Do people smell bad to you?

"Do people smell bad to you?"

...Yes. I use smell uncommonly often. As if that is what it is for, detecting people who smoke, or smoke Cannabis, or are sweaty, or have not bathed in 32.5 Hours, or have just drunk something really sugary, or they have Influenza, or they are wearing Nylon, or they just have their Hormones switched Wayyyyy up... I myself smell all of that. (Horrible, bad, horrible.) It is useful at times, but not at all useful if it cannot be escaped. Kind of like Pollution, which I often see and smell, and if I mention it, people find it funny and say "...What pollution?"

me too. the bloke who sat next to me on the train smelled like his early evening was spent drinking a bottle of scotch and smoking about 50 fags. He yawned and I nearly gagged it smelt so bad. That's when I got off the train.

Are the two people who sit next to you smokers? Because I hate that smell myself.

There are generally two types of smell associated with people. 

1. Smells produced naturally by the human body. 
2. Smells applied externally to disguise smells produced by the human body .

I've had unpleasant experiences of both.

When I was in hospital I hated the smell of the antiseptic floor cleaners and air fresheners on the wards.  Then I realised it was the lesser of two evils.  The smell of human excrement and vomit is worse.

I also had a bad experience on trains. On a Friday evening I was sitting around a table for four, when three young ladies joined me and took out their bottles of nail colour/varnish and started doing their nails.  My eyes were watering for hours after I had left the train.

Many mental health professionals wear strong perfume because their clients have bad personal hygiene.  At every group session I attend there's always at least one person who doesn't bathe or change their clothes regularly. 

So sorry to hear this. It's a really hard situation to be in. Close proximity to people at work has been an issue for me too. One of my first bosses wore nylon shirts and his armpits smelt just like onion gravy. I actually love onion gravy, but in that context it just made me nauseous.

Another colleague used to spray eau de cologne on herself when she went to the loo. It was horribly pungent and got me right in the back of the throat. I was really surprised that a counsellor who did sessions with service users in a former workplace wore really strong perfume. The room she used was very small and I found it overpowering. 

Perfume wearing seems to me to be a really strong imposition on other people. A bit like saying "I like this so you have to like it too!" The smelly clothes and body problems are very tricky to handle too. When I had aromatherapy a long time ago I was given a little phial of the essential oils which I had chosen. I sniffed this to summon up memories of feeling relaxed when I got stressed. I might try this again.  

It's noticeable that when I get stressed noises and smells are much more intrusive. My tinnitus gets worse too. It's sometimes a useful indication of how stressed I am. 

I had to get off a train last week because the bloke who sat down next to me stank .... and I had made it on first and snagged a good hidden away corner seat too. But I knew I couldn't handle that for 50 minutes!

Maybe , it's not just you.  And these people actually do smell bad.

Yup - I feel your pain. I am sat next to a bloke who cracks his knuckles about 50 times a day, which makes me jump and cringe every time, and buys the noisiest crisps ever then manages to make the bag last an hour, just so I can get every excruciating loud crunch. 

There is another person, with a very loud, carrying voice, who insists on having long calls at her desk. I find it impossible to tune out (I can still hear it over the noise cancelling headphones), and my concentration is shot for the duration (bit of a problem as I am a software developer so once I have lost my thread, it's a pain to get it back).

I don't have anyone unwashed smelly but am hypersensitive to smell and people wearing perfume around me is awful. I guess it must smell good to them otherwise they wouldn't use it, but to me it's more like stale spilled alcohol (or a drunk tramp) overlaid with fermenting fruit. One of them used to spray it in the office, which gave me an instant migraine. I also find this a huge problem on public transport and usually end up feeling like I am going to throw up by the end of the journey at least once a week.

Oh yeah and there's the people who heat up food in the communal microwaves so that the whole area smells like someone has been microwaving roadkill. 

In addition to this I have a very draughty air con unit blowing on my head all day and awful artificial light (more migraines!), but apparently there isn't anywhere else I can be moved to either. 

I don't know what the answer is - I guess it depends on your workplace's attitude to "reasonable adjustments" as opposed to what they probably see as just us moaning about everything. Please do let us know if you find a way to get any improvements made!