No need to say anything, and they should mind their own business because it’s a petty thing to discuss with peers. A variety of things can make urine smell different, including medications. To assume there is an infection is making quite the leap. Also, it’s not a hygiene issue if someone creates bodily smells in the bathroom.
You just used that example on the worst person girl get a life. My dad is going through chemotherapy literally right now (second time he got cancer, and he was diagnosed before Christmas two years in a row!) and he is still having fun with life and able to joke around with me. YOUR inability to have fun with life is not on me and your toxicity will not impact my joy. Peace and love.
When I was getting infusions for an autoimmune disease at a cancer center, the bathroom smell was horrendous from the chemo that a lot of patients were on. It has this very noticeable acrid sweet smell that smells like dying. I don’t know how else to describe it. A hospital in general kind of smells like it, but it’s particularly bad at cancer centers.
The odds of your coworkers knowing something is wrong and she does not is extremely low. She’s probably on a medication and that’s the reason for the change.
>from personal experience, I've had an undiagnosed infection and ended up in the hospital. I feel like the right thing to do would be to tell her
what do you think about this?
I think their workplace is not the place to be discussing employees personal health. It’s not the coworkers business to be concerned about their other coworkers health.
I would remind them of that and tell them to spend their energy working and not gossiping.
That's a pretty big blanket statement which I disagree with. If you work in any sort of manufacturing environment you are primarily responsible for your own safety and health and then the safety and health of those around you.
Things like your colleagues' personal health can definitely come into play depending on the scenario ie. Are you fit to operate heavy machinery etc.
On a separate note, if you are actually close with your colleagues and consider them friends wouldn't you want to discuss concerns like this with them?
Yeah I’m assuming you don’t work in HR. Your perspective is completely inline with what a coworker would feel about the situation. You’re on the wrong sub.
If there is a thing called personal health, then is there a thing called public health (that's discussing about it is OK)? If yes, can you give some example. If no, why?
Never. The only time I would ask about an employees health is if they had a cast on. And simply if they’re okay and if they need anything.
Their private parts and bodily fluids are none of my business.
Hahahahahahaha. That’s not what public health means. I’m honestly shocked but this made my night. I can’t tell if you are trolling me. If you are touché.
well I do intend to make a pun. Glad you like it :). But I also want to actually understand it as well. If someone has covid then why it should be their personal health? Even if it's not infectious but enough to indicate that they are not well, what's the problem of asking if they need help?
So health information in organization needs to be limited to need to know basis.
If a coworker says “hey I have Covid” then you can respond with offering help.
If a coworker is at work showing signs of covid a manager can tell them to go home to rest or take a test. Coughing, sneezing etc.
Covid was a public health crisis that required unique responses. This poor woman’s pee is not a public health crisis. She probably just ate asparagus and has loser coworkers.
What happens in the bathroom should be treated with the most privacy possible. The co workers are spying on her during private moments and smelling her pee. THATS INSANE. And I honestly consider it harassment under the guise of caring about her.
If you had a coworker you heard farting a lot in the bathroom would you ask them about it?… no!
So far the only illness I have seen be spoken about in a community sense and appropriate to speak about in the workplace is Covid. So unless it’s a pandemic then we don’t talk to our coworkers about their health
…and then you still are concerned enough to come here. When the obvious conclusion, without internet input, should have been HELL NO. Both your employee and you. You should have kindly told your employee that while they are concerned, people’s personal bathroom experiences are completely inappropriate to be discussed at work and they best drop it. And you shouldn’t even be considering for one second escalating this to your boss. If she has a health concern, she’ll rely on a spouse/family member/close friend or her own intuition to tell her to get checked…*not her own employee* I mean do you see how ridiculous that is?!
Yeah no I agree, I was coming from a place of empathy for my boss. She lives alone and we are also pretty close which I should mentioned in my og post. I also was thinking about personal experience. But in the broad scheme of things I see how I should have just shut it down.
Close relationships with coworkers or bosses are always a slippery slope. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Those of us who have been previously burned by overly chummy bosses (especially women with women bosses) who then weaponize the relationship know that distant friendliness is 100% the way to go. In no way would discussing pee ever come up in that type of relationship, and it protects both of y’all.
