Good morning. So as the title says, I’m in a bit of a stinky situation here. I have a coworker with a gas problem that happens to think they are clever. It seems that through out the day whenever they pass gas the try to apply scented hand lotion right before doing the deed. The farting is not a problem for me in particular, but I can still smell them even with the strong scented lotion. This is where the problem kicks in, the mixture of the strong scented lotion combined with the smelly farts is not pleasing at all. It can even conger up the occasional headache, nothing major, but annoying at times. My question is, has anyone ever dealt with this kind of situation? What was your approach to it? I don’t want to be outright mean about it, I enjoy the occasional fart at my desk as well. Who am I to judge? I’d just like the combination of the smells to stop. One or the other is fine, but both are a bit…. Yeah. Thanks in advance.
13 comments
lmao
That dude wanna kill you; seriously, call him/her out. I did it once and worked, just ask: did you fart?
Start looking for the dead animal in the office. Recruit the culprit to help you out. Search around their desk in particular as that’s where the smell seems to be strongest. Raise to managment that you think there may be an infestation in the office as, from your time working on your parent’s farm, you recognise the smell as when there was a dead rat found in a barn.
Just set up a desk fan pointed at them?
you need to improve your passive aggressiveness skills. next time they let one rip you say, *at no one in particular*, under your breath yet loud enough for the culprit to hear 臭い！ remember, you’re not trying to call them out or confront them directly, so no eye contact. they may try to apply even more lotion, but if you keep it up they will read the stinky air eventually.
This one guy next to me had severe body odor. Eventually I just started bringing my laptop to the break room to work whenever he was there. Fortunately he was somewhat a low ranking employee so we could offload most of the clean room work to him and he didn’t have to be at the desks (this was a semicon chip fab job). I feel bad for whoever needs do deal with his clean suit.
Why don’t you just get up and walk away from your desk every time the hand lotion comes out?
Once the mask mandates have been lifted on 2/13, don’t wear a mask at work. Whenever they start putting hand lotion on, put a mask on. Don’t look at them at all. Just put the mask on. Wait a few minutes for the smell to dissipate, then take the mask off. Rinse and repeat.
They want to fire you!
give them a fart proof underwear for their next secret santa (NSFW) [https://shreddies.com.au/](https://shreddies.com.au/)
> My question is, has anyone ever dealt with this kind of situation?
On the contrary, I would say he who smelt it dealt it
Confronting the lotion without regard to the farts seem to be low-hanging fruit. Just mention that the lotion smell is a bit strong *for you*, almost as if you have an allergic reaction to it. Apologize for creating trouble, but “could you try an unscented lotion”? Flipping the responsibility to yourself might feel morally wrong, but it’s a very useful tactic in Japanese culture.
For the passive-aggressive approach, you can anonymously leave a box of [Beano](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00HA66SNU) on coworker’s desk.