I heard a story about actor Keanu Reeves–who is said to be notorious for having a strong body odor–once eating a restaurant, with his stench apparently so loud that other patrons were complaining, and management ultimately demanding that he leave.

Do you think that businesses (including employers) should have the right to ask someone to leave if the person exudes a body odor that is considered 'rank'?

If it's bad enough, yes. Unless the person has some medical condition I don't see why they shouldn’t respect other's sensibilities up to a point. I don’t mean they should be required to douse themselves in perfume or cologne (that can be a problem at the other end of the stink spectrum) or apply chemicals to their arm pits. Just take a bath before you go out. If by 5 PM you reek bad enough to make people think something died, find a restroom and wash your pits again.

Yes. B.O. is a sign of bad hygiene, and that shouldn't be tolerated.

Chris wrote:

Do you think that businesses (including employers) should have the right to ask someone to leave if the person exudes a body odor that is considered 'rank'?

No, but that is my prejudice which, as usual, runs counter to the majority culture in the U.S. (If France didn't have cold winters and a language impossible for me to learn I would be living there.)

My prejudice is that I enjoy the smell of natural armpits. I see it for what it is; a natural signaling device for sexuality (or other anxiety) and one which our culture has deemed unpleasant, possibly for the same reason as our other puritan concepts of sexual, that it is nasty.

Here for those who read more than a tweet, is an article that got published in a naturist magazine, and garnered some controversy even there.

http://home.earthlink.net/~robwrites/id10.html

alan smithee wrote:

... I don’t mean they should be required to douse themselves in perfume or cologne (that can be a problem at the other end of the stink spectrum) or apply chemicals to their arm pits. ...

Yes, that is a problem for many of us. I must have a keen sense of smell and artificial fragrances that our culture so wastes money on makes me actually want to stop breathing.

I have thrown away so many cans of spray that my coworkers use in the bathroom that leak into the office, making breathing difficult for me. To tell the truth, shit has been with us forever. Our culture has assigned it to be a bad smell but our noses accept the smell as natural and adjusted to it for millions of years. However, who knows what chemicals are in those perfumes and "air fresheners" that we assault everyone's lungs with.

Srsly, some co-workers come in and I can smell them 10 feet away and sit there breathing shallowly until they and their stink leave. It does not even smell good to me, but more like bug spray. I can smell the underlying chemicals more than the desired fragrance. So, if you are talking about offensive odors, those artificial ones that most ppl misuse should be addressed before the natural odor of our species.

stonestatic wrote:

Yes. B.O. is a sign of bad hygiene, and that shouldn't be tolerated.

NO!

First we have to define what Body Odor is. Are you talking about the rancid, dead meat smell that someone with actual poor hygiene emits? Or are you talking about underarm odor, which is the natural smell of our species and is accepted by many cultures outside the United States (and probably Canada as well).

A person can be perfectly clean but if he does not take special procedures to deodorize his underarms he will have that familiar and natural odor. (Which I really enjoy on those few brave ppl who have it and if that is the "offending" odor on Keanu Reeves, I doubt that I could contain myself.)

Hey I work at a gym and know all about b.o. The workout floor can sometimes be haze of musk. I'm not a PT so I don't have to inhale that often when I'm on the clock and fortunately there are showers, but all the time we get complaints from members about how foul the stink in certain areas is up there. As for the question . . . if ONE persons odor is so overwhelming the air and making others uncomfortable, then they should leave or do something about it.

If their smell is so offensive that it becomes a distraction for everyone else then yes I do think they should leave.

This thread reminds me of a story. Once I was at work and a co-worker and me were talking and this other co-worker who was an older man and sat near us passed gas. Out of nowhere the smell hit us and the guy I was talking to looked over at the guy and asked him point blank if he passed gas. The older guy had this embarrassed look on his face and meekly admitted to it. Then the co-worker I was talking to went into the bottom drawer of his desk, pulled out a can of Lysol air freshener and condescendingly sprayed it in his direction. It was rude but funny.

Hell to the yes! B.O. is just No Bueno! And I stand behind that. If I'm out to eat, I better be smiling at the smell of my sushi and not frowning at the smell of someone's coochie. It's not kosher. I think it's really common courtesy, and just because Mr. Reeves has been stuck in the matrix doesn't mean we all have to suffer. damn.

Certain business should have the right to ask a person to leave or clean up. Really, if it happens in a retail setting, how long do other patrons really have to deal with it? So, it would be unfair for a person to ask management to remove a customer with offensive body odor. But, the amendment I make to that is that a person manning a changing room should have the right to offer a towelette to a person about to try on clothes. I had that discussion with friends of my step daughter who worked mall retail. Made me want to never try clothes on again.

If it's THAT bad, I guess so. I can't imagine it being that bad though...Maybe I'm naive or don't have a sensitive nose.