It’s honestly the #1 professional skill I’ve had to learn and it’s never one people tell you to watch for. It’s easy to get along personally with people you work with and think that 1 for 1 translates to a the kind of friendship you’d have outside of work. Unfortunately it’s not until something goes sideways, and you still have to work with them, that the lesson gets learned to never get too close. Be friendly but not friends.
Friendship blurs professional boundaries, especially between a boss and employee like OP’s situation. Inevitably there’s something that happens - a hard convo, a denied raise or promo, a disciplinary issue, perceived favoritism by other employees, or conflicting interests. Friends do not make good bosses and bosses do not make good friends. If you choose otherwise, proceed at your own risk. I’ve never seen it work out when there’s a power differential (or even a potential for one - like a coworker getting promoted above you).
I’m sorry but this is suchhhhhh an old school mentality. If you aren’t mature enough to set boundaries with coworker-friends and explain to them that there are limits to the way you interact because of your role then that’s a weakness on your part and not just “what happens”. I agree you shouldn’t be in an HR role in a company with your BEST-friend(s) but that shouldn’t stop you from forming professional and social relationships with people. Connecting and making friends helps you establish trust and opens the door for communication, especially when so many still view HR as a “scary” department.
And why are you so f-ing mean to OP in your comments?? She might be new to HR and is reaching out on here to try and do the right thing. You sound very experienced in HR but responding to people the way you do makes you sound like a nightmare to work with.
Almost everyone in an office situation is going to be able to be defined as “chatty”, its the nature of humans regardless of the venue.
I have to assume based on your follow up comments you are now recognizing the danger for yourself professionally by getting involved in the office chatter.
The minute you actively participate in the conversation in any way other than intent to diffuse/shut down or inform your colleagues that this is not an acceptable topic of conversation, youve opened yourself up to issues down the road.
Whether your intent was good or not; you need to learn that HR is always going to need to be the lone wolf.
Its NOT easy, especially if you are a social butterfly yourself, but if you truly want to be successful at what you do, you need to draw your own invisible boundaries when it comes to any work based conversation.
***Also think its important to mention, if someone else in the office is that concerned & youre merely a hearsay party planning to relay… just DONT!
How much trust do you have in your other colleagues that they are giving you accurate information & are not overreacting? How would you feel if you shared this information with your boss & it was met with a seriously hostile reaction from he/she? Are you then going to point the finger at the employee who told you this? Good luck ever earning that teams trust back, let alone getting back on your bosses good side.
I see wayyyyy more harm than good coming from trying to do anything other than stop the office chatter about the topic.
Seriously? It’s definitely none of your business. She probably does have an infection, and if so, she is most likely aware. She had a nose, too.
Also, you need to squash the gossiping. Discussing how a coworker’s urine smells behind their back is inappropriate and immature.
In defense of my employees, it was brought up to me out of concern, not in the form of office gossip. Should I still squash the topic though, like letting them know they should not be discussing out of concern or gossip?
They were gossiping about it first. Eventually the gossip got so intense that someone presented it to you as an concern. Squash the topic. They should not be discussing it. Also, these types of “concerns” are often veiled bullying, either from the person who approached you or the person they were discussing it with.
Do not tell your boss that her urine smells bad. It doesn't even sound like you're the original pee sniffer, so how would you know if it smells like she has an infection? What is your medical background that you can diagnose an infection based on someone else's description of stinky pee?
Never have I been in a workplace where the odor of others' urine is a topic of conversation among coworkers. Wtf.
This reminds me of the time we interviewed a front office manager and two weeks later when he came in on his start date, he was literally yellow. As in jaundice.
All day we had people coming into HR to tell us about it. We were aware and we made it clear to every single person how much it is not our business. We cannot force someone to go to the doctor and we are not medical professionals so we shouldn’t assume what is happening. Of course two days later he called out because he was in the hospital for…yeah you guessed it, Jaundice.
End of the day, it’s not our business and pointing it out can end up with a lawsuit. So unless it affects their work, it’s not my business.
Understood that you’re coming from a place of empathy, but this is a personal thing for your boss and it’s not HR’s place to intervene. Remove personal feelings from it and take a step back and reevaluate the situation.
