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Someone! Anyone!
Help! I was forced to endure a one-hour flight sitting next to a
sharp-looking gentleman. He was dressed in crisp, clean clothes and
polished shoes. He sported a fashionable watch and he had well-trimmed
hair, clean nails, a ready smile, and kind eyes. He also STANK!!!

Someone! Anyone!
Please tell me what is going on! I regularly train emerging leaders on
how to deliver unpleasant news or give performance feedback to their
subordinates in a respectful way. One of the most popular, yet
distressing exercises I use in developing this skill is a simulation of
being sent by your colleagues to inform a team member that s/he has bad
body odour! Very few people want to do it, and even fewer know how to
do it well – even with guidance. Sometimes it is hard to tell from the
squirming going on, whether it is the person giving the feedback who is
most uncomfortable, or the poor person being told that they have been
perfuming the air with ‘eau de putrid’ – the strong and lingering aroma
of rotten boiled eggs, wet carpet and vomit.

I have had occasion
to very kindly and respectfully advise staff, colleagues and service
providers to avail themselves of the use of a deodorant that is
conveniently at hand in my drawer, in my bag, or in my guest toilet.
But what is the protocol when the offence to the nostrils and to one’s
comfort is being committed in a public space or when the offender is a
complete stranger?

Let’s go back to
the aeroplane. Confronted by Mr Odoriferous, I felt supremely sorry for
myself, sorrier for my fellow passengers (don’t ask me why), and sorry
for the crew whose work space had been infiltrated. You find that, in
times of adversity, solidarity forms instantaneously, and it happened
here too. Speaking glances, grimaces, and shows of sympathy flew back
and forth amongst the newly formed fellowship of suffering passengers.
Still, no one said anything.

Shouldn’t there be rules about this sort of thing?

Business etiquette
teaches you suitable dress for the workplace. Could there not be
etiquette about appropriate personal hygiene in public? Could Health,
Safety and Environment (HSE) standards against air pollution be
expanded to include odious body odour? Anyone who has been trapped in a
lift, a car, or a bus with someone reeking of unwashed flesh knows what
I am talking about.

Don’t get me wrong;
I doubt if anyone sane would step out of their abode smelling bad. On
enough occasions, the offender is not even aware that s/he is smelling.
Once they are informed, the majority are mortified and take immediate
action to suppress it.

Other times, body
odour is simply a function of lifestyle – the combination of humidity,
working outdoors in the heat and sun, sweat, and wearing clothes that
were not completely dried after washing. Many cannot afford to buy
deodorants and powders, and have to rely on their morning baths or
rubbing lemon and other native remedies. This is not adequate in our
climate if you are physically active or move around a lot outdoors.

Yet, some people
simply won’t scrub their bodies, wash their clothes or change their
underclothes daily. Others do not shave their underarm hair, wash their
hair regularly or clean themselves properly after ‘easing’ themselves.
It is pure carelessness.

A friend asked me
why the body odour here is so much worse (in her estimation) than in
the Western world. Well, for starters, how a person smells when they
sweat is affected by what we eat and drink. In the Western world, their
food is partially uncooked, like salads, and mostly bland to the taste.
Our food is generally boiled or fried, and pungent with spices. Hence
‘pungent’ sweat.

An unfunny joke

Secondly, our odour
also has to do with the quality of the air. Our air quality here is
poor. We breathe in all kinds of pollutants from vehicles, generators
and badly disposed waste. Those toxins find their way out of our bodies
in our sweat.

Thirdly, our public
transport system is choked with people rubbing up against each other.
Workers trek long distances to bus stops, they wait and sweat in the
sun, they squash into cars, buses, and onto the backs of trucks. Is it
any wonder that they do not arrive at their destinations smelling fresh
and fragrant?

Let’s go back to
the aeroplane again. In situations where the cabin air quality has been
compromised by a reeking passenger, what should the crew do? Should
they behave the way up-market restaurants with a strict dress code do?
They have a stock of jackets and ties to lend to patrons who arrive
without them. Could the crew legitimately invite the ‘oozing’ passenger
to make use of their stock of deodorants and fabric fresheners in the
cabin toilets, and deny the person service until they co-operate?

I don’t have the answers but, really, we should do something.
Anything. This joke is no longer funny. Life is too stressful to have
to put up with a corrupting presence in close quarters. Let’s find a
way to deal with the offence while respecting the sensibilities of the
offender