How to tell a person he stinks w/o offending him?

Question

We have a co worker who really stinks a lot. He's a nice, down to earth person.. But we cannot stand his smell he smells a combination of curry and underarm sweat. Most of the time his hair shows signs of dandruff.. I think its a cultural or religious belief not to take a bath for a period of time.. Now the question is,, How can we approach him in a way he wont be offended.

Answer 1

There is no way to do this without offending him.
It might be easier to do it anonymously via a note left in his work area addressed to him.....

-B

Answer 2

Have a conversation with him, about cleanliness being next to godliness.
Talk about how how nice some other co workers smell; nice cologne, etc. ( interesting how you could work this into the conversation ! ??)
Mention how 'refreshing' taking a shower. bath is, and how wonderful it feels, don't you agree? ( can you get that close to him?"
If all else fails, anonyomously leave a bar of soap, on his desk!
( Someone actually did this, in an office I worked in,!)

Answer 3

Tough one - maybe a present of shower gel and dandruff shampoo would give him a hint? and a reminder that we also have a cultural belief in not offending our co-workers with our body odour

Answer 4

You know how friends have all sorts of weird conversations.... start one up about toiletries or whatever and move to deoderant. Say that you switched or something and the new kind totally sucks then ask what kind ur friend uses and then suggest a good one.... something like that, of course not by that script. If its a good friend, you'd know how to follow the flow of the conversation. They might think you thought nothing of the convo but they might start wondering if they're deoderant sucks and check their own pits.

Answer 5

.
This is a task for your boss or supervisor. All you office mates will do is offend him.

I had a friend who spent several years in Europe. She told me that in Europe and other parts of the world cleanliness standards are a shower once a week, if that, the rest of time they make do with washing up. So it probably IS cultural and he has no idea that his odor is offensive. But talk to your supervisor and let him/her deal with this.
PS my friend was always lamenting that we are depriving our skins of natural protectents by our frequent showerings.

Answer 6

Read Dale Carnegie's book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". You will find some great suggestions in it. Basically, you make him feel good first by paying him a genuine compliment, and then ever so politely broach the topic of deodorants.

Answer 7

Perhaps your boss could issue hygiene/dress code reminders via a group meeting. That way, he would get the information of what is expected and it would take the pressure off of everyone else wondering how to tell him about his body odor.

Answer 8

Set up an e-mail account with fake details and then send him an e-mail clearly explaining the problem and the effect it is having on his co-workers morale. These days, an "anonymous" e-mail (one bearing the fake name used to set up the account) might be more effective than a handwritten note

Answer 9

Talk to your manager. If it is a cultural thing it is best left to the manager to deal with it. Maybe there is another person from his culture that works with you that can explain it to him.

Answer 10

His supervisor needs to advise him to clean up his act. It's the same thing as violating a company dress code. If your're offended, get another job.