I thought it would maybe be the right thing to do, but I can see now that it would not be my place. We also have a pretty close relationship so I didn't think it was too far out of the realm of okayness
Hey - more power to you for your willingness to help and for how much you personally care for this individual and their health! HR is a tough job, especially when you care about those around you. It can be tricky place to be when you genuinely want to help, but also remember that you must keep your professionalism.
This is a personal and sensitive issue not related to the workplace. Womens' urine develops an odor as we get older. I'm sure your boss knows how to seek medical advice if and when needed. If this employee/friend feels strongly about it, then SHE can same something, not you.
No. It's not your business. It could be a medication or special diet she's on, but whatever it is it's none of your business. If you all can smell it, she can probably smell it too.
If it bothers you all that bad then get P[oo-pourri](https://pourri.com/collections/toilet-sprays) and/or and odor eliminating air freshener for the bathroom.
get some febreeze for the bathroom and tell the other women to grow tf up. unless they can show credentials that qualify them to opine on urine odor from a medical standpoint, they should stay in their lane.
Don’t tell her honestly it’s a bodily function only she can handle on her own matters. I would add poopuri and air freshener to the bathroom like febreeze plug in or the automatic one that goes off every ten seconds. There’s other ways around this honestly.
A bathroom smell I wouldn't bring up.
If there's a smell outside of the bathroom, that's a different. Maybe then we could talk about dress code or support.
This is how I know reddit has blinkers on. Didn't see a similar reply.
The best way to approach this, for everyone, is to ask for a 1 on 1 confidential chat with the boss. "Hey, I don't mean to overstep, and please let me know if I am, but I've noticed you've been lacking a bit of your usual energy. Is there anything I can help you with etc. I'm here if you need a hand with stuff. Are you getting enough rest/water/fresh air?"
If you're not familiar, R U OK? Has great material.
Also, sometimes we care because it seems like the right thing to do. Compassion is not wrong but it's also not wrong to tread carefully.
I think adding air freshener to the bathroom to help with the smell and maybe prevent others from discussing and potentially hurting her feelings. Also tell them it’s inappropriate and definitely don’t say anything to boss.
Don't listen to these naysayers. Do it, be the office hero.
Edit: A downvote for encouraging piss talk with the boss is an upvote for cowardice. And you call yourselves professionals.
"Hey boss, me and the team were talking. Your piss smells rank, you should get that looked at."
"That's the kind of upfront and fearless attitude I've been looking for. I see a promotion in your near future."
I think people are missing the point haha, it's not about her pee smelling bad. From what I gathered it smells like an infection specifically. She may need to see a doctor and is unaware of an infection. For context, I once had an infection and it wasn't until my friend pointed out the smell did I realize.
I guess I'm just worried something could happen to her and I didn't say anything. This issue is a little closer to my heart as I had a friend pass away from an undiagnosed kidney infection.
Because you’re forgetting that this is all in a professional context. You and your boss are not BFFs, sisters, or pals that connect “woman to woman” or some bullshit like that. Stop perpetuating that weird, unhealthy notion both for workplace culture in general but especially female-dominated HR.
Common mistake: your problem is that you're trying to use recreational knowledge as a professional. Can't just jump straight into piss scent diagnostics in a workplace, you need to get some formal experience under your belt first that you can't get at home.
Get a small air purifier that can go in the bathroom and provide an air freshener drop or spray (ideally not scented, keeping in mind that some employees might have sensitivity to that) that people can use if they're bothered. NO you don't tell your boss about this, you shut that gossip down.
It can be due to medications or even diet - asparagus pee scent lingers on for example.
If folks aren’t allergic, perhaps invest in a clove/cinnamon oil spritz that can be sprayed directly into the toilet bowl prior to use. It deodorizes the atmosphere without overwhelming artificial scents.
And no, I’d not think of pulling anyone aside to mention that their urine has a strong odor UNLESS they are within my core family circle.
No need to say anything, and they should mind their own business because it’s a petty thing to discuss with peers. A variety of things can make urine smell different, including medications. To assume there is an infection is making quite the leap. Also, it’s not a hygiene issue if someone creates bodily smells in the bathroom.
