unsavoury office problem

newcook

I dont know if this is the right place for this so apologies if its not

The office I work in is predominantly (sp) male so obviously there are the usual remarks about the models in the Sun etc and more swearing than you would normally get in an office however, one of the members of staff are, how can I put it, quite windy - he will quite happily sit and break wind and follow it with 'ahh, thats better!' or something else that he might find is funny rather than saying excuse me.

At first it was only a couple of times during the week - fairly quiet and followed with him excusing himself but it just seems to have got worse and worse.

Its really starting to irritate me and last week I kept saying to him how disgusting it was and asking if he could go to the toilet and do it etc but this all seems to have fallen on deaf ears. He is the only one in the office that does this.

Normally I would go to my supervisor and say that my polite requests have been ignored but its my supervisor who is the issue!!! The next person above him is the director who is good chums with him and would probably just make a joke of it.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do as its starting to become quite an unpleasant environment to work in.

thanks in advance

Scarlett1

he is doing it to wind you up, I suggest you go and buy a can of the most awful smelling airfreshner and spray it near him at full force when he does the deed, if you have to put up with his smell he has to put up with yours

newcook

Scarlett1 wrote: »

he is doing it to wind you up, I suggest you go and buy a can of the most awful smelling airfreshner and spray it near him at full force when he does the deed, if you have to put up with his smell he has to put up with yours

lol!! already tried that a while ago - no joy. he just moaned that I might make his coffee taste bad!

Wouldyoucreditit

Tell him it's no wonder he has to look at page 3 girls in the sun - nobody will want to go near him smelling like that!

I think it's really poor of him to do it in public and draw attention to it. Tell him to go and buy some charcoal biscuits or change his eating habits as there must be something wrong for him to smell so bad so often.

I wouldn't try a jokey approach as he might feel able to joke about it all the time - just tell him seriously that it bothers you and you're finding it isn't pleasant to have to cope with it.

Unless he's really thick-skinned then surely he'll want to do something about it?

newcook

Wouldyoucreditit wrote: »

Tell him it's no wonder he has to look at page 3 girls in the sun - nobody will want to go near him smelling like that!

I think it's really poor of him to do it in public and draw attention to it. Tell him to go and buy some charcoal biscuits or change his eating habits as there must be something wrong for him to smell so bad so often.

I wouldn't try a jokey approach as he might feel able to joke about it all the time - just tell him seriously that it bothers you and you're finding it isn't pleasant to have to cope with it.

Unless he's really thick-skinned then surely he'll want to do something about it?

I'm going to bite the bullet and tell the director - if he doesn't do anything about it then I will have to go to one of the other directors (there are 3 in total).

most of the time the comments just go straight over his head - I told him last week that as a supervisor he should be setting an example but it went ignored.
a lot of the problem is because he lives off junk food (though to look at him you wouldnt think it) as he cannot be bothered to cook proper food. from what he has said he goes to chippy/kfc/mcdonalds etc most nights - on the nights he doesnt go fast food he has pub grub!

cazziebo

Good for you! No one should have to put up with this rude and offensive behaviour.

Good luck with the director

jobbingmusician

'Management' will have to handle this one quite sensitively, as it is likely to be caused by a medical problem.

Having said that, my OH finds that a daily Yakult completely solves his windy problems - could you suggest that?

newcook

jobbingmusician wrote: »

'Management' will have to handle this one quite sensitively, as it is likely to be caused by a medical problem.

Having said that, my OH finds that a daily Yakult completely solves his windy problems - could you suggest that?

normally I would agree with you on the medical thing but in this case its just extremely poor diet and still having 'the boy' in him! He thinks its really funny - he sometimes does it in time to a song on the radio!

victoriav

newcook wrote: »

normally I would agree with you on the medical thing but in this case its just extremely poor diet and still having 'the boy' in him! He thinks its really funny - he sometimes does it in time to a song on the radio!

sorry, but this has me in hysterics...:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: farting in time to a song on the radio...well it would serve him right if you videoed him and sent it to 'you tube!' hence him having no chance of a decent girlfriend....

On the other hand fighting fire with fire, - you could permanently burn a scented candle on your desk to burn off the (his) sulphur, explaining your actions to all and sundry whilst smiling sweetly, or you could surrepticiously pour some milk onto his chair and wait for it to go sour, feigning suprise of course, he wouldn't necessarily realise what it was and you could casually say that it must be his farts permeated the chairs fabric, creating a horrid smell for him to endure, and irritate him having to explain it to everybody, or poke some prawns into a well hidden recess in his work area, so again, a horrible smell for him to endure...again deny all knowledge of it - after all, 'horrible smells ' are his particular forte;) ...like that, if it starts affecting more other people something will have to be done....You perhaps could obtain some real horrible perfume, for example estee lauder 'youth dew' and copiously pour it onto his chair and it will be on him all-day....failing that, you could do 'tit for tat' farting....but you seem too nice to do that !!!:D Sorry for laughing about this....I can just picture the scene though....

ceridwen

Victoria Av

Thanks for my laugh for the evening. You are so right!

Errata

Good luck with the director. Can't be an easy subject to broach in a constructive fashion.
Personally, I'd buy an air horn and give it a blast every time he does. Or put a very large fan on my desk and make sure he's downwind of it at all times.
Or very ostentatiously fling open a window as wide as possible whenever necessary and leave it open for at least 30 minutes after the event. Tip: make sure you have your thermals on.
And then I'd have a hunt on the internet for the story of Monsieur Petomaine, print it off, blow it up to A3 size and stick it on the office wall.
If all this fails, try a cigarette lighter and stand well back.
HTH - I'll try hard to come up with some more useful suggestions (if I can stop :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: long enough!)