Posted on 11/28/2008 3:50:26 PM PST by Oyarsa
DETROIT—A federal judge says a Detroit city employee can proceed with a civil suit claiming she couldn't work because of a co-worker's strong perfume. The Detroit News says U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff determined Susan McBride has a potential claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The city is asking to have the suit dismissed.
McBride says she's severely sensitive to perfumes and other cosmetics. She says the perfume worn by a co-worker in the city's Planning Department made it difficult for her to breathe.
She says the co-worker also used a plugged in room deodorizer.
The suit says the co-worker later agreed to stop using the room deodorizer but kept using perfume.
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
I am extremely allergic to any kind of strong smell. I was in the grocery store today and was going to buy clothes detergent but every one I picked up had some kind of perfume smell to it. I just can not be around that stuff. And, some people think that a whole bottle of perfume is necessary before going out. I remember a lady at church who wore a lot, bless her heart. I knew it was her coming in the door without turning around. I was at least 75 feet from the door. It did not bother me when I was younger but now I have to stay away from it.
We have a rule in choir that no perfume is allowed due to so many of us being allergic to that stuff.
If you were as allergic to that junk as some of us, you would not be joking about it. I have been sick for weeks after being around someone who did not know that just a little works not the whole bottle and most times, that little is too much.
I am retired, but if I were still working and if you were working in my office, and if you would have complained about my coffee... I would have killed you. ;>)
Not joking about it all. It makes me quit sick as I have stated. I just don’t think I have the right to tell other people how to live because it makes me sick. Stay home if you don’t like it.
Some perfume smells so good they ought to pay people to use it.
That stuff makes me sick. I’ve had my throat close up and even trace amounts give me headaches.
Fortunately, I’m a software engineer and don’t have many women in the office.
This is her job. How hard would it be for the other woman to tone down the perfume? I know I would if my perfume was causing someone else distress.
Perhaps we could include the geat "[un]washed" who's body odors are offensive to the extreme to my very sensitive nose and no doubt is the cause of my present, physical condition--whatever that might be?
I would imagine these cosmetic companies also have deep pockets and there must be some bottom-feeding, shysters (I UNDERSTAND JOHN-BOY IS PRESENTLY UNEMPLOYED)who would take up this righteous cause?
I wonder how many premature deaths can be [in]directly attributed to this condition?
Someone, notify the EPA,and the CDC, stat!!!
But sooner or later they discover the downside....it attracts a lot of "rump rangers".
Well, it is not allowed in my choir since so many of us are allergic to it. You can walk away from a coffee pot if it bothers you but if you are in a very small room with 100 singers and half are coughing their heads off, runny noses, etc. then people should not wear it. Ladies can do without wearing perfume 2 times a week, one at practice and once on Sunday. But, when a lady wears so much perfume that I knew when she walked in the door and I was at least 75 feet away, then that is way too much. My late daughter use to have a friend who stayed with us a lot when they were in high school. I did not even have to know that she had been here but as soon as I walked in the house, I knew she had been here due to her perfume. That is way too much that it lingers for hours after a person has left the house. Why should those of us have to stay home due to the inconsideration of a few who have lost their sense of smell?
People may be annoyed....but not incapacitated...
Sounds like a setup. Wonder what else is in her background.
I use to love to wear perfume. In fact, White Shoulders was my very favorite. But as I grew older, the more allergic I am to it. I can be sick for weeks just from going down the candle aisle at a store. I have no idea why I grew allergic to it over the years but lots of people I have talked with about it have said the same thing. It did not bother them when they were younger but it does now. When we are having choir practice, people will stop practice to remind people not to wear perfume. It is not good for singers as well as others to have throat and ear problems due to a smell that is not necessary all of the time.
Just an offhand observation, but that it a curiously appropriate screen name for this particular thread.
How long have you been waiting for a chance to use it, Mr. Acetonitrile?
“The smell of coffee makes me nauseous and gives me headaches. I think people should quit drinking coffee just for me. “
This is no trivial matter. Did you have trouble understanding what Oyarsa wrote? I have the same issue.
I get migraines as well as cluster headaches.These headaches actually drive people to suicide. Perfume triggers them in me the same as they trigger migraines in others. The treatment is the same $20+ pill (if I can catch it fast enough) or a $75+ injection if I don’t.
This isn’t just something unpleasant, it is something that actually causes medical issues with people.
I’m down with that. I started deleting man-made fragrances from my life 30 years ago, and over time I became extremely sensitive to them.
When people are inundated daily with strong, un-natural odors, they become de-sensitized to them over time.
Removing oneself from such an environment restores a person’s normal level of olfactory perception.
Therefore, when a person is again exposed to those same odors, in the same concentrations, they can be overwhelmed to the point of serious discomfort, or even disability.
I’ve experienced it myself. It’s gotten to the point where if I have to hold my breath on the detergent aisle in the grocery store, the fragrances are so pungent.
Take the space out. Will do a bit more than take off the old nail polish.
Take the space out?
You are told how to dress, when you can eat, what you can drink, what you can listen to, who you must sit by and what you can do.
You accept payment to give up these freedoms.
If your actions, appearance or aroma makes other workers uncomfortable then they have the right to make that known and the boss has the right to tell you to knock it off.
Yeah, CH3CN. Not CH3 CN.
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