How to tell someone politely at work that his breath smells?

Question

A bad day...ok he forgot to gargle but now its becoming a normal thing for him. By collegues are also noticing it as well.

His breath smells like a dead animal got caught in his digestive tract.

Answer 1

just keep offering them gum or a mint. If that won"t work you may want to break out with a toothbrush and say " well I guess I have to go brush my teeth now, cause God-forbid my breath stinks and no one tells me." Look directly at him when you say it. If that won't work you might just be sol. Some people breath have stank so bad for so long they might not even smell it themselves. There was this old man at our job that smoked and always drank coffee he also like to tell jokes and laugh in your face one time I almost thew-up. So I feel for you. If all Else fells just leave a anonymous note in his mailbox with a pack of Altoids.

Answer 2

The truth will work wonders. Just tell him when you can do so without anyone else around. I had to tell a couple of people the same thing, one a friend. He should know it and you should tell him clearly but nicely. He may have a gum disease and not know it. That could be a way of introducing the subject, by mentioning gum disease can cause bad breath and asking whether he's had his gums checked recently.

Touchy subject. Good luck.

Answer 3

1. offer gum
2. politely mention it to him when NOT around others

the problem is, maybe he has a condition. and the scary thing is, it could be in his nose, stomach, tooth, mouth, or tongue. he may not know that his breath smells, but he may know and not know how to cure it. some foods cause bad breath, some mouthwashes can cause a reaction in some people to cause bad breath. just don't tell him it smells like a dead animal, it will hurt him worse than it helps him.

after my brother started chemo, his gall bladder produced too much bile. the doctor said that it would sweat out, so he'd smell off, but not bad. people made fun of him constantly. he couldn't help it, but he had to live with it for 3 years until his gall bladder stopped acting up.

when my mother started weight watchers, she started going through ketosis (fat burning) and her breath smelled. again, her coworkers brought it up in a group session and made her feel worthless. she gained all her weight back (plus 20lbs) and eventually quit her job "from embarassment"

one of my dear friends had bad breath since elementary school. she was constantly going to doctors. she's 30 now, and they found the culprit. apparently in kindergarten, she stuffed a paper towel up her nose (kids, right?). they got most, but not all out. it had been rotting in her nose for 25 years......... hence the smell.


so be nice, you just never know. and in response to an earlier answer....... DO NOT GO TO HR! they'll make the person feel attacked and ugly. they'll make it an 'environment' issue. the person will feel threatened and will not seek out people for help. in the end, like I've seen many a time, they'll just withdraw from the group in the hopes of not having to be embarrassed in Human Resources again. HR always says "people are complaining".... it makes them feel like the whole office is gossiping about them. You'd hate it if someone told you that people were talking ABOUT you, not TO you, wouldn't you?

Answer 4

In my experience there is no polite way of telling someone their breath stinks! Best way is to either ask someone who hates him and it won't affect a good relationship or ask a member of his family to tell him. You could send him an anonymous card. Keep offering him breath mints.

Answer 5

buy some breathmints and when your next to him ask him if he wants some and if says yes problom solved for a day , but if he says no then um just tell him i mean at my work the same thing happened to me and the person was my best friend and i tried the breathmint / minty gum thing and it worked for about a week but after that it stopped and people were talking behide her back so i thought , its better for me to tell her and her to thank me then somebody saying it out loud and embarressing her so i told her and she thanked and for me the problom was solved...........oh yeah i told her something like this what kind of tooth do you use you know listeren really helps with bad breath. do you use it ..she kind of started catching on and she kind of freaked and asked me some questions.. like how long has it been going on.. and then she thanked me!!!

Answer 6

Ask him what he had for dinner last and give him a stick of gum or breath mints

Answer 7

Offer him mints regularly, he'll catch on.

Try to be understanding though, usually such bad breath is due to a medical problem, not poor hygiene.

Answer 8

offer gum and tell him that i dont always realize when my breathe sticks, do you? ask him to tell you if your breath stinks and tell him you will do the same for him...but for breath that bad it sounds like an infection of some sort he may need to have looked at

Answer 9

Just offer a mint this is universally known as "dear you have breath that could peal paint."

Answer 10

Yo A$$ Breath, I think you could use a breath mint.