Over-use of cologne/perfume in the workplace

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Sneeze loudly. Heck, sneeze on the recalcitrant perfume-wearers! "Ooops, dear me, I'm just so allergic to that smell! No kleenex...do you mind if I use your sleeve?"

(Personally, I love perfume and used to use a lot of it. Then unscented products started coming out, and I realized why I got sick every time I dressed up! It was horrible and disgusting, and I feel for everyone who's forced to endure it.)
 
I used to work in an office with a "NO PERFUME" policy. It was instituted before I started. I had no trouble at all with it until one of the women who initiated the policy started complaining about my hand lotion. My department handled paper all day we all used a lot of lotion because paper dries out your hands wicked fast. The boss said we had to use different hand lotion because our berry scented lotion was too strong. Ok, so I brought in something unscented and life went on. Then this woman complained about my lotion again on a day I wasn't wearing any yet. The boss came to talk to me again and the only thing we could figure out was she was smelling my shampoo or possibly my deodorant. Neither was strongly scented at all. He asked if I could switch to something else because she was "allergic to scents".

Well as it turned out I had just heard an episode of Dr. Dean Edell where they talked about scent allergies and how incredibly rare an actual scent allergy was. Annoyed at my tattletale coworker, I told the boss that if this other employee could provide paperwork showing she was medically diagnosed with a scent allergy that I would be happy to switch despite the fact that I buy in bulk and it would be expensive for me to give away the products I already bought and buy more in the unscented variety. His other option was to start buying me approved shampoo, deodorant and lotion and I would use only that for the days I was working. He was annoyed at the suggestion that he should by my lotions and potions but saw my point and had a talk with her.

Funny, but neither she nor the other woman with "scent allergies" was ever able to provide paperwork showing an actual allergy. I also learned that one of the women with a "scent allergy" was dating a man who apparently swam in a vat of cologne every morning before work. The whole warehouse could smell him every time he picked her up for lunch. The other woman had an office close to a bathroom. She was constantly spraying her office with vanilla or strawberry air freshener. Not hypoallergenic or special air freshener, just the nasty smelling cheap stuff.

These two biddies finally pushed things too far when they started complaining about the food people were cooking in the lunch room. They wanted the boss to ban certain foods. He finally realized both of them were just bitter, manipulative wenches and he put a stop to their complaints. The no perfume policy remained, but everything else was none of their business and they were welcomed to quit if it was a problem.

The point of my rambling story is that if coworkers seem insensitive, they may have had experiences with people like my former coworkers. While people do have a legitimate cause to complain about the loads of perfume some use due to REAL allergy, asthma or migraine issues, some office workers are just lying sacks of crap and like to act like manipulative tools.
 
I had a lady who couldn't stand anything scented, not even hand lotion. I have eczema sometimes and I use a lot of hand lotion. I had a bottle of mildly scented lotion that I put on about a half hour before work and she told me to immediately wash it off. I don't think she could even smell it, I just mentioned it and she got upset. But, I think in her case, she does have a medically viable reason for her sensitivity that she can back up in writing.

I know with me, it's mostly the strong scents that bother me and give me asthma. I don't usually complain about stuff like shampoo unless it's really high scent or really flowery. I could bring in a doctor's note, but mostly it would verify that I do, indeed, have allergies and I shouldn't be exposed to strong perfumes. I don't know if that would be good enough for some people.
 
Our policy was if your perfume or scent can be smelled by some one who is not close enough to you to warrant a sexual harassment charge, you need to stop wearing it.
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Wifezilla, people like that really make me mad, b/c it is experiences like yours that make people so suspicious of those of us that legitamately have a problem. My problem is immediate and unmistakeable, within moments of exposure I have a deep seal bark cough that worsens to the point of not being able to catch my breath between coughing spasms and stimulating my vagal nerve to the point of lowering my blood pressure to the point of passing out. Once the episode starts if I immediately remove myself from the exposure and medicate w/ inhaler most of the time I can break the attack, but will continue to have increased mucus production and chest tightness and cough for hrs to days w/ a hair trigger reaction to the least provocation for the time (hrs or days) that follow.
 
it is experiences like yours that make people so suspicious of those of us that legitamately have a problem.

Exactly! It diminishes the actual problem. Those two women were such.... well...this is a family forum. Eventually the owner sold the business. We joked to him that he did it so he wouldn't have to fight a law suit for firing those wenches! He cracked up and said selling was a bit of a relief
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Some of what makes this hard for me, is trying to understand WHY any of the females I work with wear perfume (& some of the guys wear cologne) in the type of place that I work...

I WORK IN A JAIL, for crying out loud!
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When I started, I gave up makeup & perfume/scented lotions, etc while I was at work. I started in an male facility. Definitely didn't want any unnecessary attention, right? You'd be surprised how many females are perfectly made up & drenched in perfume, even there. Now, I work in a female facility--you would think females still wouldn't want unnecessary attention (& believe me, you do get it there, too) by wearing so much perfume (& make up), but they do. I go to work to do a job, not to have to worry about my health because someone bathes in her perfume, in a place ya got NO BUSINESS wearing perfume! Unfortunately, we don't have a 'no perfume' policy, but I sure wish we did...
 
What if there is a situation with the opposite problem. Horrendous B.O.? Can you imagine having that conversation with an employee? I had a co-worker and bless her heart, she just didn't believe in using doedorant, and we could tell!
 

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