Boss divides opinion after email telling female staff to take baths and use ‘feminine deodorant at time of the month’
A BOSS's email taking aim at the personal hygiene of female staff has has outrage online.
The message told workers to have baths and "use feminine deodorant, especially at those times of the month".
The email was branded “sexist” after it was shared on Reddit.
According to one worker, the email was sent only to women, and instructed them on how to look and smell fresh.
The first part encouraged female employees to dry clothes quickly after washing – referencing the “soured smell” if left overnight.
It then continued with a patronising list of rules reminding employees of the importance to “keep hair washed and brushed” as well as the need to brush their teeth.
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It was followed by a third rules telling female staff to “maintain regular bathing habits to avoid body odour.”
It read: “Use feminine deodorant as need – especially during those times of the month. When you can yourself, other have been able to small you for 2-3 days. Wow.”
The boss rounded off the email penning: “Remember – you are a walking billboard for the company. What are you advertising?”
The post naturally attracted a lot of attention on the antiwork subreddit as users debated whether it was fair or justified to call out employees on their hygiene.
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“It's a cowards way of dealing with a sensitive issue,” wrote one as another added: “Yeah that’s straight up dehumanizing.”
A third user added: “It’s also just incorrect. I feel I can count maybe 1-3 people in my lifetime where I could “smell” them like that. Makes me self conscious though.”
Others also labelled the boss as “sexist” – suggesting it was inappropriate and rude for them to comment on such personal matters.
One fumed: “A boss lecturing staff on periods is so weird. I’d resign from that sexist hellhole if I worked there.”
While another penned: "As stupid of an idea this is for health reasons, making demands specifically on women about their periods is sexist, ignorant, inappropriate, cringey and just plain rude.
“We’re all humans, and for the most part we try not to stink but sometimes we accidentally might. It’s not the end of the world.
“Asking someone to shower if they smell really bad is one thing, but with all those specifics this is really more of a demand that employees comply with their bosses stupid sexist expectations. Ugh, so awful.”
However, despite the wholesale negative reaction there were some that believed that the message was justified – but carried out in the wrong way.
One user theorised: “If this was sent en-masse, it's because there are complaints against one individual. And instead of talking to the one individual they didn't need a blanket statement for everyone.”
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Another user, who claimed to be a boss themselves, replied: “That would be my guess. I have had to have the hygiene conversation with a female employee in my working life.
“It was uncomfortable and awkward, but I did it as politely and as respectfully as I could. But never would I ever target every woman on staff because of one person's poor hygiene.“