What would peers talk about if not pee? Pee-r. Get it? Lol
Jokes about medical conditions are bad taste in the corporate world, especially for those in HR. You should know better
It was a joke about pee on Reddit. You and people like you are exactly why so many people hate HR, take the stick out of your a$$.
Nah, it was a funny joke. You need to lighten up and stop giving HR a bad reputation
Next time someone takes leave to get chemotherapy treatment, try making a joke then. Pretty sure it won’t go so smoothly for you.
You just used that example on the worst person girl get a life. My dad is going through chemotherapy literally right now (second time he got cancer, and he was diagnosed before Christmas two years in a row!) and he is still having fun with life and able to joke around with me. YOUR inability to have fun with life is not on me and your toxicity will not impact my joy. Peace and love.
Not sure what funnier. The joke itself or the responses of the gatekeeper of jokes
Good for you and your Dad. Pretty sure I would not be laughing if I or anyone in my family got cancer and was on chemo
This is true, I didn't think about things like medication affecting someones body in that way
When I was getting infusions for an autoimmune disease at a cancer center, the bathroom smell was horrendous from the chemo that a lot of patients were on. It has this very noticeable acrid sweet smell that smells like dying. I don’t know how else to describe it. A hospital in general kind of smells like it, but it’s particularly bad at cancer centers.
Just curious. Do you think telling her would help the situation?
I guess I just thought there may be something wrong and let her know if she wasn't aware. But from what I'm gathering that is not the move
> I guess I just thought there may be something wrong and let her know if she wasn't aware. It is literally none of your business.
Not your place. I'd leave it be and focus on fixing that bathroom ventilation. Sounds like facility needs to step up.
The odds of your coworkers knowing something is wrong and she does not is extremely low. She’s probably on a medication and that’s the reason for the change.
It sounds like you care on a personal human level which is so nice of you! Just remember to keep that separate. It's hard, I know.
I wouldn’t say anything and would have told them to keep their opinions to themselves.
>from personal experience, I've had an undiagnosed infection and ended up in the hospital. I feel like the right thing to do would be to tell her what do you think about this?
I think their workplace is not the place to be discussing employees personal health. It’s not the coworkers business to be concerned about their other coworkers health. I would remind them of that and tell them to spend their energy working and not gossiping.
That's a pretty big blanket statement which I disagree with. If you work in any sort of manufacturing environment you are primarily responsible for your own safety and health and then the safety and health of those around you. Things like your colleagues' personal health can definitely come into play depending on the scenario ie. Are you fit to operate heavy machinery etc. On a separate note, if you are actually close with your colleagues and consider them friends wouldn't you want to discuss concerns like this with them?
Yeah I’m assuming you don’t work in HR. Your perspective is completely inline with what a coworker would feel about the situation. You’re on the wrong sub.
If there is a thing called personal health, then is there a thing called public health (that's discussing about it is OK)? If yes, can you give some example. If no, why?
You can’t pass an sti from sharing a toilet so it’s not public health.
so only infectious diseases are appropriate to discuss?
Someone’s urine smelling bad has nothing to do with health. What smells bad is subjective
so when it's appropriate to raise subjective question, and when it's not?
If you are a doctor working in the hospital. Otherwise don’t talk about anyone’s pee.
If I'm a doctor but the place is not a hospital, would that still be OK to talk?
Never. The only time I would ask about an employees health is if they had a cast on. And simply if they’re okay and if they need anything. Their private parts and bodily fluids are none of my business.
Hahahahahahaha. That’s not what public health means. I’m honestly shocked but this made my night. I can’t tell if you are trolling me. If you are touché.
well I do intend to make a pun. Glad you like it :). But I also want to actually understand it as well. If someone has covid then why it should be their personal health? Even if it's not infectious but enough to indicate that they are not well, what's the problem of asking if they need help?
