Grotesque at it's Best

[Moggie]

Currently I work in a secured file room. This means no windows and no outside doors, just doors that open into another secured area. It just so happens that our A/C doesn't really circulate in here, it just sort of sits.

They hired a Minion for me. I was very glad to see him on the first day. On the second day he walked in wearing the same thing from the first day. In fact, he wore the same outfit pretty much all week and it rapidly became clear he wasn't bathing at home either. I made a few comments about it and he told me he does laundry on the weekends.

Not only does the air not move much in here, but since I'm training the guy I have to go sit at his desk with him and show him the ropes.

Monday next rolls around and he walks in wearing the *exact same unwashed clothing*. Tuesday I walked in and hit him with a few squirts of Fabreeze from a handy travel sized bottle. Wednesday, he has an entirely new outfit on.

While he never did seem to get the concept of bathing, in the few months he was here I only had to Fabreeze him twice after that. Then I got him moved out of my room and away from me for good.

[Enjis]

Fugly creeps like that one in the original post give all of us comic book geeks (even gals like me!) a bad name.
No wonder we get ragged about our hobby so much in the media.

(Proud to be a comics reader for the past 39 years)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I got a couple co-workers at the Big Box O' Crap who reek to high heaven.

One of them works in the cash office and every time I pass her I hold my breath. Or I'll be up by the service desk getting my scanner or printer and the door to the cash office will open and the stench will come billowing out. I don't know if she just doesn't shower or doesn't wash her clothes or her pantyhose, but she just has this weird, dirty smell to her.

And she needs multiple powerful hearing aids to hear, but she doesn't keep them in her ears. She'll have them dangling out of her ears and they'll be all waxy and crusty.

Nobody can even stand to be in that little room with her. Her co-workers in the cash office are always putting out Renuzits in plain view, or carpet-bombing the office with Glade, or emptying a bottle of Febreeze onto the furniture every other day or so. She just doesn't get the hint as to why these things are happening.

Then there's this cashier we hired not too long ago. She's about 250 pounds and stinks up the entire front end with her stale BO and cigarette smoke odor. If I'm coming in from a carryout and she has another one for me, I won't stick around for her to hand me the tag. I'll go to a phone on the salesfloor and call her from there. At least there isn't a way to transmit stank through the phone.

[Saydrah]

The anime group I spoke of is held by a local Asperger's group for the purpose of working on social skills--on some level it does not work, possibly because almost everyone has the same level of social ineptness and there's only one "handler". I could be considered a Aspie yet tend to get annoyed with the stinkier attendees (as well as the ones who talk over whatever anime is being shown) very quickly.

I think the reason it wouldn't work isn't the lack of handlers-- it's that there IS the one "handler" there, and if they're neurotypical, maybe that actually prevents them from understanding how communities within the Autism spectrum are build and communicate. I have aspie friends and family and the best aspie events they talk about are always the ones where the organizers are also on the spectrum.

I hear you about some gamers though... I hang out with a lot of gamers because they're generally intelligent and non-pretentious people, but there's always that one guy who thinks he's God's gift to the world, yet is more like God's gift to Febreeze.

[Hyndis]

Why is it that people who have this level of personal hygiene think they are God's Gift to the Universe? I don't like to judge people or armchair psycho-analyze, but I personally think a good portion of this kind of person suffers from Bipolar Disorder.

Nah, not bipolar.

I myself am bipolar, and when things get really bad my personal hygiene does deteriorate, but I'm not so stupid as to be oblivious to it. I still shower and such before going out...I just end up not going out very often when things are bad.


Edit:
Doh. Disregard. Didn't look to see how many pages this thread was or how long ago the OP had been made. Point has probably already been made.

[Chromatix]

Some people simply have no sense of smell. Mine is a bit weak, to be honest, but if I pay attention I can still tell if I need cleaning up. Just don't try to employ me as a wine taster.

My real problem is twofold: I'm bone lazy, and I have a shower rather than a bathtub (which I really prefer) in my flat. So I have to make an effort to remember that other people can usually smell better than me. Especially in cold weather that I really have to wrap up for. I do find, however, that removing or shortening specific areas of body hair does help - and certainly better than deodorant, antiperspirant or perfumes - so I keep an old shaver for that purpose.

It doesn't help, however, that my mother is rather inconsistent on this matter. More than once, she's complained that I stink *after* I've been through the wash cycle - and loudly enough to make things rather embarrassing. (Have I mentioned that she's an SC in her own right? And the M-I-L From Hell.)

But last week, my parents visited me - and put a couple of loads of laundry through my machine. My mother's load stunk to high heaven - and if it's enough to bother me, it *is* bad. Fortunately, my machine is quite effective, and she managed not to say anything about my washing habits to my face this time.

So for the people who *really* stink... they might not know it. But they should be told. Some of them might need some hints on how to get it right. And if they still get it *that* wrong...