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My co-worker smells very bad
I'm sorry, but I spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week around her. I really don't want to be rude to her as she's really nice and helpful. We all work in an office setting and often times I have to sit right beside her and her breath smells very bad like a rotting corpse. I want to tell her but I don't want to be mean and afraid she will take it wrong, but honestly it's very bad. I wouldn't mention it if it wasn't really bad, I can smell it even if she just walks by me.
It's not just her breath but sometimes I can smell her breath even when her mouth is closed.
What is the best way to go about this? I don't think I can work along with her anymore until she does something about it, and she won't do anything unless someone says something. Please help.
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I have experienced this in reverse where the gal who shared my cubicle was one of those people highly sensitive to fragrances and the company had a policy of not wearing anything strong. I never did. Just the soap and shampoo if used to wash myself. One day the boss called me into his office and said that she had complained she was getting headaches from whatever I was wearing. I told the boss I wasn't wearing anything and perhaps it was my shampoo which she hadn't had problems with before. I asked if he could smell anything strong on me and he couldn't. So he let her know I was scent free. She was just unfortunately that sensitive and did get headaches easily. At the time I wondered why since we were buddies that she hadn't told me and now in looking back, I can see how awkward that is. I think using ones supervisor or boss as the go between to communicate is in some cases better, especially if the person in question takes things too seriously, may have a low self confidence and hearing something like this from you first may make you her enemy in her mind and then having to continue working with her will make it very hard. Unless its just you her and a boss, its much easier for things to go smoothly afterwards bbetween you if you could remain anonymous to her and the boss let her know that some coworkers have complained about this to her or you could ask the boss to not reveal it was you who complained in case he/she may not be thinking as I am. Most work places are very conscious about employees being able to work in an environment where nothing makes them sick in any way including odors. Usually the issue is cologne so strong it smells like they emptied the whole bottle over themselves. But personal body odors should also qualify here. Just tell your boss that the smell is making you sick to your stomach and its been going on for quite some time. You've tried your best to put up with it and hope the situation would get better on its own but it hasn't.
Besides health related or decaying teeth, more specifically, I have found I couldnt stand the breath of people who ate lots of garlic daily, a few asian folks I've known in the past for whom that was in every meal so even with their mouths closed, you could smell it when they exhaled.
My husband has at times had reflux problems and ulcers of stomach and problems with digesting so contents in his stomach could produce that decaying awful smell which would rise and come out when he speaks or even just thru nose as he exhaled. Once doctors took care of the problem, no more odor. Garlic eating may be offensive in scent to others but I've never known it to cause the rotting corpse scent as you put it, but stomach related issues...definitely yes. Like my husband, she may not feel uncomfortable or any pain, not even from ulcers and it wasnt til he ended up in the hospital in emergency that all these issues were discovered. So she may not be aware of it and your boss saying something may be crucial to her health and well being.
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Extremely bad breath could be a sign of other more serious and even life threatening problems or it could be she has serious tooth decay problems and needs to see a dentist. My best guess is she may have some health problems you may not be aware of.
If you count her among your office friends you might want to ask her if her health is okay before running off to the HR department or a manager. It is quite possible she is ill and does not wish to share this with coworkers.
My wife had a coworker with a similar problem. She had an inoperable cancer that left open sores. The odor from the sores was very much as you describe this lady's breath. Management approached this coworker and offered her the choice of working from home or they would find a quiet office for her to work in by herself. The women chose the office as she wanted to continue to work as long as possible.
I cannot say for certain this is the problem with your coworker and I hope it isn't. Approach her first, be tactful and ask her if she is aware of her bad breath. If she is and does not give you a reason for why or why she has done nothing to correct it. Then co to HR or a manager.
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