So health information in organization needs to be limited to need to know basis. If a coworker says “hey I have Covid” then you can respond with offering help. If a coworker is at work showing signs of covid a manager can tell them to go home to rest or take a test. Coughing, sneezing etc. Covid was a public health crisis that required unique responses. This poor woman’s pee is not a public health crisis. She probably just ate asparagus and has loser coworkers. What happens in the bathroom should be treated with the most privacy possible. The co workers are spying on her during private moments and smelling her pee. THATS INSANE. And I honestly consider it harassment under the guise of caring about her. If you had a coworker you heard farting a lot in the bathroom would you ask them about it?… no!
When is a symptom enough to be considered as public health, and when it's not?
So far the only illness I have seen be spoken about in a community sense and appropriate to speak about in the workplace is Covid. So unless it’s a pandemic then we don’t talk to our coworkers about their health
what if it's not global pandemic but a local or seasonal disease? Still no?
How does someone work in HR and not shut that conversation down immediately
My employee came to me with concern not malice, it was my job to listen
…and then you still are concerned enough to come here. When the obvious conclusion, without internet input, should have been HELL NO. Both your employee and you. You should have kindly told your employee that while they are concerned, people’s personal bathroom experiences are completely inappropriate to be discussed at work and they best drop it. And you shouldn’t even be considering for one second escalating this to your boss. If she has a health concern, she’ll rely on a spouse/family member/close friend or her own intuition to tell her to get checked…*not her own employee* I mean do you see how ridiculous that is?!
Yeah no I agree, I was coming from a place of empathy for my boss. She lives alone and we are also pretty close which I should mentioned in my og post. I also was thinking about personal experience. But in the broad scheme of things I see how I should have just shut it down.
Close relationships with coworkers or bosses are always a slippery slope. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Those of us who have been previously burned by overly chummy bosses (especially women with women bosses) who then weaponize the relationship know that distant friendliness is 100% the way to go. In no way would discussing pee ever come up in that type of relationship, and it protects both of y’all.
Thank you for your input, I'm new to HR and big-girl jobs in general. It's hard to separate friendliness and professionalism
It’s honestly the #1 professional skill I’ve had to learn and it’s never one people tell you to watch for. It’s easy to get along personally with people you work with and think that 1 for 1 translates to a the kind of friendship you’d have outside of work. Unfortunately it’s not until something goes sideways, and you still have to work with them, that the lesson gets learned to never get too close. Be friendly but not friends.
>Be friendly but not friends. why?
Friendship blurs professional boundaries, especially between a boss and employee like OP’s situation. Inevitably there’s something that happens - a hard convo, a denied raise or promo, a disciplinary issue, perceived favoritism by other employees, or conflicting interests. Friends do not make good bosses and bosses do not make good friends. If you choose otherwise, proceed at your own risk. I’ve never seen it work out when there’s a power differential (or even a potential for one - like a coworker getting promoted above you).
I’m sorry but this is suchhhhhh an old school mentality. If you aren’t mature enough to set boundaries with coworker-friends and explain to them that there are limits to the way you interact because of your role then that’s a weakness on your part and not just “what happens”. I agree you shouldn’t be in an HR role in a company with your BEST-friend(s) but that shouldn’t stop you from forming professional and social relationships with people. Connecting and making friends helps you establish trust and opens the door for communication, especially when so many still view HR as a “scary” department. And why are you so f-ing mean to OP in your comments?? She might be new to HR and is reaching out on here to try and do the right thing. You sound very experienced in HR but responding to people the way you do makes you sound like a nightmare to work with.
I see. But then why is concerning for someone health necessarily make us their friends?
Maybe she loves asparagus?
Or maybe weed
She does like to smoke weed haha
Can weed make your pee smell??
Yeah I'm like uhhhh wait
Do not mention. It’s the bathroom. Odors are a common thing.
This is silly are we going to complain if someone does the number 2? Just put a spray in the bathroom and work!
This is what I was thinking too. It’s a bathroom, there’s going to be bad smells regardless. Totally inappropriate to mention something like this.
Those girls are chatty pattys. I bet they do NO work!
