My boss reprimanded me and some of my other coworkers for avoiding a smelly coworker.

[joel666]

I am a 34 year old male and i work as a web developer. I am fairly good at it my work and get along with most other coworkers.

But there is this one coworker that started 2 months ago. I will refer to him as tom.

Tom is good at his job but there is problem with him.

Ever since i met him for the first time, he always had a strong stench to him. His odor is a mix of weed and unwashed body odor and on top of that, his breath smells really bad.

But i always tried being polite but me and some of my other coworkers who also noticed how bad he smells avoid him but we tried not to be rude about it.

For examples. When tom would sit near us, my coworkers and me would tell each other "why don't we go seat over there. This table is a lot cleaner. Why don't we use this computer instead. This one is kinda slow. When you come back from the bathroom, join us on that other table next to the window.

And when we would be in the lunch break room, we would stand there, wait and see where tom would sit and we would make sure not to sit next to him.

But on the bad luck that he would sit right in front of us, i would cover my nose with my hand. And my other coworkers would do the same.

But again we try not to show our disgusts. We don't gag or make any disgusted facial expressions.

But just a week ago, our bosse called me into his office and he tells me that tom feels excluded and me and the other coworkers are creating a toxic work environment and my clique attitude will nog be tolerated.

I admitted to my boss why we avoid him. I told him that i cannot stand the stench coming off tom.

My boss argued and said this is disrespectful and he could very well have a health condition that causes him to smell unpleasant.

My other coworkers later told me that they also got reprimanded.

How would you deal with this ? Health or not, i cannot stand smelly people. I try not to be rude but when someone smells bad my first instinct is to avoid them.

Exactly this. We have no reason to think he is even aware that he smells at the moment

Both the way you and your manager have dealt with this is inappropriate.
You need to go to your manager and raise this as a workplace issue and ask them to deal with it compassionately but effectively.

So you believe that telling a person to their face that you think they're a spiteful bully is okay, but it's bullying to state truthfully that they stink?
Contradiction city.

Good on their boss? What for, not doing anything about the smell? OP and his colleagues handled it badly but their boss doesn't sound any better by doing nothing about Tom.

The smell would make me retch, I wouldn't be able to help it. If the boss or HR wouldn't do anything I'd have to leave and I'd make sure management knew the reason why

Someone who tells a colleague that they fucking stink IS a spiteful bully.

Thankyou for your reply@adviceneeded1990
I worked solidly till last summer and then I had a breakdown because I couldn't stand the bullying anymore.

I now live off the state because there isn't room for people like me in the workplace as evidenced by the opinions of many pp.

I would actually recommend that if the op's colleague is showering every day/ brushing his teeth/ wearing freshly laundered clothes etc and he still smells unpleasant then he needs to go to the gp and ask for a tmau urine test. They're quite simple; he will need to eat a load of choline-loaded food before the test.

Hopefully it's just a personal hygiene thing that can be solved, because I wouldn't wish this condition on anyone.

Yes, good on the boss. You don’t know what he has or hasn’t said about the smell nor what’s happening with the colleague.

I’m sure if a smell made you retch, you would move away independently and quietly rather than moving as a group, no? Or are you equally a school like bully?

Oh come on! He has a REALLY pungent smell and he can’t smell it? I don’t think so! Not unless he has totally lost his sense of smell himself! He doesn’t just ‘niff a bit’, he actually stinks so badly that people feel like retching!

He smells of weed. I don't know a medical condition that causes this? I too, would not sit near him

Years ago we had a young man who joined our company in the accounts office, he had a particularly "ripe" smell.
Some of us spoke to our manager about it, he said "don't worry I'll have a quiet word"
2 days later we were all in a meeting and right at the end our manager turned to the young man and said "Oh by the way mate you fucking stink" 😮
Turned out the lad did have a medical condition!
But in the OP's case it sounds like he's just a grim dirty person as there are multiple aroma issues.

