Jan
20
Coworker with bad breath, how do you tell them?
Posted by admin under Etiquette
Sweetbabygurl318 asked:
I’ve got a co-worker that I sometimes work closely with, he always feel the need to whisper and his breath smells like he brushes with shi*! I find myself holding my breath when he talks to me. The killing part is when he asks me to show him how to do something on his computer, maybe its me, as we are looking at the computer screen and he’s talking, his breath seems to bounce off the screen and slap me right across the nose. And I look funny trying to hold in my breath for a long period of time and almost scared to breath in through my nose.
I am not a rude person but I always come to his desk with some kind of breathmint, gum, tick tac or something and offer one but he ALWAYS refuses. What is a sistah to do?
I’ve got a co-worker that I sometimes work closely with, he always feel the need to whisper and his breath smells like he brushes with shi*! I find myself holding my breath when he talks to me. The killing part is when he asks me to show him how to do something on his computer, maybe its me, as we are looking at the computer screen and he’s talking, his breath seems to bounce off the screen and slap me right across the nose. And I look funny trying to hold in my breath for a long period of time and almost scared to breath in through my nose.
I am not a rude person but I always come to his desk with some kind of breathmint, gum, tick tac or something and offer one but he ALWAYS refuses. What is a sistah to do?
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
Leave a bottle of scope on their desk.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am
You have bad breath please take care of it
January 24th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Tell him with kindness. Go to lunch one day with him and just let him know. Tell him that you’re letting him know so that others don’t spread rumors about him. Let him feel like you care.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:52 am
force his mouth open and shove some tictacs in
January 28th, 2008 at 2:38 am
leave a package of mounthwash, toothpase, breath mints, and a little unsigned note on his desk.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Open a box of altoid mints and eat one, then offer to the coworker. If he refuses, then cover your nose w/ shirt… if he asks why you are doing that, say something stinks bad in here, don’t you smell it?
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:17 am
This may work, he may just feel weird accepting things from you like that, so it may work better if you left a bowl of mints or something liek that always sitting in a public place so he’s more likely to take one. Or just tell him because in the long run it will b better for everyone
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 am
Discuss it with your manager/supervisor. You shouldn’t have to be the heavy, as personal hygiene is most likely covered in your company’s policy manual. If it’s a medical matter, then the guy needs to get appropriate treatment.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Come armed with gum and freely distribute it to anyone who comes near you. Beyond that, unless you have a friendly relationship with your co-worker, I’m not sure how you could address it with him beyond bringing it to the attention of the HR dept (as they are the individuals who are supposed to address hygiene issues with people).
Okay…now that I read the rest of it…he’s always refusing gum, mints, etc? Hmm…okay, scratch plan a and go straight to HR. I’ve seen often that this could be a sign of a health problem or whatever for the guy.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:47 am
You know John,,I hate to say this but your breath smells like a dead skunk. I mean do you ever use mouth wash or brush???? I can tell you now that you are no longer allowed to come within 30 ft of my space or I will call the ETM’S to have you taken away. Or I will call in the hazmat team to decon you. Just stay away please. I hate to hurt your feelings but, your breath reminds me of a dead bear carcuss that has been lying in the hot sun for 2 weeks. Hit it now, or I will be forced to have you locked away. And then you throw up on him….
February 7th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I used to have a colleague like this as well, except he didn’t refuse the tic tac/life saver when I offered it. I like the scope idea a lot – it sends the message while remaining anonymous. You could also go to HR and tell them that this is an issue for you and have them deal with it. They may be able to say at that person’s review that his hygiene has been brought up as a concern and that he needs to be more considerate of others. But this is risky since it may make you look shallow. Hence, I would first recommend leaving on his desk anonymously a bottle of scope along with a jar full of tic tacs, gum, peppermints, etc. It’s time he got the message even if you have to “slap him across the face” with it (anonymously)!
February 9th, 2008 at 4:28 am
He probably doesn’t know that he has bad breath being we aren’t supposed to be able to smell our own breath. He may even have a dental problem. Slip him some dental info. It is really hard to tell someone that they have bad breath, but knowing this would make him feel better in the future. I would just tell him, or ask him when he last went to the dentist. I guess it is better to be open with him especially if you see him as a friend. Gum, and breath mints and stuff, although they are really strong these days only cover up bad breath and do not last. Maybe he doesn’t know that the main source of bad breath is the tongue. Do some studies on bad breath. There are some very interesting facts to learn. Once you learn all the facts, share it with him. You could e-mail it to him and tell him you didn’t know these things and found it interesting. Did you know that meat in your mouths begins to decay to the point of rotting within only 30 minutes and if a person smoke cigarettes it is faster by 60 percent. Do some research on the subject, you will find many useful things that are interesting enough to share. Infections in the mouth can even spread throughout the entire body and make a person really sick. You are more of a friend if you help him overcome this that to ignore it and hold your breath.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Maybe he can’t help the bad breath. Say nothing. Breath through your mouth…
February 13th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Interesting question actually… personally I think most people would like to be informed (in a nice way) about that sort of thing (food between teeth; label showing etc.) especially from a friend/friendly colleague, but I guess my approach would be something like: next time your colleague engages you in conversation, perhaps you could somehow introduce into the chat that you have a friend (fictitious) who has bad breath and you really don’t know if you should tell them, and if you did, how you would do it. Perhaps you could ask him how he would handle the situation and whether or not he would like to be told those sorts of (potentially embarassing) things by a friendly colleague/friend.
Hopefully that might help get the message across. If not, it will (hopefully) give you some idea about how he might react.
The last thought I have is… try and breath through your mouth for a while if worse comes to worse. That should relieve the receptors in your nose for a bit.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:41 am
LOL! I’m so sorry and you know, I know how you feel. Except it’s not a daily basis for me.
All i can say is keep trying with the gum.. theres not much you can do sorry
February 17th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Offer a stick of gum or breath mint as you pop one in your mouth. Then go on to mention lunch was real flavorful and it left a taste in your mouth. He may get the hint.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Put a dead plant on his desk before he gets in with a note that says:
Your breath killed me.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Say,have you been eating garlic,,,,G.D….and walk away.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Leave an anonymous note on his desk spelling it out. CLEARLY.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:19 am
LOL
I know exactly of what you speak!!! LOL
Worked with a really lovely woman, we were friends as well, but her breath smelled as though there were decaying rats living in her mouth.
LOL
There is no polite way of handling this. LOL
You have done your best offering mints, etc. LOL
What I ended up doing is sucking on a handful of mints before I had to interact with her so that all I could smell was me. I looked like a chipmunk with the Halls candy parked in my cheeks when I talked. But it worked.
LOL
Good luck!
February 29th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Offer him the breath mint again and when he refuses, wince a little bit and say “No honey. I’m sorry but you REALLY need to pop a mint. Your breath is kickin’ and other people have been talking about it too and I want to save you some embarrasment.”
He may get offended, but its better than losing lunch at the smell of his stank breath!
Some people don’t get hints!