Smelly Coworkers

Slappy asks:

One coworker wears the worst smelling perfume. It's her regular scent. It smells awful when she is next to me whih is quite often. I am allergic to most perfumes, so I often get headaches when we work closely together. Is there a tactful way to ask her to lighten up on the application, or skip it altogether???

This sounds like a job for Nice Critic. I was introduced to this site by a friend just recently. You can anonymously email a neighbor or coworker with various friendly suggestions about their appearance, hygiene, manners, etc. The notes are all worded very kindly, so you can get your point across without being rude and without getting involved in an awkward conversation. Sure, it's kindof hilarious, but it might just work!

If passive-aggressive isn't really your thing, you can use your allergies as a perfect excuse to start this conversation. If you remember Kate's article, How Do I Say It, from back in May, her number one rule for situations like this is to blame yourself. The easiest way to approach a situation like this is to say, "Hey, co-irker, I'm prone to migranes and a lot of times they're triggered by the chemicals in perfume. I know it's inconvenient, but would you mind wearing a little less on days that we have meetings?" By deflecting the problem to yourself, you're softening the blow of the actual statement, which would be, "You smell like crap. Knock it off."