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Toxic work environment - useless "management"

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stealth2

Under the Radar Member
For those who are allergic in this particular office, it's a matter of high potency chemicals and the types of chemicals these things are made of. For me, it's the high potency artificial chemicals derived from petroleum products. Shampoos, deodorants, laundry detergent, and dryer sheets don't seem to bother me. With another employee here, it's only the petroleum based chemicals that set off her reactions and allergies.

There are a lot of people here who wear one or two dabs of perfume or cologne, and thats fine, as we don't smell it.

Most of these ingrates here are unprofessional as you can get though. They can't even be bothered to use professional manners in the office......if it can be smelled outside your cubicle, it's too much.......if your "vapor trail" lingers for more than 5 seconds, it's too much........if it can be smelled in the office before you even get to the office, it's too much.
Wondering - did you ever get your car - with the odor of gas - fixed? (p/x, folks...)
 


quincy

Senior Member
It's a known fact that if you ask 4 attorneys the exact same question you'll get 5 different answers. ;)
Although I know your post is tongue-in-cheek, attorneys (generally) will agree on the applicable laws behind the questions even if they have different ways of tackling a problem.
 
Although I know your post is tongue-in-cheek, attorneys (generally) will agree on the applicable laws behind the questions even if they have different ways of tackling a problem.
As you know I had 2 ADA's tell me that the equipment used to grow pounds of marijuana was not drug paraphernalia, but 3 attorneys from the Attorney Generals office said it most defiantly was. ;)
 

quincy

Senior Member
As you know I had 2 ADA's tell me that the equipment used to grow pounds of marijuana was not drug paraphernalia, but 3 attorneys from the Attorney Generals office said it most defiantly was. ;)
It depends on the attorneys you ask, of course. You are correct that there are often legal arguments to be made on both sides of any legal issue but the law itself does not change.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Well, for a long term employee, I very sincerely doubt if there is going to be discipline up to and including termination for the offender(s.) And given the huge amount of rage that this OP is displaying, for an office administrator, well, I don't know how long he has been working at this place. But anyone who's been there 15+ years, at this point in their tenure, they're not going to be fired for wearing too much perfume, and it is entirely possible they realize this, and are doing it more to pull people's strings and aggravate people in general.

Through the years, I have watched the issues of perfume and cologne in the office vs. those who have allergies, employees who wore too much cologne, employees who said they were sickened by their co workers cologne, who gets to decide how much is too much, etc. I have never seen anyone "win" in a situation like this, neither the allergic one OR the stinky over perfumer.

People get fired for wearing too much cologne, people quit their jobs because co workers wear too much cologne. It goes on and on.
I have had to deal with this situation from many angles. We hired an employee once in our department who did formally request accommodation due to her extreme sensitivity to colognes and aftershaves. The job involved interviewing clients all day, some of whom inevitably had on too much cologne. (Many were smokers who would douse with cologne before coming in thinking it covered up that fact.)

But she was allowed to sit in a special area of the office with a small fan behind her desk facing the person she was interviewing. And this worked all right. Except that the manager of the whole unit, who paid occasional visits to that office, was the worst and most chronic offender in the wear-too-much-perfume sweepstakes. When she was politely asked not to wear cologne on the days she visited this particular office, she laughed. And after the many years she'd worked there, and the age she'd reached, her well connected position, there was no way that management could or would deal with making HER not wear cologne! Try telling the general you don't like their after-shave!

They tried sending the employee home on days she visited. But finally, the employee gave up and found work elsewhere. Things did not change, and she was advised by several attorneys, she wasn't going to win any kind of legal action against the state in this circumstance. Several seemed to agree on this one.

And this is about what I've seen through the years. It is a battle no one wins. Certainly people get "nose blind" to the cologne they wear, so that they don't realize how much others can smell it or how genuinely nauseating and sickening it may be. But then sometimes people find out it aggravates a co-worker, and it's not just selfishness, it's a great and rewarding passive-aggressive way to drive you bonkers!

I had an employee under my supervision that I had to not only speak to several times, I had to send him to the rest room to wipe off the cologne several times, other choice, go home for the day. But fortunately, over time we obtained his cooperation and got things a little bit better. In the long run, as long as he worked there, you could always smell the guy when he walked off the elevator.

What this OP is doing is gnawing at himself with bad chemicals from the inside. He's about to generate a stroke for himself by staying so angry about this issue. He needs to either figure out a way to cope or find another job. I have often said and will always say it is impossible to fix a bad workplace. This will never be resolved in any satisfying way for him.
 
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