Perfume/Cologne in the workplace

[Aineen]

I have a major pet peeve: People who douse themselves with heavy perfume/cologne and then come to work and plop themselves down at their desk leaving everyone else to suffer - eyes watering, sneezing, headache, throat closing up. There is a woman in the cube next to me - a very nice woman - who comes in every morning leaving a trail of heavy, flowery-smelling perfume scent everywhere she goes. I've spoken with her a couple of times, telling her that while I know she has a right to wear it, the perfume really irritates my respiratory system. She apologizes and goes for a week without, but inevitably, she goes back to the perfume and I sit here miserable. Today is especially bad which prompted me to post about it. I don't mind a hint of scent, but this sits like a cloud around the whole area.

I've talked to HR asking if they could just send out an email reminding everyone that we are in close quarters here, and sometimes heavy odors (perfume, cigarette smoke on clothes, BO) is offensive to others, but they won't do it.

Anyone else bothered by this kind of thing??

[Chris55]

I sympathize with you since I have the same problem and even get headaches from certain overpowering scents. My husband works in a hospital where perfume is banned. I wear perfume myself, but a small amount and ones that obviously don't bother my sinuses. Since your HR dept won't do anything, I'd suggest you get yourself a desktop air purifier - they're not very expensive and will probably do the trick - they even get rid of cigarette smoke.

[~Karen~W.]

I suffer from this problem too. I work in an office with very poor ventilation. Last week my coworker sprayed an air freshener in the bathroom. It lingered for 2 days!!!! My head hurt, nose ran, eyes watered, couldn't breathe, and throat got sore. I called out sick and made it known to my boss that it was due to the scent in the office. The person who sprayed it claims that she doesn't even smell it----a true sign that she's used too much of the stuff & grown immune to it. It's hard to tell people that the scent that think smells sooo good smells sooo bad to other people. I hate it.

[sportstergirl]

we have our own office at work and i have never smelled perfume on the girls i work with(5) so i dont really know how to help.
maybe your boss could move you into another room? you could get a drs note. that would do it.
i use perfume myself and have never had anyone tell me it is too strong. i have smelled it on people in other places and often wonder "how much perfume does one have to put on to make it that potent?"

[Aineen]

Well the woman across from me is again wearing that heavy, flowery perfume again today. My eyes burn, I've got a dull headache and my throat is scratchy and hoarse. She's a smoker and I think maybe she wears it to mask the cig smoke, but all it does is make it that much worse = the cig smoke and flowery perfume combined. There's really no way out for me. I can't keep asking her to tone it down. You can smell it 10 cubes away....

[RedRox]

I feel for ya! I'm really sensitive to odors and leftover smoke as well. I think the fact that your HR department is doing nothing is a shame. Maybe you need to go higher up and schedule a meeting with the manager, director or VP? One other thought I had, although it probably won't really help but at least would be a form of protest would be to get one of those paper filter masks and start wearing that at your desk. They are kind of uncomfortable unfortunately, but so is sitting there and breathing that crap and it might make others aware that it isn't just you being "overly sensitive" or whatever they are viewing your situation as. You have a right to a safe and comfortable work place and being able to breath comfortably is part of that.

[Daypo]

We're going through the same thing at my office as well. About, 75% of the people there smoke and there are a few who like to overdo the perfume to mask the smell. You're right, it just ends up making it worse

We had a woman today have a severe asthma attack after using the restroom where someone had sprayed perfume. She had to leave work and go straight to her doctor's office. She has to use her rescue inhaler almost every day because of it. Finally, management was involved in it. I think tomorrow is when we're having a meeting about it, and hopefully stuff gets resolved.

I feel for ya, and hopefully things can get resolved, but I agree with Rox.. if HR isn't doing anything about it, you need to go higher. There is no excuse for them allowing unsafe work conditions.