How do people not know they smell?

You needn’t worry, the people the OP are talking about are people who don’t wash for weeks on end. Not people who have a bit of BO - it’s people who are so dirty and haven’t washed all over that they smell like an actual fart. It’s disgusting.

I hate this YANBU. A few weeks ago, I went to my daughter’s graduation. Two people came and sat in the row in front of me and they STANK. I had to put up with that for 1.5 hours and I was not happy.

Imagine being such a skank that you can’t even be bothered to have a shower when you’re going to someone’s graduation?!

What was amusing was that as soon as they sat down, the people either side of them started covertly sniffing themselves, no doubt worried like most normal people would be, that it was them.

If you live in a house with running water there is no excuse for this at all.

I don’t get it either. We have an acquaintance who is known to overstep and share her “opinions” and “advice”. She is an anti-vax, alternative-therapy pusher” and she shared her opinion once too often when I was feeling very vulnerable. (I had a two year old and newborn twins, one of which was being investigated for cancer at the time) She had shared her opinion on everything like vaccinations, diet, nappies, etc, and then she picked up my deodorant and told me that it would give me breast cancer, and why didn’t I use the crystal she used? It’s just as effective, blah blah blah… I couldn’t help myself… I said, “Actually, it’s not effective at all. It’s about time someone told you. You have sweat stains and you have terrible BO. Everyone has mentioned it and nobody’s wanted to say anything, but I would want to know if it were me they were talking about.”

I don't know why, but it drives me mad. I encounter so many people like this. I understand that some people do not enjoy washing and find it difficult for MH or sensory reasons, I just don't know how they can hate washing more than they hate their own festering stench. It's the same with people who simply refuse to clean their teeth.

The BO is bad enough but when you can smell that their clothes and their hair and everything about them hasn't been washed in a very long time either, it's just nauseating.

Unless they are literally living on the street with no access to soap and water or a washing machine there is no good reason and no excuse.

I’ve lost most of my sense of smell since Covid.

i do worry about smelling.

I wash my clothes and have a bath or shower at least once a day.

I think some people do know they smell but don't care. My husband has a mate that absolutely stinks of B.O. He's a builder out working all day so we obviously don't expect him to be smelling fresh after work, but we've been at his house before when he's got back from work, he's gone and had a shower and changed clothes, and the smell came back after about an hour. Clean clothes aswell. So don't know if he doesn't wash properly or what

i lost my sense of taste and smell for 2-3 months when I got covid (and was scared I was smelly cause I couldn't tell), who knows what afflictions people have. but yeah it does suck when people smell, but some people get sweaty and smelly easily even if they showered within the past day.

That interaction should have been handled by either HR or his boss, not you !

I once was delegated the horrible task of telling a coworker he had a severe personal hygiene problem.
It was one of the most awkward conversations of my life

😆

They might have just been in a smelly environment, like the pig farmer mentioned above.

Teen boys t shirts need to be pre treated under the arm holes with a good amount of sunlight soap and then put in the washing machine.
Works better than any other remedy I've tried.

That is some ableist bullshit right there. Rhee are plenty of reasons why they might be able to shop and drive but not wash.

A chronic illness where you only have a small amount of energy to expend per day, so it’s either buy food or have a shower.

Homelessness might mean no access to proper regular bathing and clothes washing.

Maybe they don’t have a sense of smell and just don’t realise. Covid damaged many peoples sense of smell. And didn’t always return.

Maybe they have a medical condition like bromhidrosis or fish odour syndrome and cannot do anything about it.

Ha, ha - I always find these comments confusing! I live in the U.K. but I am not British so I always wash everything on 30 degrees or cold water. I can confirm everything comes out lovely and clean!

Perhaps they were pig farmers.
Years ago a pig farmer used to come into the bank every Friday. It was the worst smell I've ever known. I used to serve him as quickly as possible.

Try googling "bromidrosis"....

When I were a lad, and up until leaving university, 1 bath a week was the norm.
Now I have a shower at least once a day, more if I've been exercising or am going out out.
As a Head of Dept some years ago, it fell to me to have a word with a new recruit about his godawful smelly feet. He was really quite grateful, and ditched his ancient trainers.
A lot of single men have musty clothes caused by not drying them adequately. I can smell it a mile off, and it's really gross.

That musty smell is caused by washing clothes and leaving them around the house to dry without heat. I've smelt it on a lot of single men.

Yes, I used to work with a lovely lady who was always very fastidious about cleanliness. However, she was off work and in hospital (I don't know what for) for quite some time and then, after she came back, she had that smell that you say - like rotting damp laundry. It made me want to gag; but I know it absolutely wasn't anything she could help at all.

She was approaching 65, and she always said that she wanted to stay on a few more years - she was perfectly fine doing the job - but the management 'steered' her quite determinedly into retirement and, pretty soon, she was having her leaving do.

I knew somebody at a hobby I went to, a posh sort of hobby, so not somedody down on their luck.

Extrovert main character sort of bloke......absolutely howling. Not sweat, not feet, not musty clothes. It was like something purifying. Nobody ever said a word to him or between themselves ( well not to me anyway) and he seemed oblivious.

It was like that at Whitechapel station yesterday. I mean proper unwashed old stale B.O. Some people have no self awareness whatsoever.

I work in a supermarket and the amount of people that stink is disgusting. From bo to sweaty feet , smelly bums especially the men and death breath . Makes me feel sick on a daily basis, costs nothing to be clean

No idea, probably the detergents as Europe don't have both the bio and non-bio stuff, and the powders seem to work a lot better on smells than the liquids or pods.

Where are you?

It’s strange isn’t it!

There is this really nice guy in work that comes to talk to me, but he absolutely fucking stinks. His breath smells of fags, his clothes smell musty and mouldy. All of his clothes look like they haven’t been washed in 400 years. How can he not know he stinks?!