To not speak to my team member who is spraying perfume in work bathroom?

[Fedupcolleague]

I manage a small team, unfortunately there’s a couple of them who despite being grown adults always seem to find various child like gripes which they ask me to get involved in sorting.

The latest one is today. In one of my teams 1:1’s they said they have witnessed a named colleague spraying perfume in the air in the bathroom whenever they have been to the loo. They say they are uncomfortable raising this themselves and asked that I speak to them and make clear it was an anonymous comment to me.

I find this ridiculous and haven’t committed to mentioning it. Would I be unreasonable to tell her I won’t be saying anything?

Don't mention using it as a bathroom freshener.
I'd send out an email to all, please don't use aerosols or perfume in the bathroom due to the lack of ventilation and impact on others.
It's common sense.
I'm surprised that the air freshener doesn't bother this colleague.

Perfume aggravates my lungs and i am only mildly asthmatic. I appreciate there appears to be a pattern of behaviour with this employee which you have my sympathy for. But ignoring legitimate issues isn't the way to tackle it.

And she honestly can’t just say that herself? She needs to hide behind an anonymous complaint? Is this a school playground you work at?

Sandra, I trust you, as a confident capable person to be able to handle this one yourself. If I do have to intervene, I won't be anonymising who said what. I will be telling Kerry 'Sandra doesn't like your perfume in the loos'. Upto you how you want to play it.

lol, i thought that is my South African colleague

I have a colleague to sits behind me and sprays perfume 3 to 4 times a day.

It makes my lungs painful, gives me a headache and makes me feel sick.

I haven't raised this with anyone because I know it will be frowned upon, but it has such a negative impact on my day.

There are many perfumes that I have no reaction to, but there must be a certain chemical in some that trigger this.

I don't want to raise this directly with colleague as it could be viewed as singling her out. I thought about raising it with my manager, but don't want to on case they react like you.

Ask her to take it outside. If you aren't brave enough then buy the most stinking perfume you can find, spray it 4 times over your shoulder and go to the loo for air.
When she complains, tell her that her perfume isn't pleasant either.
I'd recommend poison.
She is a CF. This is worth complaining about.

This is a straightforward solution.

It's highly likely it's giving others headaches/ itchy eyes/ mild wheezing/ sneezing and similar mild allergic reactions in a badly ventilated space - most people will not raise this with a manager but suffer in silence complain fruitlessly to same level colleagues or their spouse or similar

People who it doesn't bother or who spray perfume in unventilated public spaces won't "see the issue" - but that applies to lots of things (cigarette smoke outside the entrance, someone bringing in their dog daily when someone else is allergic or uncomfortable, someone playing music without headphones or making loud phonecalls on speaker, placing flowering plants around the office when others have bad heyfever, being expected to contribute regularly to birthday/ retirement/ leaving/ new baby whip-rounds...) - it doesn't mean it isn't an issue for those it does have a negative impact on!

Pass it to facilities / office manager to deal with.

Perfume affects me as I've got asthma. I'm easily sent into coughing fits by smells, and it makes my chest go tight/painful. I used to have a manager who was into a specific brand of wax melters/candles etc, and she had them all over her office. I couldn't go in there as it would make me cough to the point of head pain due to the strain.

But rather than being a big baby and running to someone higher up, I just explained the situation to her, and she moved the stuff from her office. It was a non-issue.

Why couldn't the woman have just said 'sorry perfume affects my breathing, would you please mind not spraying in a small space?'. I can't imagine anyone would take vast offense at that.

But anyway. I agree with others, and I'd just send a generic email reminding everyone that some people may have breathing problems and struggle to tolerate things like perfume in confined areas like toilets.

Why did you start this thread? Lots of people have advised you what to do but you clearly have already decided to do nothing.

you just do. It's not passive aggressive at all, it's people who can't behave like professional adults and someone has to send reminders and try to stop the stupidity.

Same reason why some handbooks have some ridiculously reminders and rules, because some idiot made it necessary to add them!

It's as stupid as having to remind professional adults that they have to keep their shoes on in the office. The hardest part is to remove the FFS from your speech/ email.

it's an office, you can't do that. Or Kerry will start complaining against discrimination, play some kind of card and be even more of a nuisance.

Tread carefully. Both the air freshener and the perfume spraying can trigger severe allergic reactions or other medical conditions that qualify as a disability.

Yabu. And yabu to have these automated Fresheners they are air pollution.
It's horrible for people with asthma.

I used to work somewhere where aerosols or perfume in the bathroom were not permitted due to the risk of setting off the fire alarm.

no email or 1-1 - just a polite notice in the bathroom stating no perfumes or aerosols permitted. Email run the risk it may not get read & can be forgotten about.

Just send a note round to everyone saying not to spray perfume in the toilets. Simple! And if the person in question keeps doing it then you can have a word.

Personally, however ridiculous you may think it, I reckon that's why you are paid as a manager to manage this kind of thing and it would hardly be difficult just to bring it up in an email of the "shit sandwich" variety.

This is a HR issue, you need to either escalate to someone else like a facilities manager in charge of building issues, or send an email out yourself.

Ask facilities to send out a general email as this could be considered a health issue. Perfume is an allergen.

Another migraine sufferer here. A whiff of perfume in a confined space can (and has) left me vomiting all night. Exposure doesn't need to be for a long time but it can make me really ill. I can't wear any kind of perfume at all because it makes me so unwell. I'd complain too.

So rather than going: Can you please put your shoes back on, I’m expected to save their face and embarrassment and go to my manager who then sends an email to all employees reminding them to keep their shoes back on. In the meantime, that person will continue to take off their shoes, because there are no real consequences bar an email that gets ignored by the culprit and belittles the rest of the team.
Nah. We can do better than this.

Just give a gentle reminder to all to be considerate and not use sprays in confined areas.

I think the above from another pp would be reasonable to email to the whole team.

Covers your back and not singling anybody out.

Good question

Distressing ffs.

Your life must be very restricted by this, if a mere whiff of perfume sends you vomiting 🫤 can they not treat that?