Would you tell someone they have bad breath?

victory

I get on the same bus as an elderly lady. We have gone from a hello, smile to chit chat on different seats to now the elderly lady comes to sit next to me, her breath makes you pull back, I have offered mints which she said she does not eat, minty gum the same.


I really don't want to be rude, the lady takes care of her appearance, she obviously does not know and I don't want to be the one to tell her, how can I? Not my business .I barely know her but now really hope she is not on the same bus wanting to come and sit next to me:o ;

What to do?

*max*

victory wrote: »

What to do?

Nothing. I for one am not into humiliating old ladies I barely know. Or even the ones I do know, mind.

balletshoes

as you said, you barely know her, so because of that, I wouldn't say anything to her about her bad breath.

Lozzy88

My stepdad is a lovely bloke but he has the worse breath, it smells like off drains, being
In enclosed spaces with him can be a bit much, like sitting in a car or next to him on the sofa BUT I would never say it to him, my mam tells him often enough but he is too scared to go to the dentist lol

I would not say anything to this old ladie, just breath out of your mouth in and out, have a hankie with olbus oil on, say your full of cold and take a sniff off that if things get too bad, but she could be pushing daisies soon so don't be saying anything that could offend her.

Carl31

Personally, I would rather know if I had bad breath rather than people commenting being my back, I tell those closest to tell me if I smell. I appreciate not everyone would share this view

To the op, can you get another bus?

meritaten

simple - when you next get on the bus dont go to an empty seat - choose one next to someone or one of the single seats!

Saturnalia

Take up eating mints and offer her one.

Softstuff

There is the chance also that she might not be able to do anything about it. I have a stomach problem, when it's acting up I have terrible breath, but can't eat mints or chew gum as that aggravates the stomach issue. So it doesn't matter how much I brush, sometimes I just have to avoid being in close proximity to people!

jaqui59

I can fully sympathise with you with this difficult situation .. Having to deal with someones bad breath at close proximity is really horrible.

If it were me, I know I definitely couldn't deal with it, and I think I would probably find myself creating a distance, and hoping that the lady would respond, but I would feel very uncomfortable doing this, bearing in mind that the friendship has started to grow.

victory

*max* wrote: »

Nothing. I for one am not into humiliating old ladies I barely know. Or even the ones I do know, mind.

This is barely worth replying to as it is ridiculous to even contemplate that I would ever want to do that, it is a very delicate situation hence the gentle question to find a caring solution

victory

lozzy88 wrote: »

My stepdad is a lovely bloke but he has the worse breath, it smells like off drains, being
In enclosed spaces with him can be a bit much, like sitting in a car or next to him on the sofa BUT I would never say it to him, my mam tells him often enough but he is too scared to go to the dentist lol

I would not say anything to this old ladie, just breath out of your mouth in and out, have a hankie with olbus oil on, say your full of cold and take a sniff off that if things get too bad, but she could be pushing daisies soon so don't be saying anything that could offend her.

I do breath in and out at appropiate times, I would not wish to offend equally I would rather not sit next to her:o