Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Morning, afternoon and evening breath

Dear graduate student,

Please brush your teeth. Your breath smells like dog shit, sewage and sour milk all rolled together. When this odor radiates from your face it makes it very difficult for me to help you because I am concentrating on not vomiting instead of listening to what you are saying. I'm totally serious about this. It's the reason why 100% of our interactions begin with me moving two or three steps away from your mouth.

Regards,
MXX




8 comments:

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

I hate this. I once (briefly, thank FSM) worked with someone with terrible BO. If it's someone you have to work with long-term, a bottle of mouthwash left discretely and anonymously in their desk drawer might be the kindest way to approach the problem?

microbiologist xx said...

It's soooo gross. I was also thinking of offering mints or gum every time I interact with this person. However, I am totally digging the covert leaving of mouthwash in the desk drawer.

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

Well, think of it this way... if it was you, wouldn't you want to know? I know I would...

Tom said...

They may not care. Has anyone else made mention of this dudes rank breath?

microbiologist xx said...

cath - I would totally want to know.

TJ - I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't care b/c honestly, how can he not know. There is no way that smell is accompanied by a good taste in your mouth.
Yes, others have noticed and mentioned it.

Dimitris said...

yeah we got one grad student who i think never bathes and i begin to wonder if he does laundry since he wears the same clothes every day... unless he has 7 pairs of the same thing... possible?
by the way offer your grad student listerine a mini bottle :)

PhizzleDizzle said...

UGH. That sucks. I like Cath's idea - go for it! Maybe even tape a typed note on it "Try this sometime."

I think Candid Engineer once posted about talking to a coworker about showering - and she actually directly spoke to him about it, and it worked out fine. She's brave, that one. But she got results.

EcoGeoFemme said...

I too was going to comment about Candid's experience. Although unpleasant, it is probably the best approach overall. Like ripping off a bandaid.