BO problem
 

Right so I'm sitting the practical exam for my med finals in a week. We get all sorts of stations such from the standard things you'd expect to communication skills with a gay priest who has HIV to a lesbian patient getting abuse on ward.

One of the stations is that one of your colleagues has a BO problem and you need to tell them about it nicely (no joke, such is what gets examined in some med schools these days:confused:).

The tip we get given is to treat every station as we would in real life, but in real life I wouldn't even bother confronting someone about it, and can't even imagine what to say if I had to.

So any suggestions as to the 'kind words' you would use to basically tell someone they stink and need to sort it out?

cheers

Re: BO problem
 

Oi smelly, you are severly insulting my nostrils with your stink, have a fecking wash you minga, can of deodorant wouldn't go amiss either.

That ok ?

Re: BO problem
 

have a wash soap dodger!

Being serious, every persons different just approach it the way you see best

Re: BO problem
 

A work friend was rather upset when he was told his feet stink in his appraisal. The thing was he knew they stunk his wife even made him put his dirty socks in a bucket in the garage before they got washed. So this made him go to see the quack.

The quack told him, things have changed over the past 20 years. You have accepted nothing could be done and got on with your life. However we now have a number of treatments that may help. In fact the first one he tried worked.

Unless it is an odour produce as a lack of basic hygiene where the sufferer need to be told get a shower you dirty minger. Accept they know they smell and talk sympathetically in how you can help them. They don't want to stink

Re: BO problem
 

who are you, and what have you done with the real Tim Wilky? ;)

Actually, TW is spot on with the above advice.

A guy at my work stinks. Nobody ever say anything, but if he gets put with me he will know within the first day.

The thing is he stinks first thing in the morning. I'd tell him he has 15 mins to get washed otherwise he is getting a taxi to work. He will wash then because he is a tight ******* and won't like paying for a cab!

Re: BO problem
 

Given your circumstances, wouldn't it the best idea to start from a medical/biological perspective?

Gentle questions along the lines of 'do you do much exercise?' 'do you have a fast walk to the bus stop? ' do you sometimes feel very hot? 'feel sweaty'

Treat it as a medical problem, which it may be linked to anyway, and the answers may throw up clues to all sorts of other exercise/dietary/hormonal/stress/ something else type of problem.

Re: BO problem
 

Zactly, could be a glandular problem, and not that he can't afford to buy some soap :-D

Re: BO problem
 

It would be far more straightforward if it was a patient who is complaining of malodour. The station is actually a fellow colleague (ie another doctor) who smells at the workplace and you have to tell them.

It could be a medproblem regardless, but the fact is still gotta tell 'em they smell and personally in real life if it was a mate i'd say 'you stink sort it out' or if not a mate I would avoid.

They bring in actors for these exams, I can see myself cracking up which would not be good for 'global professionalism' marks.

Re: BO problem
 

Ah I see. Different sort of problem there.

Secret Santa and make sure he gets the deodorant?

Re: BO problem
 

The other thing you may not be aware of is it could be clothing causing it too , so you may have to factor that into the equation . Helly-Hansen "LIFA" tops are made from Polypropylene and can kick up a right pong within minutes of being worn . We were issued with Polo Shirts a few years back and within minutes of getting out of a shower and donning them ..... you ponged . I managed 45 minutes and removed it and looked at the label , can`t remember what it was made of but went back to Cotton T-Shirt . I`m not a smelly man by nature , even after being in the wilderness for a few days . Some people can get affected by their diet ..... so I would start off with something like "Blimey , I had a Curry last night , you can`t half tell there was a load of Onion in it , I can smell it on me" . See if he/she joins in the conversation , you have formed a common bond then and try to eke the conversation out without being too obvious , gain their trust ... then tell them "Everyone thinks your a smelly Bast**d" :)

Re: BO problem
 

I had an experience years ago when I was team leader of about 30 engineers, one of whom was a guy called Vaughan. Didn't matter what time of day it was he stunk of BO. Some of the guys put formal complaints into our manager, but he wimped out at telling him.

It got to the point that people used to leave anti perspirant sprays in his tool box and they marked out their work bays with "anti Vaughan" hazard tape, some guys even used to don dust masks when he came close. They all got too embarrassed to tell him directly though. In the end they persuaded me to tell him. So I thought about how to say it and decided to be sensitive. I took him to one side and just told him gently that he needed to wash in the morning and night and change his clothes because he had a bad BO problem.

He didn't even know, turns out he had split with his wife and was living alone for the first time in years and didn't realise. He thanked me for telling him and told me he would change. I left work feeling quite good about how I'd been sensitive and handled it professionally.







You know the next day he came in, and he still stank.......the dirty b'stard!!!!

Re: BO problem
 

One guy at work has this issue. "Mate, don't mean to be rude but I can smell your armpits from the other end of the building. Get a bath and a can of deo would you"

Hasn't worked yet. Another week and he's getting dragged out into the yard and jet washed.

Re: BO problem
 

Start gagging, and gipping.

