How can you tell someone they have bad breath without sounding rude? I always gather up the courage to just say it out but then all my courage just evaporates in to thin air and I don;t utter a word.
Yesterday she came to my room and I could hardly breathe. I just cut the conversation really really really short so she would leave and she did. Right as she was leaving I looked like I was going to throw up and was waving a bunch of papers in front of my face when she turned back after having stepped out of the door. I just pretended I didn;t see her turn around and carried on waving the papers with the same expression on my face. She stood there for a while and walked away. I could have used that as a perfect opportunity to inform her that her breath stinks to no end but I didn’t. My boss has been talking about it too but he expects me to give her a class on personal grooming, which I refused to do and so did he.
How do you guys deal with such people especially when you have to talk to them every now and then. Is there any roundabout sort of way of saying it or should I just say it straight out?
edit: And it is also works if you apologize for your own bad breath, even if you don't have one. Something like, "Oh excuse me for my bad breath, I forgot to floss after lunch/breakfast today (while unwrapping the gum)"
But the damage is done by the time the gum gets in their mouth, no? She is so stupid she will probably keep refusing to take it out of some notion of politeness, or won;t put it in her mouth until she leaves the room. Annoying twit.
We had this problem with a Russian guy at work. This wasn't only an issue with his breath but he had severe personal hygiene problems with bad body odor. The girl who sat in the cubical right next to him used to spray around her cube twice a day. This guy was clueless though. We had to tell the big boss. Don't know how he handled it but the condition improved a bit.
Here is a suggestion anyway...
Give her a mouth freshner, a mouth spray of some kind, as a gift. Do it more than once.
Tell her you have noticed lately that her deodorant is no longer working. Suggest that every so often, deodorants quit doing their job and that a solution could be as simple as changing brands. :)
We had a lass at school who had bad breath for a while, she was called Lizzy, bless her...anyway, we brought her a beauty kit from the body shop which had toothpaste and a toothbrush aswell as smelly soaps and stuff...she took the hint. tell her shes employee of the week and this is her prize? Im sure your boss wont mind having a collection for her
Yeah, i have had the same problem with Asian (oriental) co-workers....Desi of Pakistani stock are a bit more refined in our area, so no complaints there....however the same cannot be said of the across the border desi variety.....
haha Aisha. God forbid anyone ever faces such a situation, a spouse with bad breath. I guess no one tells their spouse that is why we have people with bad breath around us :D
Some of these responses are pretty mean. When a person suffers from GERD, their breath is typically acid and smelly. There are a few other health-related issues which cause bad breath (Halitosis). A dentist is usually qualified to determine the source. I know I suffer from bouts of reflux, my son suffers from it daily. and I am SO self consious about it that I tend to talk with my mouth as closed as possible. Its an embarrassing thing to suffer from but the friendly offer of a mint is never taken the wrong way.
Not everyone has bad breath due to some disease. If a person who doesn;t take good care of their appearance also has bad breath I doubt very much the latter is due to a disease. If they can't be bothered to wash their face or brush their hair or iron their clothes out chances are they can't be bothered to brush their teeth either.
bad breath isn't always tied to bad dental hygine.. the stomach is involved too and could be more complex as mama said.. and mints really don't do a lot there..
^ Constipation apparently also causes halitosis :p
But what should people do about bad breath? In most cases no matter what the cause, simple dental hygeine rectifies the problem. When brushing teeth most people forget to brush the tongue where also plaque and most bacteria reside. During the day try chewing gum for obvious reasons and to slow down bacterial growth.
It really pisses me off when people can't even follow these simple steps, not just for themselves, but also for common courtesy.