Employee gets laid off due to extreme body odor: ‘I genuinely felt bad for him. He had only just started the job and hadn’t really had the chance to show what he could contribute. You could tell he felt embarrassed and ashamed’

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Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Jul 25, 2026 1:45 PM EDT

To pass the smell test

I felt really identified with this story because I've had to deal with this issue multiple times in my life. I don't mean with my body odor, lol; I mean with being very sensitive to smells in general. Of course, this story is not about one person's sensitivity to smell, because everyone could smell it, but it does touch on a very difficult subject: having to talk to a person about something so delicate and tricky. Have you ever had to do this? How did you approach it?

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  • man covering his mouth
    via Kyle Glenn

    The rest of the employees after they felt the odor

    Subject is a model

  • My Co-worker fired because of his smell.

    Hi everyone, I just wanted to share an experience | had while working in Dubai. About three months ago, our company hired a new Creative Director for the
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  • marketing team. He was responsible for leading all creative decisions, from brainstorming ideas to overseeing execution. Genuinely a nice guy. He had only arrived in the
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  • UAE about two months earlier to look for work. We reviewed his portfolio before he joined, and everyone was impressed by the quality of his work. During the hiring process, my boss only met him
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  • through Zoom for two interviews, both of which went very well, so she decided to hire him. When he started his first week, everything seemed normal. My boss is very
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  • particular about the office environment. She pays close attention to the scent, ambiance, and overall presentation of the workspace. Everything in our office is thoughtfully
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  • designed and personalized. However, when the new Creative Director arrived, he had a very strong body odor. It was noticeable enough that my boss
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  • quietly left the office and asked the receptionist to spray air freshener throughout the room. Even then, the smell lingered much longer than anyone expected.
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  • air freshener bottle
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    The air freshener ready to be used

    Representative image

  • She never said anything directly, but those of us who knew her well could tell she was uncomfortable. Personally, I had encountered similar odors before, especially on
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  • crowded metro rides during the summer, so I chose not to say anything because I didn't want to embarrass him. After about four days, HR privately spoke with him
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  • about the issue and respectfully asked if he could do something about it. He agreed, went home to shower and change his clothes, then returned. Unfortunately, he came
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  • back wearing an extremely strong perfume. It was so overpowering that it made. me feel dizzy. Not long after, HR had to speak with him again because someone had
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  • complained about the perfume. For the rest of the day, they moved him into an enclosed office so he could continue working without affecting the rest of the team. The following Monday, he
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  • came in without the odor, and everyone was relieved. Things went back to normal. But only three days later, the same strong smell returned. My boss
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  • happened to be working in the office that day. She quietly stood up, left the room again, and asked the receptionist to spray air freshener throughout the office. This time, HR issued him a
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  • formal written warning. By then, I genuinely felt bad for him. He had only just started the job and hadn't really had the chance to show what he could contribute. You could tell he felt
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  • embarrassed and ashamed. He went home once again to shower and change, then returned after lunch to continue working. Unfortunately, this cycle repeated itself three times.
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  • Eventually, my boss made. the difficult decision to terminate his contract. She explained that she couldn't work effectively when the office constantly had a strong odor, especially since the air conditioning circulated it throughout
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  • the workspace. On top of that, several employees had also filed complaints. with HR. It was honestly an unfortunate situation.
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  • I truly wish him the best in his next role, and I hope he's able to resolve whatever caused the issue. Job hunting isn't easy these days, especially in the creative
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  • industry, and it would be a shame for something like this to overshadow his talent.
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  • cheetofacedjesus I was once, out of the blue, given a promotion. My boss immediately told me to go tell one of my employees. that they smell and to do something about it. I always wonder if that was why I was promoted that day.
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  • StuffSweaty4187 One of my talented colleague coming from my country to Germany, did not get long term onsite assignment due to his hygiene concern and body odour.
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  • man in a suit walking out of a building
    via Zsun Fu

    The ex-employee walking out of the workplace

    Stock image for illustration

  • I used to date a guy who had this issue; at first, I thought it was poor hygiene, and later I realized it was just his normal smell. He still smelled like that when he first came out of the shower, so there was a deeper problem, I guess. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know what could be causing it, but I remember once he told me that in school he used to get comments about it that really hurt him, and I didn’t know how to tell him it was concerning me too. We didn’t date for long, so I never talked to him about it, but as I'm reflecting on it, I guess if he would’ve been my boyfriend, I would’ve kindly suggested going to a doctor, although it would’ve been a very difficult conversation. I’m not sure about what was happening to this creative director, and I feel sorry for him, but I think they communicated with him multiple times before making the decision to let him go, so I don’t think there’s anything else that could’ve been done. What do you think?

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workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
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