Neighbour Vs Nurse. Who was wrong?

[SlimedShit]

My elderly neighbour is upset as she's just had a run in with her nurse. The nurse visits her every night to give insulin. Tonight neighbour says that when nurse arrived, she stunk of garlic. She said "have you been eating garlic?" Nurse replies "yes, can you smell?"

Following exchange ...

Neighbour "yes it stinks"
Nurse "laughs" "that's the problem with garlic I suppose"
Neighbour "it's a horrible smell, it's making me feel sick"
Nurse "really? Nobody else has mentioned it"
Neinighbour "yes well they're too polite. It really does stink"
Nurse "ok, are you ready for your insulin?"
Neighbour "you should think about your patients before eating stuff like that"
Nurse "I disagree. The majority of nurses go above and beyond to please their patients and if we started getting told what we could and couldn't eat I'd leave to be honest."
Neighbour "I don't think it's a lot to ask that you respect your patients and not make them feel sick"
Nurse "I feel that dictating what a person can and cannot eat is a huge ask personally. I certainly wouldn't change my eating habits to please someone else"

The visit ended and nurse left. Neighbour is now in tears at the way she was spoken to. I feel for her but also think she was out of order!! She basically told this poor woman that she smelt horrible. I told neighbour I could see both sides but the nurse should have been more professional and not do narky. Neighbour is now upset with me! AIBU to think she caused this by being rude?

Neighbour was unnecessarily rude more than once - nurse handled it well IMHO...

Neighbour was rude.

However, I work in a patient facing role and tend to avoid certain foods before working - garlic, tuna, onions, that type of thing.

I try to avoid smelly foods before work but I feel for the nurse. Some patients feel they can be really personal and we just have to put up with it. I always get comments about being a unmarried mother, I'm unmarried because I want to be!!
On a side note I can't smell Dior pure poison without thinking about the nurse who cared for me during my miscarriage. But I would never have complained!!
As nurses we have to think about our image everyday no visible tattoos, no unnatural hair colours and no rings are all rules in my hospital. I think your neighbour should have given a break!

her

Why doesn't she do her own insulin?.

Rude patient!! 'Thank you'to the nurse was all she needed to say

I've no idea how the nurse was rude.

The neighbour however was. Dry rude !!

I'm with Peachyking. I often have to sit 1 - 1 with people in my job. For dinner at night I only eat onions if they've been cooked to a mush so they don't linger, and only have garlic in any form or raw onions on Friday night and Saturday.

But I choose to behave that way, not because someone told me I should.

No wonder there's a shortage of nurses ffs

The neighbour was pretty rude.

However... anyone who has to work within close personal proximity to people should be considerate about pungent foods, perfumes, smoking and body odour.
Especially when you're in their home.

Neighbour was clearly rude and maybe if she hadn't kept bringing it up the nurse wouldn't have been having to reply and breathe more garlic smell over her.

Your neighbour was so rude

user this isn't why there is a shortage of nurses
ffs

Your neighbour is very rude.

I'd have had more patience if the neighbour hadn't quickly turned on the waterworks "over how she was spoken to" when actually the nurse was quite civil, and now it seems she's upset at OP too because she didn't get sufficient sympathy

Except sometimes with MH issues age isn't a passport to behave exactly as you wish, nor to be rude without consequences ... something it might be worth mentioning gently to her, though I doubt she'll listen

Neighbour was rude. If the nurse was only there to give her insulin, (and presumably do a quick blood sugar check at the same time), it would have been probably only a 5-minute appointment. It wouldn't have killed your neighbour to have just ignored the garlic smell for a 5 minute appointment.

I think its fairly standard for public facing professionals to avoid very strong perfumes, foods etc.
But going to home visits on one evening smelling of garlic isn't a big deal.
Even nurses are allowed a bit of garlic on a work nigh.

Your neighbour is very rude!

Imagine if an 8 year old had said the same to the nurse - everybody would be gunning for the parents to instill some discipline.

In an ideal world, no-one else would ever smell of anything. In the real world, people smell of food, garlic, smoke (even if they try to cover it up), coffee breath, perfume, BO, hair sometimes smells funny, all kinds of smells. It's unlikely in every encounter with a nurse, on a personal level, you will never smell anything. It's just intolerant to mention it.

I used to have a teacher who had coffee breath when she leaned over to help us in class- was she not supposed to have a coffee in her break in case we could smell it?! Garlic, coffee, these are just smells that are part of normal food.

It's also worth saying that garlic and onions might smell bad on someone, but they are fantastic natural anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory foods, so you should eat more of them, not less- and raw ideally (ugh!)

Actually as a HCP I think stuff like this is one of the many, many reasons we have a shortage of nurses. The complete lack of gratitude and public attitudes that they 'own' you.

Sounds like your neighbour met her match. Hence the waterworks.

I'm a nurse. We had it drummed into us that it was unprofessional to smell of cigarettes, strong perfume, garlic, onions or anything else. The nature of the work means we have to invade people's personal space and it is unprofessional not to be sensitive to this.

The nurse's responses, as reported here, were also snippy and unnecessary. She was unprofessional.

Old lady was outspoken and rather rude but not excessively so. Many patients are like this. The nurse has now left her patient feeling distressed due to her lack of consideration and professionalism.

Are you in fact the nurse in this interesting little vignette, OP?

Oh, and am getting very fed up with the casual ageism here. "Old bat" etc.

Your neighbour was horrendously rude.

The nurse was very patient in the circumstances.

My aunt can't eat garlic any more, or even have it in the house or be around people who have eaten a lot of it, since her chemo nurse used to stink of garlic.
It is a strong smell and not everyone likes it, so I think nurses, dentists etc. should avoid strong smelling food, smoking just before seeing patients etc.