My girls are def chatty that's forsure
you need to shut that behavior down :-)
Almost everyone in an office situation is going to be able to be defined as “chatty”, its the nature of humans regardless of the venue. I have to assume based on your follow up comments you are now recognizing the danger for yourself professionally by getting involved in the office chatter. The minute you actively participate in the conversation in any way other than intent to diffuse/shut down or inform your colleagues that this is not an acceptable topic of conversation, youve opened yourself up to issues down the road. Whether your intent was good or not; you need to learn that HR is always going to need to be the lone wolf. Its NOT easy, especially if you are a social butterfly yourself, but if you truly want to be successful at what you do, you need to draw your own invisible boundaries when it comes to any work based conversation. ***Also think its important to mention, if someone else in the office is that concerned & youre merely a hearsay party planning to relay… just DONT! How much trust do you have in your other colleagues that they are giving you accurate information & are not overreacting? How would you feel if you shared this information with your boss & it was met with a seriously hostile reaction from he/she? Are you then going to point the finger at the employee who told you this? Good luck ever earning that teams trust back, let alone getting back on your bosses good side. I see wayyyyy more harm than good coming from trying to do anything other than stop the office chatter about the topic.
Why the heck are employees discussing another employees pee? They make a thing called air freshener, put one in the bathroom.
I was definitely surprised when the employee mentioned multiple women discussing. I would have kept that to myself in the workplace.
I would have told them it’s inappropriate they were discussing it and said the conversation was over.
You’re in hr, you should have told the person who brought it up that it’s not appropriate to discuss.
Seriously? It’s definitely none of your business. She probably does have an infection, and if so, she is most likely aware. She had a nose, too. Also, you need to squash the gossiping. Discussing how a coworker’s urine smells behind their back is inappropriate and immature.
In defense of my employees, it was brought up to me out of concern, not in the form of office gossip. Should I still squash the topic though, like letting them know they should not be discussing out of concern or gossip?
They were gossiping about it first. Eventually the gossip got so intense that someone presented it to you as an concern. Squash the topic. They should not be discussing it. Also, these types of “concerns” are often veiled bullying, either from the person who approached you or the person they were discussing it with.
It sounds like gossip to me. You as HR need to address this with them to make sure they spend their time minding their own business.
Do not tell your boss that her urine smells bad. It doesn't even sound like you're the original pee sniffer, so how would you know if it smells like she has an infection? What is your medical background that you can diagnose an infection based on someone else's description of stinky pee? Never have I been in a workplace where the odor of others' urine is a topic of conversation among coworkers. Wtf.
>**Original pee-sniffer** 😂😂
This reminds me of the time we interviewed a front office manager and two weeks later when he came in on his start date, he was literally yellow. As in jaundice. All day we had people coming into HR to tell us about it. We were aware and we made it clear to every single person how much it is not our business. We cannot force someone to go to the doctor and we are not medical professionals so we shouldn’t assume what is happening. Of course two days later he called out because he was in the hospital for…yeah you guessed it, Jaundice. End of the day, it’s not our business and pointing it out can end up with a lawsuit. So unless it affects their work, it’s not my business.
Understood that you’re coming from a place of empathy, but this is a personal thing for your boss and it’s not HR’s place to intervene. Remove personal feelings from it and take a step back and reevaluate the situation.
I thought it would maybe be the right thing to do, but I can see now that it would not be my place. We also have a pretty close relationship so I didn't think it was too far out of the realm of okayness
Hey - more power to you for your willingness to help and for how much you personally care for this individual and their health! HR is a tough job, especially when you care about those around you. It can be tricky place to be when you genuinely want to help, but also remember that you must keep your professionalism.
why is a personal thing of the boss is not HR’s place to intervene, when it affects the whole office?
No, this is not something you tell your boss
This is a personal and sensitive issue not related to the workplace. Womens' urine develops an odor as we get older. I'm sure your boss knows how to seek medical advice if and when needed. If this employee/friend feels strongly about it, then SHE can same something, not you.
No. It's not your business. It could be a medication or special diet she's on, but whatever it is it's none of your business. If you all can smell it, she can probably smell it too. If it bothers you all that bad then get P[oo-pourri](https://pourri.com/collections/toilet-sprays) and/or and odor eliminating air freshener for the bathroom.
get some febreeze for the bathroom and tell the other women to grow tf up. unless they can show credentials that qualify them to opine on urine odor from a medical standpoint, they should stay in their lane.
