I need some advice from my remodeling brethren. I had the bright idea to try and recruit a co-op student from the local vocational school. I thought “I’ll find someone who WANTS to remodel, not someone who doesn’t have any options. Plus, I’ll be able to train them my way, from the ground up, to either run a crew or be a dependable sub…”. It seemed like a stroke of genius…
The kid shows up on a Thursday. Overweight, which was a bit surprising, but no big deal. What struck me most was the ODOR. (I could smell him before I shook his hand…) Since he had school in the morning, I assumed he had gym or some other physical activity. No big deal I thought.
He wanted Friday off, to go on a field trip, so I didn’t see him until the next Monday. He arrived before I did at the job site, and even though his mom dropped him off, I knew he was there because I could smell him. Bad odor again!
We’re not talking just regular BO, that you can smell when someone works hard all day, and lifts their arm….he’s got Peanut’s character PigPen smell going on. When he leaves the room, it smells for at least fifteen minutes after he leaves.
So, I put up with the stench, sort of like working in a bathroom where someone’s taken the dump of their life, or like working in a giant’s armpit! This goes on for the next three days, and I’m still thinking that it’s because he has a physical class in the morning. He informs me that Friday he’s off school, and he can come in early. This I think will vindicate him, as I expect him not to smell since he doesn’t have a reason too.
Friday comes, and he still stinks! I put up with it….
Saturday is my day to try and catch up on jobs that are done for friends, or when I’m behind. Since my help isn’t there, I engage the wife of my client in a conversation regarding my predicament. When I bring it up, my client IMMEDIATELY acknowledges the bad smell! He hadn’t said anything because he didn’t want to hurt the kid’s or my feelings!
This morning I called the vocational school. Apparently, they knew about it the whole time! (Can you see those teachers sitting around trying to find a job placement for this kid? Seeing that I didn’t meet him in person, they must have loved laying him on me!) The counselor has spoken to the kid’s mom, and she apparently does his laundry twice a week to no avail. He says he’ll speak with the kid. (In the kid’s defense, although slow and a bit clumsy, he is eager to learn, and a nice person. That’s most of my dilemma….if he were an a$$, I would have fired him Monday.)
The kid comes to work today and asks me why I didn’t just ask him directly. I tell him I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and secondly, I didn’t know if it was a medical issue or a hygenic issue. He informs me he’s has the problem since he was 7. Nothing helps. Ten minutes after a shower, he smells again. I feel terrible for the kid. (Having grown up with acne, I know what low self esteem feels like, and how cruel kid’s can be.)
We worked all day on an empty house tearing out a sub floor. He smelled progressively worse throughout the day. In other words, it’s not going to get any better.
What are my options? Any ideas? The kid says he’s been to a doctor, but the medication to treat the odor gives him a rash.
What would you do? He sprays tons of deodorant on, but it just barely masks it. It smells almost worse, since the flowering deodorant smell grabs you from ten feet away, and then the BO slams when you get closer.
I feel terrible for the kid, but I’m running a business and I can’t alienate high-end clients with a trainees bad odor.
Any ideas?
Replies
we got a guy that allergic to certain types of clays (dirt) and he will produce an odor.
had the same problem in the past till i found " mitchum gell stick" best deod made if he by chance has ingrown toenails which also smell like hell which I learned after having had them for 10 years & the solution only costs about 2 cents
Edited 10/17/2005 9:52 pm ET by dude
coop .. here's a link to some symptoms and causes
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/body_odor.htm#possible
obviously, the employee needs help... does his family have the means to get him the help ?
seems like his school has a vested interest in solving this too
and it sounds like.. this problem aside.. you might have a good employee
mike i got a " request range not satisfiable" what gives?? any ideas. what the he!! that mean...
" Feed the good wolf....."
don't know.. i just clicked on the link and it took me to the site
here's what it says..
<<Body odor type of: Odor symptoms (23) Symptoms: symptom center, symptom list, symptom descriptions, all symptoms
Possible causes of symptom: Body odor: The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Body odor as a symptom. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.
Poor hygiene
Breath odor
Normal human body odor
Normal puberty
Normal aging
Certain foods
Eating garlic
Eating curry or cumin
Stale sweat
Discharge
Vaginal discharge
Penile discharge
Some conditions causing body odor despite adequate hygiene:
Gastrointestinal disorders
Diabetes
Diabetic ketoacidosis
Urinary tract infection
Athlete's foot - causes foot odor.
Scurvy
Typhoid fever
Fish odor syndrome - a very rare metabolic disease
Sensitive sense of smell
Psychological disorder - where the body odor is only perceived rather than real.
Contents for Symptom: Body odor
Body odor symptom main page (this page)
Glossary for Body odor >>>
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
got it , thanks....... man, i'm amazed how fast you can type.." Feed the good wolf....."
He just copy-pasted it in from the webpage.
I had a temp job in the early 90's that a heavyset dude had a HORRIBLE odor. Gaaawd it was bad. It was in a manufacturing setting with industrial ventilation, but this dude would STANK up at least a 50' radius around him (and I was usually working within that circle). You could tell when he'd walked down a hallway... stink... just hung in the air.
Other than that, he was a nice guy. But it was a odor you just couldn't get used to (and I grew up in the country and have 'gotten used to' quite a few bad odors).
jt8
"Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. " --Theodore N. Vail
Do you have a shower availiable at your shop where you could assign him to shower and witness it yourself? At least then you would know he is tellling the truth. You could have major Americans With Disabilities Act violations if you fire this kid.
