a nice outcome of moving

[cellio]

One nice side-effect of our office move in a few months (just down the street) is that we'll have an entire floor -- and the corresponding restrooms -- to ourselves. This presumably means an end to the stench of hairspray from the mid-afternoon shellackings that someone on our floor goes for. Eww. Those people, and the ones who marinate in perfume, really need to develop a better understanding of what ventilation systems can and can't do.

Comments

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Boy, do I understand that, and also the woman who used to spray Lavendar scent at 3 pm every afternoon. Congratulations!

[cellio]

Now to just make sure we don't hire anyone like that. :-) (Hey, it's not a protected category in discrimination laws!)

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think designers should build consideration of perfume and hairspray into the ventilation needs of women's restrooms. It's unfortunately a pretty universal problem in the US.

A robust enough ventilation system can handle it; it just costs $$$.

S

[cellio]

That would be ideal, yes. And not just for restrooms; it'd be great if the HVAC systems of public spaces like theatres could do something about the stinky person who sat down behind you. That might be hard, though.

[sekhmets-song.livejournal.com]

I spent about ten hours in a room on Sunday that reeked of lilac. The weird thing was that no one could figure out where it was coming from. My guess: The ventilation system just recirculated the same air throughout the building. There was probably some rotting bouquet sitting by an intake vent somewhere on the other side of the building. Lovely.
May your new bathroom smell of absolutely nothing!

[cellio]

Oh joy. That sounds really annoying.

I like (many) actual flowers, in moderation, but when the scents get distilled into perfume and some people pour it on, it can get pretty overpowering.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

The ones that marinate in perfume really need to develop a better understanding of what the human sense of smell can tolerate. Yech. Our new office admin is so fragrant I can't stand to be less than several feet from her.

[ironangel]

eww, yuck!

I have a particularly sensitive sense of smell - strong scents give me instant headaches. We had an engineer who would try to compensate for "smoke smell" with perfume; I could tell whenever she entered the *floor*, let alone came into our area.

[cellio]

Some perfumes give me headaches. So does tobacco. (The actual smoke for sure, and a strong-enough smell alone sometimes.) So I'm very glad I don't work with that engineer. :-)

[ealdthryth.livejournal.com]

Ugh! The marinated people really bother me. I was a little worried about that when I took this job since I work with the public. Fortunately, we don't have many stinkers. The other day, though, a teenage guy asked for computer help. Everytime I went near him, I started sneezing. I don't know what he was wearing.

[cellio]

And, fortunately, you're unlikely to spend a full work day with any particular member of the public, so your exposure to bad smells would be more likely (more people) but less prolonged than if it were a coworker.

I never know how to handle the stinky-coworker problem, whether it's perfume excess, tobacco stench, or body odor. These are things you would hope a friend or family member would have mentioned, but conversely, if such a person has mentioned it and it hasn't had any effect, then what hope does someone else have? (I've had to give that feedback to people close to me, and sometimes they just do not believe it.) And, of course, you need to maintain a good relationship with your coworkers. I once had an overly-perfumed coworker and I made some comment like "I'm sorry I can't spend more time around you but I'm allergic to many perfumes". She didn't get the hint, and I didn't feel comfortable saying "would you stop that?".

[ealdthryth.livejournal.com]

That's true. I can hold my breath or breathe shallowly until they finish checking out. Coworkers are a whole different issue. Prior to this job, I worked mostly with men, most of whom were engineers or programmers. I didn't encounter any stinky problems. I can't believe your coworker didn't clue in when you made such a direct comment!