Holy cow! I DO like the lysol idea.
The more I find out about this guy, the more I think “mentally unstable” is the case. Yes, he too looks like a homeless person. It’s certainly not a question of money, he WON THE FREAKIN’ LOTTERY a few years ago and still comes to work every day, stinkin’ up the place.
In a way I feel kind of sad for him, he has no life whatsover, no friends, never married, no family. Is this a chicken or egg situation - does he act this way cause he has nobody to tell him to clean himself up or does he repel people because of poor hygeine, and the weird behaviour stems from loneliness?
As I mentionned, he often shows up at 3:30 a.m., and has been known to wander through the office, peering at people’s personal effects, notes, correspondence, etc. on desks. Weird, and very creepy (no vaguley creepy about it!)
There is certainly no lack of access to shower facilities - we have showers right in the plant locker rooms.
He only comes into contact with truckers who are making deliveries to the plant, but Jeez, don’t they deserve a non-gag producing place to come in and do paperwork?
His performance is OK, I guess. On the rare occaison that he is away from work, other people have filled in for him, no problem.
I’m beginning to think that yep, there’s more to the problem than some Irish Spring and Arid Extra dry can fix.
Thanks for your thoughts on the matter!
Oh yeah, sorry Wonko, his name isn’t Dan! Magical Silver Key, you win for the most fun idea - We have industrial sprayers for coating concrete forms, I’ll best you could get excellent results with those!
I worked with a stinker at one time and I can only suggest the same course of action I took, although subtlety was never my strong point and you may be better served taking some of these other suggestions.
He sat right next to me and whenever he got up, i sprayed his cubicle with lysol. It got so bad I started spraying it right at him while he sat there. I complained to my boss several times, and when no action was taken, I took my complaint to HR. When no action was taken, I went back to HR with several other employees that also had the same complaint. When that didn’t work, I went back to HR, offering to take the situation up with various government health agencies, and only then did they alert him to the problem.
He was not able to get unstinky (I think it might have been something in his diet because he just oozed this stench, but it wasn’t BO) so they fired him.
How about this situation? I volunteer for an organization on my campus where there are two people like this. They both reek, apparently do not know how to shower or brush their teeth, and one of them (a girl) sometimes also smells of other disgusting scents - such as overpowering tea tree oil - that’ll bring tears to your eyes. The thing is, this is not a hired position, they are volunteers. However, as volunteers they are required to interact with the public, representing our organization. They also have to work shifts with a partner, and no one will sign up with them. Many people have tried the subtle hint method, but it hasn’t worked so far. Should they be canned, given that they were never hired? There is a volunteer contract that they signed, but there’s no “appearance” or “cleanliness” code. Theoretically there is a three-month probation period, but they are both beyond that.