I had to can a popular and hardworking kid with Attention Deficit Disorder. He was great with me, co-workers, suppliers and customers, hardworking, but couldn't do three steps in a row without screwing something up. It drove me crazy that this otherwise perfect employee had a fatal flaw. This kid didn't like the way his medicine made him feel either.
coop- this could be a glandular issue although he has had it since 7 . there is a time to go see his physician. his thyroid or something other in the endocrine system. he may have to put an extra shirt or some cologne on for the time he spends with you. he may have something going on there besides poor hygeine, that should get looked at. good luck i dont envy you. then again i'm a carpenter, not a doctor . just a 2¢ guess............ al
..
You've got a tough problem.
My daughter (early 20's) has a similar problem. When she gets nervous, her feet smell. Fortunately the shoes and stockings/nylons/whatever-they-wear greatly mask the oddor, but when she gets home it's obvious. Doctor says there isn't anything we can do. Unfortunately she is a worrier, always real concerned with not doing anything wrong, so her feet smell alot.
Same daughter has a touch of attention deficet. If you give her a list of things to do, no matter how long the list, it all gets done perfectly. If you tell her "just keep the office running" (she's a secretary-type), then it all goes to heck cuz she can't priortize or keep up or whatever. She gets better with experience and confidence.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
The good news is, your smell senses will tune it out before long and you won't notice it anymore. Bad news is, customers will.
Tough deal for all.
Cooper,
I had a friend in high school who had an odor problem.
Sounds a lot like your new employee.
I can attest to the fact that the guy smelled as badly 5 minutes after a shower, as before.
And it wasn't because it was the only shower he had had in a month...
One of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. Smart. But people just couldn't stand to be around him for long.
Anyway, this kid finally committed suicide at 17, because of the odor problem.
Please try to find some way to help the kid out.
BTW: I discovered at that age that if I use deodorants, antiperspirants, and the like... I actually smell much worse after. It takes more and more to control the smell. And the control lasts less and less long. While the smell gets worse and worse.
It takes about 3 months or more before the effects wear off, and I go back to my normal smelly self. (The one no one complains about. LOL)
His smell would probably get worse if he stopped the deodorants and such, but may get better if he has the patience to outlast it...
Also, find out what his favorite food is. What does he eat most often ? Then suggest he cut it out of his diet. I am thinking cheese and dairy products for some reason...
Or maybe you should suggest he eat garlic. LOL If I eat garlic, I smell like garlic. And I don't mean my breath. I mean my pits. If I eat corn, I smell like tortilla chips. I don't know about your employee, but if my friend had smelled like garlic, it would have been a major improvement...
But it's amazing how we've reached the point where we will go to war over anything that bothers us. I think we all have the right to walk away from things that bother us. If it happens in our homes, then we have the right to send the offending person away. Anywhere else, we take a walk. But when did it become okay to think that we have the right to fight with people who annoy us? And when did a little consideration of others become so unfashionable that we can't do it? A little bit of cooperation and consideration would make all of this a whole lot easier. Rules at the job are always appropriate. But we have become so used to imposing rules on how others chose to live their lives that we are ready to beat them for failing to adhere to them. -SHG
Suicide did strike me as a worst case scenario, but it did cross my mind. This kid has a good heart, that's what makes this such a tough situation.I think you're on to something concerning his overuse of deodorant. It doesn't block it at all, but alerts people that there's something to smell. The absence of odor is more important than smelling "good".
I just want to work without grimacing all day. I've never met someone with such a bad odor problem.
I will ask him tomorrow when he went to the doctor last, and see if he might be able to find a new guy. One of my clients suggested a homeopathic remedy, but I'm concerned that will be as effective as "crystal power"...unfortunately, it's not psychosomatic...it's VERY real.
(Thanks to all for your input...this has been keeping me up at night...)
Reading the post about causes from the website I immediately thought of diabetes because you said the kid is overweight. Spilling ketones will make you smell, but my wife says it makes you smell "fruity", but that may change with each person's body chemestry. If he is fat, a simple blood sugar test may tell him if he has diabetes. There are also tests (I think a urine test) for ketoacidosis. Good luck. If a "cure" can be found just think how it will change this kid's life!
Another possibility is to find out by asking carefully HOW he bathes. I had a girl working for me whose husband had a similar problem until she taught him how to bathe. As she described it, he would constantly come right out ofa f resh shower still reeking. Apparantly he would basicly just get wet and then towel off...
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You might try a deodorant stone (basically a large salt crystal) available in natural food stores. They have no scent and are extremely effective if the body odor is bacterial related, which regular BO is. You can buy him one for less than 5$ and if it works you may have a pretty dedicated employee. Good luck!!
Cooper, keep us updated as to what happens.
we have a co-worker who smells pretty bad
but I don't think our "problem" is as bad
as yours from your description.
Do what you want to but it isnt your problem.
DW had to make choices handling 65 at one plant and 41 in another that personal problems to a point had to be turned back home . Kinda like hauling cats home and feeding them. While you are at work they will be attracting other cats and having a good time breeding .
A neighbor by the cabin kept collecting dogs in rescue and it came down to them or the dogs having somthing to eat. Somthing had to give .
One time I was called to solve a problem a farm lady had . She had right at 50 cats from two chicken houses and she was out of chickens . The cats were starving and very wild.
This is not going to work either.
Tim
How about finding the kid a job on a "honey dipper"? I know some guys that drive and or have thier own trucks and they do well...
I'd make a point to meet his mom. If its bad hygiene most likely she'll smell too.
I feel bad for the kid but he's in no position to work at a trade that brings him into peoples homes on a daily basis.
Face it, he's an out-door dog. He'll get work on a framing or siding crew.