Workplace Woes

I have ready many articles that talk about annoying things that co-workers can do. For the most part, I have had few issues with my co-workers over the years.

Until now. I have to say, the articles are right; one of the worst things you can do in an office is to make smelly food!

I have a co-worker that is in a cubicle right behind me. