HANDLING SMELLY SITUATION TACTFULLY.

Byline: Ken Lloyd On the Job

Q -- We have a visitor to our office once a week. The man is a physician, about the same level as our director. The problem is that he has terrible body odor, dirty clothing, and filthy hands. When he visits, all of us leave our work areas and get nothing done while he is here. How can we tell him that he stinks? P.M.

A -- Many people believe that certain aspects of their jobs stink, and this is literally the case in your situation. While body odor can be a reflection of such factors as a person's diet, health, medicinal intake, or stress, it can also reflect a lack of familiarity with a bar of soap.

There are work situations where dirty clothing and hands, and the gamy odors that accompany them, are common and normal. However, that does not typically apply to a physician who appears to have arrived in your office by way of a toxic landfill.

If you sense that you are able to communicate with this individual, you should meet with him in private and tell him that you and your associates are concerned about him. Let him know that you understand how hard he must be working, but as a professional colleague it would be unfair if you did not give him this feedback. Be brief and specific in describing the situation, and be sure to avoid any criticism.

The other option is to ask your director to speak with him. in fact, one has to wonder what the director is doing about a staff evacuation every time this visitor arrives. It is possible that the director's managerial skills are rather stale as well.

Q -- A good friend of mine works in the back office of a small medical practice. She feels picked on by the doctor and the receptionist. The receptionist complains constantly, and the doctor allows himself to be drawn into her gossip about the back office staff. I've told my friend that she should find an office where there are more employees because what she is experiencing is typical of small medical offices. What do you think? M.R.

A -- What your friend is experiencing in a small medical practice is less a function of the size of the office, and more a function of the physician's lack of managerial skills. There are small practices where the levels of communication, trust and respect are high, and there are huge practices where backbiting, gossip and teasing are standard operation procedures.

If your friend is dissatisfied with her work situation and feels that she has done all that she can to correct it, she should consider making a move. However, rather than automatically eliminating small practices from her job search, she should try to check out the next employment situation very carefully, regardless of size.

Since leadership sets the climate, tone and atmosphere of an organization, it will be important for her to meet with departmental leadership in a large practice, and topside leadership in a small one. She should also try to have several trips to the doctor's office, as it has been found that multiple visits to a potential employer can be very helpful in the decision-making process.

Q -- I went to a job interview and gave the interviewer copies of some very positive letters written by some of my former employers. He tossed them aside and said letters aren't worth much because no one ever puts anything negative in writing. Are reference letters useless? T.P.

A -- The only useless thing in this situation is a job interviewer who tosses an applicant's reference letters aside. Granted that these letters are typically in the glowing range, they nonetheless give a potential employer additional insight and verification regarding an applicant's positions, accomplishments, and responsibilities.

It is still important for companies to conduct further job-related references, such as by telephoning previous employers, but even in such cases, these letters can serve as a basis for more effective data gathering. In fact, one of the more effective ways to gather data in a reference check phone call is for the potential employer to indicate that he or she would like to verify some information about a particular applicant.

You are justifiably proud of these letters that describe your past performance so positively, and you probably felt insulted, hurt and upset when the interviewer flipped them aside. Any job interviewer that would treat an applicant so thoughtlessly is telling you that his skills as a screener are fixated at the pre-kindergarten level. And, the fact that a person at this skill level is conducting job interviews does not fingerpaint a very pretty picture of the company either.