A week ago, a manager from another department, also a friend of mine, took me to the office to tell me I smelled.
She was very kind and she was clearly embarrassed. I think I expected the conversation to start well. I am very sensitive to scented products (itching and stains) and lastly, I changed the deodorant as the one I use is no longer manufactured. Fragrance-free products aren't that effective and I knew it. However, she told me that my smell was a constant problem and had reached the point where some colleagues were concerned (according to her by concern) and that I had been mentioned by my former manager and department manager.
That is where I began to tremble. I remember well the situations she mentioned and were never treated as a constant or permanent problem. As for the incident with the department manager, I was late for work one day and had forgotten my uniform blouse. I only had one T-shirt I found in the boot of the car. The manager told me that it did not smell good and that she was pregnant, she felt it very much. We walked into a room, took off my shirt and asked him to smell my shirt and then me. He told me he was guilty of T-shirts. We asked my friend a manager who took me aside and according to her, during that incident they made me feel smelly.
There was another incident similar to another manager. One day, I went to work with a soft blouse that had been sitting in the washing machine at night. I didn't realize it was windy until I started moving. The first incident occurred in January last year. Second in June. This means that my body odor has been a problem for almost a year and no one has told me anything.
I shower daily, put on deodorant, wash my sheets once a week, and keep myself clean. I am so ashamed that colleagues were talking about me behind my back, but no one confronted me. I could have done something, but now I'm just embarrassed and unsure of myself. I have no courage to speak to anyone at work. Colleagues ask me if I'm okay because I no longer behave like myself.
I started using fragranced products again on weekdays and fragrance-free products on the weekends. I don't know how to feel good or comfortable at work.
From an anonymous woman for The Cut
