Re: OFF-TOPIC question about an office thing?

[K Salm <kate_salm -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Normally I just read the list, but this topic reminded
me of a professor I had in college.  I wore a very
light scent, more of a body mist and not even that
frequently, and this professor was so allergic to
perfumes and scents that if I got to close to her, say
closer than three feet, she'd stuff up, start
sneezing.  It was crazy.  But it was also only in the
one room I had class with her in, the other room we
were in for another class was better ventilated, had
windows, etc. so she never even noticed that I ever
wore scent until we were in the smaller, less
ventilated room. And I had been in classes with this
woman once a semester for three years before we had
class in this room.  So part of it could be
ventilation, if there is good ventilation odds are
that some of the effects are not noticable at all.  

As for overall with the scent topic, while I liked
this professor enough to try and not wear scent around
her, if its not a matter of allergies perhaps people
should be a little understanding.  Some people wear
perfume.  They like to.  Thats their choice.  We are
not a police nation and do not and should not have the
right to tell someone we dont' want them wearing
perfume or scent just because we don't like it.  It
may be obnoxious to us, but I'm sure there are plenty
of things we do that annoy them just as much.  And
some people do choose to drown themselves in scent.  I
have several people where I work now who do so on a
regular basis.  Its annoying, but other than their
overuse of perfume they are very nice people so all of
us ignore that one particular characteristic. 
Sometimes its better to just let it go, its not worth
making a stink over (excuse the pun).  

--- Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:

> James Jones wondered: <<My long-term girlfriend
> works as a manager in 
> an office of a foundation and a co-worker of lower
> rank has been 
> complaining that her (my girlfriend's) perfume makes
> her sick or 
> nauseated. My girlfriend does not wear heavy
> perfume. You can hardly 
> tell that she's wearing any perfume at all. Her
> perfume does not cause 
> complaints from anyone else.  Is this kind of thing
> an issue in 
> offices?>>
> 
> Regrettably, yes, it is an issue in offices and
> elsewhere. Some people 
> have significant allergies to perfume, and the fact
> that you or other 
> workers have no issues with the perfume quantity
> isn't relevant; it's a 
> real, often somewhat serious medical condition for
> some people. Think 
> "peanut allergy" and you'll get the idea, though
> they don't usually 
> fall over and suffocate if they smell perfume.
> 
> So in most cases, it's an issue of concern for
> someone else's 
> well-being: you don't need perfume to function at
> the office, and if 
> it's seriously inconveniencing someone else, why
> bother? (Caveat: I'm 
> biased here. My take on perfume is that it's all a
> scam and sends 
> entirely the wrong message. "Yes, dear, I love you
> more than life and 
> chocolate, but frankly, you stink and I'd prefer if
> you covered up your 
> natural scent with a gallon of synthetic chemicals.
> But don't take that 
> the wrong way." <g>)
> 
> On the other hand, if other office workers wear
> perfume (particularly 
> the same perfume) and get no complaints, there's a
> decent chance that 
> this has nothing to do with the perfume and
> everything to do with a 
> personality conflict. If you're an empiricist, you
> could suggest your 
> girlfriend borrow someone else's perfume at the
> office or (even better) 
> wears no perfume at all for a couple days to see
> whether the problem 
> goes away; if it does, it's the particular brand of
> perfume, but if it 
> doesn't, odds are good it's actually a personality
> conflict.
> 
> This is not at all an uncommon type of behavior for
> subordinates who 
> have no power to shape their own destiny, and who
> rightly or wrongly 
> blame the situation on someone else and take out
> their anger over this 
> situation on the person who seems most likely to be
> the cause of their 
> misery... like a boss. It's a safer form of
> aggression than many others 
> because it doesn't result in direct consequences
> such as a poor 
> performance appraisal.
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> - - - - - - - --
> Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
> (try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
> www.geoff-hart.com
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> - - - - - - - - -
> 
>
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