I have a friend* who is suffering from a co-worker with tremendously bad body odor. This person’s odor is so bad, it’s legendary. It’s the kind of B.O. that stays behind after the co-worker has gone home for the day. I commented that in arenas outside the workplace, say, summer camp, middle school, the military, this sort of thing would be handled in a different way. We’d kick it old school and leave gifts of bars of soap, deodorant sticks, a bottle of Febreze. But in the workplace, one can’t very well, even anonymously, decorate a co-worker’s cube with a dozen car air fresheners.

But what to do? HR is reluctant to bring it up. The offender seems not to have friends (understandably so). It’s pretty dire, particularly in the warm weather.

I feel for my friend, but also for the offender. Perhaps it’s some kind of medical condition. But if that’s the case, this person really needs to see a doctor.

In my work life, I’ve only had to address wardrobe issues (had more than one conversation with a co-worker who failed to recognize the line between casual and business casual), but never one that addressed grooming.

How would you handle it? Have you ever witnessed this kind of situation at work?

*It’s not me. I work at home. My only co-worker there is Clover and I tell him when he’s smelly. I’m starting to think he just doesn’t care.