I'm a little bummed today. I had to fire a guy for stinking. That wasn't his only problem, he wasn't up to speed. But his main problem was constant, every day body odor. It was embarrassing to send him into customers homes, he was hired for service work. Maybe I should taken him aside and told him to take a bath, but a 47 year old man should know that. Also, the other guys would make wise cracks like "smell you later".

Have any of you ever had an employee or co-worker that had a serious odor problem? What did you do? BTW, I took the easy way out and told him his truck wasn't proffitable rather than that he stunk. It was true, but not the whole story.

[This message has been edited by Electric Eagle (edited 04-15-2003).]

EE,
You're probably right, I've worked with guys like that before, one comes to mind that simply refused to bathe, and NO ONE wanted him around, it was just down right offensive. I could not imagine having to deal with the public with a guy like that.

He could have had a medical problem, and that would have made getting rid of him likely some sort of legal offense. One of the guys I've worked with had severe problems with his teeth, as soon as they all figured he needed false teeth, and did it, he was a great guy and a valuable employee, but see above for prior to that.

From a private employer perspective, I'd say you probably handled it right.

On the other hand you coulda taken the George Carlin method "Geez, Marge, I ain't saying you've got a problem, but you could knock a buzzard off a s@#t wagon"

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
P.
P, who?
Peeeee You.!

Electric Eagle
Thats a tough situation.
there is a medical glang problem that some people have and they flat out stink. My sister-in-law has/had the same problem, whenever they would visit I would have to go outside.
As far as bathing went she was clean but it didnt matter, but maybe thats why my brother divorced her, I didnt ask.
The upside is they can be treated, where as years ago it just had to be tolerated, but on a hot summers day thats asking too much.

Wm.Colt

I have ran into this Stinking Problem on more than one occasion. Each time, I called the person aside and brought it to their attention and they took care of the problem. Of course the boss told me that I shouldn't be so blunt, but he don't have the displeasure of spending 8 hours a day around someone like that in an area where the heat index is upwards of 110 deg. all summer.



[This message has been edited by txsparky (edited 04-16-2003).]

What if it is the boss that stinks? I worked for a guy who smelled like a goat. Everybody made jokes anout it behind his back. We couldn't fire him but perhaps we could have dropped hints at Christmas time.

Well, this morning one of my lead men decided to "raid" Stinky's truck to see if he had any equipment that should be on another truck. He found about $250 worth of tools and accessories that I did not tell him to purchase. This explains some of the reason his truck wasn't making money.

As for the gland problem, I was aware that that could be a problem. Therefore I didn't want to bring it up for fear that a legal problem could arrise. If odor was the only problem and he was a top notch worker, I would've tried to keep him.

Been there, done that. Had one that smelled like a budwieser all day. The poor boy sweated about 10 gpm due to all the alchohol from the night before. Nobody even wanted to ride in the same truck. Well that became a issue so i had to let him go in the same fashion as you did. Aint it great to be the boss. Boy i miss being an electrician, perhaps i'll send everyone home one day and do it all myself.

EE — As an employer, although you never may need them, you might want to keep dated notes of what you did and said to the employee—and possibly what other lead personnel said, too.

Long shot, but any chance the local health board would have some advice?

Have the same problem with a helper that gets assaigned to me on occasion. The kids alright, but his arm pits could melt paint. We tried everything, like a stick of Right Gaurd in his work order slot, subtle hints, etc., but nothing worked. Finally, one day he was up on a ladder holding a stick of EMT up while I was strapping it right below him and I just stopped, dropped my tools, and said "dude, did you die last week or do you need to take a shower?". Sure, it wasn't pretty, but I'm the hero around the shop now that he pays more attention to his personal aroma.

Niceness isn't always the answer...

I think the only approach is the direct approach. Tell them "As a friend I want to let you know that your body odor is offensive, maybe more showers of deodorant will help..."

I got fired once for "smelling bad"... heh... The clothes I was wearing for work were in good condition, but permeated with the odor of vaporized mould-release from the plant I had worked for on my previous job. The smell permeated my tools, boots, jacket, gloves, dungerees, and anything else, if it had conact with the aluminum die-casting rooms. Having a poor sense of smell due to a little-league baseball accident (catching a flyball with my face) it never really bothered me much...

Coupled with my "bad attidtude" (read: my insistance on NEC compliance) they felt it best for company morale to let me go...

Those clothes have been long replaced, so no more problem.

And the well-to-do hippies around here can't smell me over their garlic breath anyway...



[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 04-18-2003).]

EE,
Just to change the subject slightly, I once had an Apprentice work with me that used to chew with his mouth open, it was disgusting and I would be ashamed to take him to peoples houses.
It used to put me off eating my lunch, but he got fired for stealing Co. property, so I guess it doesn't matter now.
But, this one thing that really raises my heckles, is someone that can't chew with their mouth shut.

Leave a bar of soap on the seat of his truck.

I thought about doing this, but due to the other factors involved(lack of regard for my proffit) I decided not to.