Nov
08
How do you tell a person he/she got bad breath?
Posted by admin under Etiquette
smith asked:
You are co-workers.
You avoid talking to him/her bec of his/her bad breath but he still talks to you. Worse, he talks to you for a long time.
How do you tell him that his has bad breath (not just garlic/onion or coffee breath) without offending him?
Rapid Cure for Bad Breath
You are co-workers.
You avoid talking to him/her bec of his/her bad breath but he still talks to you. Worse, he talks to you for a long time.
How do you tell him that his has bad breath (not just garlic/onion or coffee breath) without offending him?
Rapid Cure for Bad Breath
February 1st, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I don’t know if it can be done without offending him. You could offer him a stick of mint gum.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Offer them a mint.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Buy him some really expensive and gift-like mints. He won’t know because he’ll think you were just giving him a present.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
There is no way of telling them with offense.
February 11th, 2007 at 2:50 am
I know you only mean well but I guess theres no good way to tell something that they have bad breath. I would suggest offering them a mint or piece of gum. Good luck!
February 14th, 2007 at 5:11 am
Eat a piece of gum in front of him/her and then ask politely, “Oh, I’m sorry for not asking. Would you like a piece?”
February 14th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
well the best way to try and approach this situation is to keep offering them gum or tic tacs, after awhile, maybe they will get the clue.
February 17th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Ask him if your breath smells and breathe on him or something, then he’d wonder if his does too. Or just pop a mint or piece of gum in your mouth and ask if he’d like one. Sure, there’s a chance he’d say no, but there aren’t many ways to break it to him without hurting his feelings.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:34 am
well, first if you are gonna confront him, don’t do it infront of other co-workers……maybe try just offering him a mint of some kind. if that doesn’t work then just say very politely (if you feel like you know them well enough) “*insert name here*, you’re breath kinda smells.” uh………yah…..that’s pretty much all you can do…..
February 20th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Be honest and tell him. You are offended by his breath, but you don’t want to offend him by telling him? Just tell him; if he doesn’t do anything about it, have your conversations with your hand held in front of your nose. If his breath is that bad, he may have an undiagnosed health problem.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:21 am
tell him straight out in private. be lighthearted about it. He may be offended for a bit but it’s better for both you, him, and anyone else.
February 25th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Talk about breath a lot. I know this sounds like a horrible tactic but it works. My ex-best friend used to have breath like she was eating sour milk and rotten eggs and overboiled cabbage. I would pop a mint or gum in my mouth and say things like, “Oh my gosh, Orbit really does make your mouth all minty!” which sounds really nerdy, but it was better than suffering that nasty odor. I regularly offered her gum/mint as well, and after a while she got the jist (or is it gist?) of it and got that grossness cleaned up.
Hope it goes well with your coworker. Try leaving around packs of Altoids and gum.
February 26th, 2007 at 5:10 am
Buy to paks of gum, or two paks of Tic-Tacs and give one to your friend.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:26 am
We have one of the nicest doctors in the world who comes to our unit every day. When he corners you in a small room, it seems as though you could faint from the aroma. We’ve tried offering him breath mints and those breath strips. He smiles and puts them in his pocket. Maybe you could ask your immediate supervisor to have a talk with your co-worker. It’s obviously affecting more than one person. I feel for you.
March 4th, 2007 at 8:25 am
just start a conversation with him/her and then casually pull out a listerine pocket patch/mint/gum etc. (take one yourself also so that it will not look so bad)
March 5th, 2007 at 12:29 am
say when was the last time you brushed your teeth.Once I said it to my freind and he said I forgot but he didnt mind.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Offer him a mint or piece of gum. If he says “no thank you” say “go ahead, you could use it.” The next day put a pack of that gum on his desk. (Or mints.) If it were me, I’d sure want to know. Whenever my husband or I say to the other one, “Have a piece of gum,” he’ll ask “Do I need it?” Sometimes I say yes, sometimes I say no. It’s always the truth. (We both do that.) I’m all for the truth. Well, not ALWAYS!
)
March 11th, 2007 at 3:22 am
It will offend him when you tell him and be embrassing for a few momnets but in the long run he will thank you offer him a mint and tell him why, my son had bad breath and we kept telling him to clean his teeth and use mouth wash it was only after a few days when he still had breath that we realized something was wrong, he had an infection n his tounge which get treated and now his breath is fine, you co-worker may have an infection or something worse so pluck up the nerve and tell him.
one way could be to email him from an anonymous email address and politely explain why you have sent the email.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Offer them a piece of gum or mint. When they try to decline, say something like, “No really, have one…you could probably use it.”
Try and leave it at that. Man, I’d want to know.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Take a stick of gum or tic-tac, etc, eat one yourself and ask if he wants one also. It will seem like you are being polite by sharing, not if you just give him one without having one yourself.
March 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am
When I was in college I was in your situation. One of my best friends had a really bad (and I mean BAD) breath. Every time she talked to me I wanted to throw up.
I didn’t want to hurt her feeling, but I knew that I had to tell her because everybody was making fun of her.
So I wrote her a letter (anonymously, of course) in which I explained to her that I liked her a lot and that I consider her like a sister, and that was the reason why I didn’t want to hurt her feelings but I didn’t want other people to make fun at her either. I told her that she should look for an specialist because of her bad breath, that sometimes bad breath has something to do with gastrointestinal problems.
Then I guess that she followed my advice, because her “problem” was over.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Pop an Altoid and offer. It doesn’t seem rude but it usually gets the point across. If they decline then leave the room.
March 24th, 2007 at 2:17 am
well its better that he knows so i would just tell him that i dont mean to be rude or offending but your breath smells rather bad! do you want a mint or some gum!
March 26th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
The big thing seems to be offer them a mint or gum.
I wonder if every time I am offered a peice of gum or a mint, does my breath smell bad?
Or are they just trying to be nice about it?
March 27th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
first make sure your breath is not offensive because you don’t want to be a hypocrite and say in a firm i mean business kinda voice ” your breath is fowl.” hand them a mint and your dentists business card walk away and hope that when you return the person is either
a: to angry to talk to you, and doesn’t annoy you with his or her awful breath.
or
b: has fixed their rank smelling breath, and is now pleasant towards you and more minty.