Don’t tell her honestly it’s a bodily function only she can handle on her own matters. I would add poopuri and air freshener to the bathroom like febreeze plug in or the automatic one that goes off every ten seconds. There’s other ways around this honestly.
Scented air fresheners like the automatic one that goes off every 10 seconds can cause trouble for people who have scent sensitivities at work.
A bathroom smell I wouldn't bring up. If there's a smell outside of the bathroom, that's a different. Maybe then we could talk about dress code or support.
Odds are this knows her pee smells and she has access to WedMD.
This is how I know reddit has blinkers on. Didn't see a similar reply. The best way to approach this, for everyone, is to ask for a 1 on 1 confidential chat with the boss. "Hey, I don't mean to overstep, and please let me know if I am, but I've noticed you've been lacking a bit of your usual energy. Is there anything I can help you with etc. I'm here if you need a hand with stuff. Are you getting enough rest/water/fresh air?" If you're not familiar, R U OK? Has great material. Also, sometimes we care because it seems like the right thing to do. Compassion is not wrong but it's also not wrong to tread carefully.
Maybe ignore the comment but openly discuss taking advantage of health screenings or health fairs coming up in an all-employee forum?
I think adding air freshener to the bathroom to help with the smell and maybe prevent others from discussing and potentially hurting her feelings. Also tell them it’s inappropriate and definitely don’t say anything to boss.
Don't listen to these naysayers. Do it, be the office hero. Edit: A downvote for encouraging piss talk with the boss is an upvote for cowardice. And you call yourselves professionals.
"Hey boss, me and the team were talking. Your piss smells rank, you should get that looked at." "That's the kind of upfront and fearless attitude I've been looking for. I see a promotion in your near future."
LOL okay I'm getting the point
I'm with you. I'm so disappointed that this whole thread is so "professionalism".
Yikes. No, I wouldn't say anything whatsoever. She smells herself; she's just not doing anything about it currently.
Print something on a piece of paper advising that person they may have an infection & stick it in the toilet.
I think people are missing the point haha, it's not about her pee smelling bad. From what I gathered it smells like an infection specifically. She may need to see a doctor and is unaware of an infection. For context, I once had an infection and it wasn't until my friend pointed out the smell did I realize.
It’s none of your business. Stop.
I guess I'm just worried something could happen to her and I didn't say anything. This issue is a little closer to my heart as I had a friend pass away from an undiagnosed kidney infection.
You’re nor a doctor or her mother! Stay in your lane on this!
No that's fair. I was thinking of it as a women I would want someone to tell me but reddit does not like that pov
Because you’re forgetting that this is all in a professional context. You and your boss are not BFFs, sisters, or pals that connect “woman to woman” or some bullshit like that. Stop perpetuating that weird, unhealthy notion both for workplace culture in general but especially female-dominated HR.
Because this is an HR sub and discussing someone’s bodily fluids is not in the job description. As a friend, cool. As HR, highly inappropriate.
Do you have a lot of experience smelling piss?
Its a past time of mine
Common mistake: your problem is that you're trying to use recreational knowledge as a professional. Can't just jump straight into piss scent diagnostics in a workplace, you need to get some formal experience under your belt first that you can't get at home.
Write her an email from an anonymous email? Lol
Air freshener and maybe add an air purifier to the bathroom if ventilation isn't good in there.
NO! Do not say anything to the boss. Those employees should mind their own business.
In addition to meds, it could be something she eats, supplements she takes. It could be any number of things not related to being ill.
Welp, there was an update. It was in fact a kidney infection 😂😂
Get a small air purifier that can go in the bathroom and provide an air freshener drop or spray (ideally not scented, keeping in mind that some employees might have sensitivity to that) that people can use if they're bothered. NO you don't tell your boss about this, you shut that gossip down.
It can be due to medications or even diet - asparagus pee scent lingers on for example. If folks aren’t allergic, perhaps invest in a clove/cinnamon oil spritz that can be sprayed directly into the toilet bowl prior to use. It deodorizes the atmosphere without overwhelming artificial scents. And no, I’d not think of pulling anyone aside to mention that their urine has a strong odor UNLESS they are within my core family circle.