At our place of work one guy absolutely stank. Various departments complained to HR they called him in to tell him so. Suggestions were made. He ignored them. They called him again verbal warning. He still ignored. Got a final written warning.

Miracles he stopped smelling, his clothes were changed, took care of personal hygiene. He's never looked back.

The boss sounds useless tbh, that's if the OP is genuine, and Tom really does smell so much everyone else has noticed.

I worked with a woman once who smelt strongly of BO, it was so bad when I left the room I could actually smell it on myself.
Others did notice, but thankfully she moved on before any of us plucked up enough courage to tell her. I have to say we did not avoid her, cover our mouths or move away from her, that would have been cruel.

Cocaine use can damage the nose.

Over active thyroid, some liver and kidney diseases for a start.

Boss has specifically said medical condition as a possibility to you @joel666 ? Sounds like he knows it is. You and your friends are bullies.

and the colleague DOES stink!

Let's pretend it's the boss who tells his employee that he stinks and needs to sort it out. Is that still bullying?

I agree the OP has handled it really badly, btw. Boss, stinky colleague and OP are all at fault. I'm not sure there's spite involved in avoiding a stinking colleague though. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

It is your managers responsibility to talk to Tom and get him to sort the problem out. I was your manger once. It wasn't a pleasant conversation but it needed having for the sake of a good work environment.

I agree, however I couldnt tolerate sitting with a stinking person either.
I might have to inwork, but definitely not at lunch etc

I’ve got Hyperhidrosis, a condition that means I sweat far more than the average person, regardless of temperature or exertion. It is obviously aggravated in the summer, but even during colder months it can still be noticeable. It’s stress aggravated too.

That sweat causes an odour, because there’s more of it there is obviously a greater build up that then causes the smell.

I've tried medication - it caused dehydration. I’ve had painful injections in my underarms, 16 in each once every few months - the NHS stopped funding it in my area. I don’t qualify for laser therapy.

It has gotten slightly better with age and is now more manageable. In summer months I get changed upwards of 3 times a day at work.

I’ve had the conversation with every employer I’ve ever had, usually because someone has brought it up, and I can tell that my bosses have always found it awkward to bring up. I was violently bullied for it in my younger years. It’s humiliating knowing that others can tell, and hearing people in public ask what the smell is knowing that it’s you.

I told my team now, held a team meeting and gave them all the information. But that took a confidence that I wouldn’t have had if I was younger, or not already in a position of authority.

I can’t excuse/explain smelling of weed, but there are genuine conditions that can cause excessive sweating.

You sound very brave, I'm sorry you have had to suffer like this.
❤

OP as soon as you and your colleagues realised this problem, you should have gone to your manager and reported it, not behaved like children making excuses to move away from him. You couldn’t have been as subtle as you think because then he wouldn’t have had cause to complain would he ?

This is what you need to do now. Have a word with your manager and tell him it’s difficult to work with Tom because of the smell. Your manager should then have a very discreet word with Tom to find out whether the cause is just poor hygiene and not being aware of the effects, or whether it’s connected to a disability - this could be MH related, or the direct cause of the smell.

Body odour itself isn’t a protected area for discrimination, as it is not qualified as a disability on its own. If Tom has a disability or health condition which is the root cause, then your behaviour so far has been exclusive, bullying and discriminatory and it’s up to you to work with your manager and Tom himself to find a solution that works for all of you. If he doesn’t have a disability and just plain smells because he doesn’t care about his personal hygiene then the manager should make him aware that it’s unacceptable. He should then agree a plan and timescale for improvement. Any ongoing issues outside that timescale can be seen as disciplinary and treated as such.

Then the person is well aware why they are being avoided.

Medical marijuana

You've behaved badly.
Your boss hasn't dealt with things properly either.

At the outset, one of you could have raised a concern with the boss. Particularly the smelling of weed issue.
Now that boss is aware, that's for them to deal with.

Manager hasn't got the gonads to deal with the issue. I'd just do my own thing, nothing in your T & Cs to say you have to put up with a stinky colleague

Clearly he has said something to management about the bullying.