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A lot of how this should be handled depends on the cause. If it is a medical issue the person cannot help, the only solution would be to fire them, which is not only horrible, but probably illegal.
I echo those who said this is your immediate supervisor's job to address.
I don't like the idea of the passive-aggressive notes with soaps or deodorants left on his desk.
I dealt with a woman in the cubicle next to mine a few years ago, and the odor turned out to be her shoes. She really had no idea that they smelled so bad. I made myself a spray bottle with some essential oil and water, and would spray a little at my desk when it got bad. You have to be careful there too, as some people are sensitive to those odors as well (perfumes used to be fine for me, but as I got older, now they give me an instant headache on one side.)
Maybe we all need our own bubble around our heads.
just leave an anonymous note, "people say you smell bad, please re evaluate your BO for your reputation".
I had a boss, fat guy. He would wear 2 suits for the entire week, and the same shoes and nylon socks, put away under his desk. the smell of shoe leather and fungus feet where bad enough. He would come to work smelling like dove, but by lunchtime, smelled like a pigeon coop.
In reality, because of his weight, those extra crevices let off that distinct "cheesy smell". All that steam from around his color and groin, could peel paint off the walls! I am not a skinny dude myself, but I pulled my boss aside, and had a nice talk with him. It was a weird conversation, but I was very frank with him. "hey boss, you smell like swamp butt" everyone is talking. we care about you. If Uncle Buck had a body odor, he would smell like you!
He did get the picture, and was appreciative about it. From that day on , he kept extra undies at work, stayed away from nylon socks, and kept some baby wipes at his desk.
What you don't understand is it is a strategy for those folks. "Leave me alone" strategy. And it works! I don't bother the guys. I make sure I have a buffer of clean air inhaled and walk fast to get past the area.
I talked to HR manager. Nothing happened except manager apologizes for him.
I talked to his buddy to tell him to use anti-perspirant. His buddy asked me, "what's an anti-perspirant?"
OP - you might check this site out. The article has some helpful hints on how to deal with this issue. There are also links to other letters that are similar. She is spot on with a lot of her advice.
It might not be possible for him to not smell. I worked with a very nice man, who was also a guidance counselor at a high school, he had a wife and kids. He wasn’t clueless. He smelled like a pig farm most saturdays when he worked with us. To my knowledge, nobody said anything to him, but surely he would have corrected it if he could have.
I have since heard of a few people who have a condition, which I think can be helped by avoiding certain foods, that makes them smell bad even when they are clean.
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