Personal Hygiene Issues

I used to work at a bank, and we had a few customers that had really bad body odor. There was a farmer that never used to wash himself before coming to the bank - he was one of the customers I was not happy to see. But there were worse ones. We had a male customer in his late 50s. He lived with his son and daughter in law. How they were able to live with him is a mystery to me. He smelled so bad. I doubt he washed very often at all. he smelled of smoke, urine, old sweat etc. His mouth reeked. My college used to try to walk out when she saw him come in, and she would sometimes spray airfreshner while he was still there. I felt bad for the man, but he was no joy to be with. I think it is strange that his family did not intervene. I think it was not my place to say anything to him.

oh that would be an aweful situation to be in. It is bad enough to be next to someone with horribly bad breath. I don't know what I would do if I were in this situation . Actually I did visit an older friend of mine lately. She is almost 90 and suffers from dementia . I really couldn't say anything to her ,so I tried my best to ignore it until it was time to leave.

Yes I have it was someone that worked for me and it was my Job to pull the Person up about it which was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my Job I had to do that 3 times in 8 years and I hated it lol as it is hard to try and tell the Person without upsetting them

Actually, I had a friend back in college that has that problem, she was Taiwanese and since she is used to a cooler weather, maybe staying here in the Philippines where it is humid kind of has a certain reaction to her body. My other friends were in a dilemma on how to tell her about it because our other classmates are starting to talk about it. Before I thought it was so easy, but at that moment, we didn't know what to do or how to tell her. Honestly, we did not. And eventually, it got better, maybe she got more used to the weather and her body has also adjusted. So that was good.

Hello,winterose,honestly i do not know anyone who habe body odour,I think there is only one way to deal with it,that is to tell them politely,ask them whether they have noticed the problem or not,if not,tell them to take care of their personal hygiene. I think it is not really common.

I haven't really know anyone personnally but I ride the city bus and there is always someone who smell like they haven't taken a bath in long time.

Oh man... I have, I actually knew to people at school who had bad body odour. Although they wouldn't listen to anyone who told them about it as they thought it was untrue and just some cruel way to pick at them. Doubtful for myself to actually get through, it's kinda a touchy thing to tell someone. (I never did) Hey, Is that the local tip I can smell? ^ No matter how I could of worded it, this is what it always sounded like. (I'm just not good at telling someone things like this) ~Joey

It is good to hear that you are reading such books. Well, i have one of my friend who has this problem. Not only from his body but also from his mouth. He applies some deodrant and also eats some mouth freshner to prevent the odour. When, i feel the bad odour i complain him about it and immediately he will take some steps to prevent it. Since he is my friend, i dont have any problem in telling him about it. But then, i have found this even with strangers but unable to tell them about it.

Yes, I have known someone like this, back when I was in elementary school. It was very hard to be anywhere near her, as she always smelled this way. She actually smelled like an outhouse, and the inside of her home smelled the same. Kids used to make fun of her, and say she had 'cooties' etc., so she hardly had any friends. I used to feel very bad for her, but never got up the courage to say anything. They were very poor, but then so were we, and this wasn't the case in our home.

Get a load of this there's a fellow employed at our hospital as a maintenance man and he flat out stinks, no better word for it. Why someone doesn't say anything I don't know but it has the whole town talking. He's in for a rude awakening if I'm ever there and I need to gag to get past him. The way I see it is, there's no one any more flat broke than I am but here's the deal we still have soap and water, there's just no excuse for that. Man works all day by the end of the day I get that, but when you show up for work 1/2 hour late and smell like a goat then sleep in the back shed all day ? My husband works maintenance with him the odd time and he came home nearly gaging from the smell. That to me is a sign of a mental illness, and time to get help. Just my two bits, LOL.

I think because of excessesive smoking my nose fails to detect smells if they are not so strong. That sometimes is a boon. Anyway due to this defficiency, or faculty, I don't correctly remember anybody with such disgusting body odour. However I don't use any deodourent. I only use soap and shampoo. No perfumes. Almost all synthetic perfumes are allergetic to me. But I like natural perfumes like sandal oil, rose water etc., though I don't use them in my body. I think two baths a day will keep us odour free. We Keralites usually take two baths a day, in the morning before works and in the evening after works. Thank you winterose.

I think it is actually quite common. I remember back to high school when I had a friend who was having some personal hygiene issues. She lived and worked on a farm. She was working mornings and then coming to school. She didn't shower in between and for a while she smelled like manure. It was bad. She didn't notice it though. At first we all ignored the smell as much as we good as we did not want to hurt her feelings. Some days it was so hard to sit in the cafeteria and eat lunch with her. We tried to leave subtle hints without having to come right out and tell her that she smelled horrible. Finally someone did mention it to her and she was really embarassed. Once she would shower before school, it ended the smell. I felt bad about trying to drop the hints but I didn't want to be outright rude. She was my friend afterall. As far as people who smell due to bath breath and body odor, I just don't know. I do find it disgusting. I mean it's one thing if someone just got done exercising or working but to just smell for no apparent reason, other than not being clean...that's just bad.

My father often complains about people coming into his store and smelling horrible. Though, he does work in a hardware store and perhaps these men walk in after working hard to buy extra tools or something like that. I always make sure I smell nice though, I might even be a little paranoid about smelling good, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't know how people can leave their house if they're not sure they're clean!