Buy headphones, move work stations, and suffer in silence until your trial is over.But if it keeps h appening, you face a choice deal with the co-worker directly or get over it. Here are different work environment scenarios we can work through to see what you can do and what you can ask your offending colleague to do.1. Your co-worker is tooloudMany of us are sensitive to our surrounding noise levels. For some of us, its even a condition calledmisophonia where certain innocuous noises, like sniffing or eating a banana, can trigger a fight-or-flight response in our bodies that makes us see red and want to punch our colleagues.Before you confront your colleague for loudly eating a banana, however, think what you yourself can do. Can you move desks? Can you get a noise machine? Or noise-cancelling headphones? binnensee if theres a way to establish quiet zones or a meeting where you can bring up noise etiquette to the entire office before you single anyone out.If your colleagues noisy behavior is particularly grating to your ears and is affecting your work, then we can go on to the nex t step of bringing it up with them.Be sensitive about how you do this. Asking your colleague to change their personal behavioris where it can get fraught. Recognize that however frustrating their behavior may be to you, the problem is yours, bedrngnis theirs. Trying to change someone elses behavior is a huge challenge for even experienced managers eventually we realize that we can only change our own. When you bring up your problem, be sure to focus on that.Do the conversation in a neutral space away from prying ears. You can be frank if youre also polite, but offer to compromise if you have afternoon deadlines and need peace and quiet, mention that youre fine with whatever noise rituals they do in the morning.Lifehacker recommends easing the blow by mentioning thin walls and enclosed spaces. And after you do make your request, be polite by reciprocating and asking if theres any way you can make your colleagues working environment better.If your colleague is loud on all fronts- they sniff loudly, wear jangly jewelry, and keep shouting on phones- Fast Company recommends sticking to the one thing thats really bugging you so that the problemfeels fixable, instead of launching a rant about their entire body and personality - which will not go over well.2. Your co-worker smellsOkay, this ones trickier. If your co-worker is consistently smelly, no headphones will make that smell go away.After all your individual attempts to physically get away from your stinky colleague have failed, you can either learn to tune out the odor or go the much dicier route of asking your co-worker about their smell. The people I talked to who have experienced this firsthand chose to stay silent with their smell request. But there are brave people who have attempted to resolve this and have come out the other side in one piece.The goal, as with all of these requests about your own pet peeves, is to resolve the problem without burning bridges. It can be helpful to bring your concerns to a manager, whos better-trained in how to handle difficult conversations. (Though weve never met the manager who would relish this conversation either).Halley Bock, CEO of Fierce Inc., told Jezebel that the main thing when bringing up someones body odor is to beclear, concise, and compassionate.What does that mean? Dont be passive aggressive and leave hintsabout someones personal hygiene, and dont drag out the conversation when you have it in person. Also dont gossip about it even if you think youre being subtle, people can always tell when theyre being gossiped about.Bock suggested telling them,Im sure youre not aware of it but thought youd like to know that Im noticing an odd odor. Then, briefly state why this is important, why you want to resolve it and then give your smelly colleague a chance to respond.Granted, this is a highly risky gambit. Tone is key you dont want the person to feel like theyre on trial.If youre a manager and your direct reports smell is affecting your client s and work, youre going to need to have this difficult conversation, no matter how much you dont want to have it.Ask a Managers Alison Green recommends telling them theres a problem directlywith as much respect as possible. Its awkward, and I hope I dont offend you. Youve had a noticeable odor lately. It might be a need to wash clothes more frequently or shower more, or it could be a medical problem. This is the kind of thing that people often dont realize about themselves, so I wanted to bring it to your attention and ask you to see what you can do about it.This is all very direct, and its understandable if you dont want to say those words and keep the peace instead.That said, youre not a hall monitor for other peoples hygiene. No need to bring up the potential consequences if they dont follow through. It can be a mortifying conversation for all parties involved and for most employees, it will be a one-time one. If your first attempt doesnt work, there really is no option to try ag ain.This conversation is not easy but if you do go to a manager, remember to make a business case. Their job is to make sure that direct reports best represent your company, including appropriate levels of personal hygiene.Oh, and if this could be you remember to give yourself a sniff before leaving the house, wear clean clothes to work, and keep a personal hygiene kit in your work bag, including deodorant and mouthwash or toothpaste and a toothbrush.