Comments on: When Your Coworker Wears Too Much Perfume

By: Eugene

Eugene — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 13:06:59 +0000

Joseph,
The person is not a coward. They have a physical reaction to a perfume that is causing them nausea. Thats something that can clinically happen to someone.

Being over scented is a workplace problem and is unprofessional. We have a fragrance policy at the place I work at – a top 100 hospital. In our handbook it states:

“Exposure to scents and fragrances in the workplace can harm coworkers and patients…”

Please don’t give advice when you are ignorant about a subject.

By: Matthew Hank Sabins

Matthew Hank Sabins — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 21:56:54 +0000

In reply to Jeff Grigg. I am going to be honest, this is stupid advice. People who purposefully wear too much perfume are literally making people sick. People who wear too much perfume are lowering productivity, and making a hostile environment.

By: When Your Coworker Wears Too Much Perfume - BYLD Group

When Your Coworker Wears Too Much Perfume - BYLD Group — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 15:00:35 +0000

[…] This blog is an adaptation of a blog written by Joseph Grenny on January 13th, 2021 – https://www.vitalsmarts.com/crucialskills/2021/01/when-your-coworker-wears-too-much-perfume/ […]

By: Michael Bauerschmidt MD

Michael Bauerschmidt MD — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 18:02:44 +0000

I practice Environmental and Functional Medicine. Many of my patients have the same nausea as a consequence of being around phthalates (Volatile Organic Compounds that cause an exposed person to experience nausea, headache or a simple fight or flight reaction). It is truly a medical issue that signals a total body burden of accumulated toxicants that renders the individual quite incapable of adding even a “whiff” more. I have a “No Fragrance” policy for my office to avoid this issue that applies to patients and staff alike. There are many more than you might imagine of people that suffer from this without beingable to name it. The Crucial Conversation may need to add the health aspect to it.

By: Hanne Wulp

Hanne Wulp — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:39:08 +0000

I especially like the self control skills presented in the answer after the person has had the crucial conversations: just be yourself, liking the perfume person and wanting a good relationship with her. Because it is awkward, one might not be aware of their own reaction afterwards. Instead of needing the perfume lady to still like her/him and needing the expression of that, they can just go on with expressing their own ‘like’.

I’ve experienced working with a person whose body odor was not fresh and everyone was worried it would come across as unprofessional towards clients. A crucial conversation would have been good; instead his secretary bought deodorant and put it right on his computer keyboard. It turned out to be effective, he started using it and things got (slightly) better.

By: Kristina

Kristina — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 23:09:53 +0000

Joseph, I don’t think you are treating this issue seriously enough. Many chemicals used in perfumes are seriously toxic, and include those that are carcinogenic (yes, some perfumes can cause cancer), interfere with hormones, cause harm to reproductive systems, kidneys, nervous system, and respiratory system. Classing this as a personal “sensitivity” can be minimizing a serious issue. The suggestion to first spend more time in a hazardous situation is certainly not helpful. Because many toxins impact the nervous system, I would not suggest speaking to the person directly since one may be triggered by the toxin. I would instead suggest talking to HR and presenting some of the copious evidence of fragrance toxicity, and having HR make a request that goes out to the entire company, noting that cologne and other fragranced products can also be culprits. One might also be able to ask HR for accommodations such as an office air purifier. An approach I’ve heard used is to present the allergy as a disability – and make the request in the way someone with a peanut allergy would.

By: V

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 19:23:26 +0000

On the perfume issue: As someone who is very allergic to perfume, I recommend that the person having the reaction stop wearing perfume herself. She’s already wondering if others are having the same negative reaction to her own perfume. Otherwise, the recipient could feel like she is making a judgement on the quality of the offending perfume. Small price to pay to avoid this easily predicted reaction.

By: Jeff Grigg

Jeff Grigg — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 16:39:12 +0000

Some people do have perfume “allergies” or sensitives. I know of several cases where “reduced perfume usage” was needed as a “reasonable accommodation” for some.

So the “particular sensitives” (and harm) to a few might be a useful “angle” with which to approach the issue.

https://www.healthline.com/health/allergies/perfume-allergy