Mike,
hope he doesn't read the histonet!
I would suggest that the direct approach is best.
It is really the responsibility of the supervisor to broach this subject one to
one in as diplomatic a manner as possible.
If this was my employee I would sit them down and say that "this is an
embarrasing situation for me but I feel that I must be direct.  My perception
is that have you could pay more attention to personal hygiene. Do you have any
medical conditions that might be causing this?"
If they say that they have some medical condition then the follow up question
is are they getting treatement and is there anything that the supervisorcould
do to help? (help in the shower is not the intent of the question here). If the
answer is that there are no medical conditions then the supervisor tells them
that they need to pay some more attention to their peronal hygiene. If this is
a real problem and they don't know the cause then suggest that they get some
medical help.
This situation can be handled tactfully but if the message to the employee is
not loud and clear the problem will persist.
The point here is that not all problems are avoidable there are ceratin
conditions in which body odor or hallotosis are metabloc problems rather than
lack of perosonal hygiene. The supervisor need to be firm but also supportive.
My wife has a good way of handling problems period. She starts by saying, honey
I have noticed lately....
Barry

Mike Kirby wrote:

> Histonetters.
>
> This has absolutely nothing to do with Histopathology practices, but we
> would love to know an answer to our problem, which is, how does one deal
> with a certain colleague, who does not believe in the necessity of frequent
> applications of soap and water, and is best approached, upwind, and wearing
> a respirator? (flowers tend to wilt when he walks by)
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Mike Kirby
> Johannesburg
> South Africa