Posted: Monday, May 19, 2003 12:00 am
Let's see here. You can't smoke in the office. That's good.
Skipping a bath or two and selecting work clothes from the bedroom floor also is cause for a private talk with the boss - or worse. Very good.
But the latest center of dissent over scent and sensibility is whether workers should be able to splash on perfume before coming to work.
Welcome to the age where increasing numbers of people lobby for a scent-less workplace, or - as its critics would say - a senseless workplace.
Across the nation, those sensitive to chemicals and perfumes are insisting that their work environment be fragrance free. There is both good and questionable reasoning involved here. As you might expect, that varies by situation.
Many people have breathing problems that cause them to gasp for air when someone drenched in perfume walks by. Because the number of people suffering from asthma is on the rise, this is a serious issue. In 268-year-old Shutesbury Mass., the "scented" and "scent-free" are segregated at the town hall meeting, a move that people like Bernard Pareis, 77, thinks is extremist "baloney."
The solution seems breathlessly easy, and need not involve making laws. Clearing the air between those who need to breath free and those who have been overly liberal with the cologne, after shave or perfume can come down to candor without rancor. It isn't easy, but telling someone they smell too powerfully good is possible, if done politely in a non-embarrassing way. After all, the sense of smell varies between individuals, with a whiff overpowering for some and may be undetectable to others.
The scent-sensitive need not suffer in silence. Those who enjoy scent should be open to clearing the air with those for whom perfume is poison, so that all can breath easier.