Woman lost job for wearing too much perfume

[Snowflake]

Having dealt with this issue while living in a cube farm, I agree, it's a team environment.

Heck, if you've been warned, if it's on the books and if the record states that you can be fired at will, then that's it in a nutshell!

[katiesue]

Iinitial reaction - she should have been fired. I'm horribly allergic to some types of perfume. I can't count how many times I've had to step out of church because someone sat near me with loads of something on that completely set me off. Now would I complain to them in church, no, I'm the one with the problem so I step out. In a work situation I would have to complain or I couldn't function.

After reading the article she was warned. Red Door is one that totally sends my allergies into the stratosphere, it's not a subtle fragrance. I agree there aren't many facts in the article but I'd say if she were wearing volumes of the stuff it would be hard for other workers in her vacinity to concentrate.

[Not Afraid]

I'm not terribly allergy-prone, but perfume completely destroys me. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting near (not next) to a heavily perfumed person on a plane to London. It was horrible and I wish perfume was illegal on airplanes! (Of course, on the way back I sat NEXT to someone who needed a bath.)

I see someone who wears a lot of perfume at work in the same way I see someone who wears skimpy clothes to the office. It's unprofessional and distracting they need to be talked to.....and stop. If this woman didn't stop, then she deserved to lose her job.

[tracilicious]

I think people need to be taught this simple rule early in life:

Spray, delay, and walk away.

[Gemini Cricket]

I have no sense of smell. She could come work with me.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by blueerica

Before I read the story: Agree, wholeheartedly. Which is why I voted other.... My first reaction was "Ha Ha" a la Nelson.

What she said.

[Morrigoon]

I agree, it's a professional environment. Getting fired for too much perfume is the same as being fired for wearing flip flops and torn jeans.

[Isaac]

The headline doesn't explain much about her termination so I'm okay with it.

At my company, men & women cannot wear heavy perfume or cologne cause it effects some people's allergies. If the woman was asked more than once to not wear heavy perfume & she did not conform, then she deserved it.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I don't have much of a sense of smell, but my hubby is nearly allergic to about any scent I've tried. Natural oils seem to go under the radar and fall into his "simply dislike" category, but don't set off the screaming fits like regular perfumes do.

It's true that some people bathe in the stuff and yeah, that can be a problem. Customers were complaining about her perfume- that's valid. She tried to switch to a different one, but if she's using half a bottle at a time, that won't help.

Oversensitive people? Maybe. How do you draw the line between "makes me uncomfortable", "dislike the scent" and an actual physiological problem in the scent-recievers?

You get complaints, if you want to continue working with these people, you got to find a way to accomodate them.

[Prudence]

I'm so torn. Sure, some people bathe in scent and it's just like anything else inappropriate - they need to stop or leave. BUT, I've also been in workplaces where some members of staff ganged up on others, where one complaint early on snowballed into a flurry of other, unjustified complaints - even when the original behavior stopped, and even a perfume incident.

One of my coworkers received a complaint about her perfume from a faculty member, and honestly we were mystified, as none of us even knew she wore perfume and we spent lots of time around her. No one else in the suite knew she was wearing perfume. She "confessed" that that she did the "spray, delay, walk away" technique, QE junky that she was, so technically she was "guilty." We weren't a perfume-free workplace. The coworker stopped wearing perfume, of course, but the faculty member still complained until the coworker was moved to a different suite - and replaced with someone else who wore perfume.

So, I agree - not enough facts in the story. In theory it's a perfectly valid reason to fire someone. In reality, whenever there's an illegal or inappropriate reason to fire someone they come up with an allegedly valid reason for cover.