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I work at a pharmaceutical company as a contractor and recently we had someone from another country work as a contractor here. One day I was approached by someone from the client company saying that they're moving people from my area to another area because they're moving the foreigner here because they couldn't stand the smell and they were getting complaints.

How do I tell the client politely that what they're doing isn't alright with their other contractors since they're moving the foreigner to our area which means our area might now have the same problem they did? It feels wrong that just because we're contractors that they're doing this.

user169363
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waitaminute...
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  • have you actually smelt it? It's not necessarily the food, some religious people don't believe in toilet paper. – Kilisi Apr 28 '16 at 08:29
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    When he smells, how does it matter that he is a foreigner? And obviously, you will never, ever refer to the religion: "We don't want you to follow your religion because it smells" - wrong. Badly wrong. "You smell, and people complain. Stop it. " - right. "The smell comes from following my religion" - "You can do whatever your religion says. But stop the smell". – gnasher729 Apr 28 '16 at 11:11
  • Some cultures actually do have an offensive odour to others. With some it's the food they eat. People here eat sea slugs guts with great relish, but it makes me nauseous to smell it. In other places like Japan they dislike the smell of foreigners who eat meat and dairy products (so I heard anyway). And last time I was in Singapore they actually had a ban at the hotel from bringing in a particular fruit because of its smell. Those smells all cling to clothing. – Kilisi Apr 28 '16 at 21:09

1 Answers1

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Is there any polite way to deal with the foreigner regarding the odor since it seems it's a cultural thing about the smell which probably comes from the food they eat?

The first thing you need to do is disassociate the fact that he is a foreigner from this. That has no bearing whatsoever on his body odor.

Secondly, you can try and see if it really is that bad (I infer from your question you have not dealt with it for some time yet) and if you find that it directly affects your well being or productivity, talk to him directly. Be honest.

Failing a response to correct this or engage in behavior that makes it more palatable, you can talk to your manager, who will take it from there.

There is no need to bring the fact that he is a foreigner into this.

How do I tell the client politely that what they're doing isn't alright with their other contractora since they're moving the foreigner to our area which means our area might now have the same problem they did? It feels wrong that just because we're contractors that they're doing this.

Do you even know thats the case yet? It could be that they moved him because they have a couple people really sensible to smell there. If it turns out to be an issue, you should mention this in the talk you'll be having with your manager about this.

Magisch
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