Comments on: Hellitosis.

By: NickN

NickN — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 17:17:45 +0000

Say “Take the hint! Have a mint!” with a big smile and pass out mints to everyone within earshot — smiling all the way. Do this often. Deep down, everyone is so self conscious that ultimately your whole office will be packing Altoids.

By: AmyK

AmyK — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 16:43:30 +0000

I too am a hellitoxic boss survivor. He was a traveling salesman. We assumed he was eating roadkill while he was out there on the road. Driving by a dead squirrel and making a mental note of where to get lunch after he finished his next sales pitch.

By: The Piglet

The Piglet — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 05:42:09 +0000

Perhaps you could try writing an anonymous note? This way, if she does have something seriously wrong in her mouth you could help her without the face to face embarrassment.

Me personally, would not be able to tell someone face to face unless they were a member of my famliy. AND ESPECIALLY not a boss person.

Good luck, that sucks to be amongst a big old stinky mouth.

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:52:46 +0000

Ugh one of the bosses in my office has this problem. And he likes to lean down over you when he is pointing something out on your computer screen. It’s like being trapped underneath a pile of stale laundry. Yuck!!!!

By: BeeJay

BeeJay — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 01:32:12 +0000

You really should tell her. Breath like that is frequently a sign of some kind of disease, so you could be saving her life.

By: Miss Jean

Miss Jean — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:59:54 +0000

It’s called zactly breath… as in your mouth smells zactly like your ass. I carry a little spray sample of perfume and kleenex to mask smells I don’t want to have anything to do with. Like sitting behind a farter on the plane. You spray your kleenex and waft it under you nose or just hold it there if it’s bad.

By: Erin O'Brien

Erin O'Brien — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:25:49 +0000

Until very recently, I would have suggested utilizing the old breathe-through-your-mouth-to-circumvent-your-sense-of-smell trick, to which I referred on my blog when recounting the unfortunate details of a wayward case of flatulence and my kid’s Tae Kwon Do class.

A reader responded and warned that bypassing the nose is the worst thing you can do as it filters out the microscopic particles the mouth cannot.

“You were eating poop,” he advised.

Hence, I have no constructive suggestions except to perhaps clandestinely send the boss a pack of Breath Assure.

By: Lane Meyer

Lane Meyer — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:56:53 +0000

I, too, have lived thru the dead hamster in the vent stench as well as having a French teacher in junior high who’s breath could peel expensive wallpaper off of a wall. He always liked getting right into the students’ faces and enunciating the proper French pronunciation repeatedly until one had to beg for pitié. Horrid, horrid times, I tell you.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:00:53 +0000

How painful. I wish more people knew that they should brush their tongues (along with their teeth) and that drinking water throughout the day can really help alleviate bad breath.

I don’t know what to tell you. I’m so sensitive to odors - mine and other people’s - that I might be forever scarred if someone told me I had bad breath. But then again, I wouldn’t think twice if someone offered me a stick of gum. So there’s my wimpy, path-of-least-resistance advice.

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:52:20 +0000

Oh I read dooce. Things that smell horrible and disgusting are meant to come from the bum. But the mouth is where you speak from and where you kiss people. And if it smells like ass…well…you get where I’m going.