When asked 'Are you ok?' you can then turn round and say, 'I'm really sorry but you smell rather offensive, and its making it hard to breath in here!'

Re: BO problem
 

A place I used to work at had a oldish guy who worked there that was on a different level of ponging, he had a haze around him and I'm not exaggerating.

The women refused to work with him and he was sent home a few times to bath and change.
He lived in a bedsit on his own and I did feel sorry for him tbh, but you could tell when he'd been in a particular area without seeing him cos of the smell around, it was musty pi55 as well as BO, to this day I've never smelt a smell like it.

Re: BO problem
 

Reminds me of an old lady who used to come into Tesco years ago, when I worked for them. We named her cat lady, her coat was always full of cat hairs, and she'd come in with her little bag on wheels to do her shopping. Thoroughly sweet old lady, but fudgin hell, as soon as she walked through the door, we'd reach for the air freshner and follow her up every aisle, because otherwise customers would be gaggin all over the place. Its was an aroma of ammonia, ****, and stale animal fur:pukel:

I've never smelt anything so digusting on a human being since.

Re: BO problem
 

haha these are quality.

Re: BO problem
 

"Mate, you ain't doing yourself any favours with the Totty. Get yourself a shower."

Re: BO problem
 

some of the privates at my work complained to me about another private who never showered, i pulled him to the side and had a quiet word, the conversation went something like this.
the lads are complaining saying you arent showering, im not saying you are or arent, im just saying they need to see you shower, i appreciate you are showering and they just arent seeing you do it, could you do me a favour and make an effort to let them see you shower.


prob solved

Re: BO problem
 

Dont you have to do something stupid like speak to HR, to make sure you dont offend him personally. At least that way someone else would have to tell him.

Re: BO problem
 

one of my mates started smelling a bit and after a good few months i confronted him about it (he is a bit touchy). he went friken mental at me.. for not telling him sooner. it turned out to be his trainers.

Re: BO problem
 

So it's true then..you have to have yer privates on show?

Re: BO problem
 

lol

Re: BO problem
 

Re: BO problem
 

my ex husband was a submariner and I think he had lost his sense of smell out of need. 200 guys on an enclosed metal container, deoderant not allowed, scented soap and shower gel not allowed, something to do with making their own air. anyway he would ask me to sniff his pits to make sure he didnt smell during the day (dont know why we are divorced) anyway sometimes I could smell him from 10 paces and he was oblivious.

I dont know how you could broach this subject with a work colleague, except to say it in private and maybe mention that you use xXXXX deoderant after your shower every morning and it seems to keep you fresh for the working day. Then you could go into medical causes like spicy food or intolerance to onions or something. I dont envy you.

Re: BO problem
 

Maybe a nice anonymous letter along the lines of .......

http://mystuffspace.com/graphic/you-stink-3.gif

Re: BO problem
 

Not sure that solution would be so effective in the majority of civilian workplaces ;)

Is this scenario really realistic in the medical world? In a normal workplace you wouldn't be expected to tell a colleague they smell, it would be down to their line manager to handle it.

Re: BO problem
 

Col, problem is, half the managers in the Nhs won't want to do things like actually manage their staff, it's beneath them, it will be left to the senior staff or shift leader or something.

Asian doctors can be the worse offenders, a lot of them don't use deodorant.

Re: BO problem
 

So what did the world use before Deodorant ? , to me the name itself is not a cure it`s used to mask or repel , but you go back a few decades and all there was to use was soap I suppose . Our diets and lifestyles were very different so I suppose you have to look at what is causing the problem in the first place whether it is lifestyle , diet or personal issues .

Re: BO problem
 

Actually diet is a major part but our standards of clean have increased as well.

Years ago a shower or bath every day wasn't common, people just got used to smelling a little bit and as a result I think it wasn't noticed as much.
Now because we perceive a 'fake' smell as being clean and fresh, when we don't smell like that we think we smell bad.

I use anti perspirant and it does help a lot, but BO is normally when you've sweated, it's dried and you've sweated again later.
If I sweat a few hours after a shower or something I won't smell, leave it two days I will ;)

Finally, there is some concerns that anti perspirants that block your pores etc can be dangerous long term but I haven't read any hard evidence to confirm this.

Re: BO problem
 

I used spray deodorants for years, and I didn't smell. Then I switched to the stick deodorants that do completely block your pores with white fatty/waxy stuff. Now after a few years of those, I can't go back. I shower every morning, but with spray deodorants now I start to get BO by late afternoon, and after a week, I could put my nose to my armpit after a scrub in the shower in the morning, and still get a faint BO smell. With the stick deodorants, I still smell 'nice' at bedtime.

Re: BO problem
 

I`ve been using Sure Sport in the Black and Gold can and Sanex for men and have found those to be the least irritating and last all day ................ Lynx Rockstar or Chocolate on the other hand is like taking a freshly struck arc welding rod and wiping your armpit with it . Man that stuff doesn`t half sting , I had to be brushed off the ceiling .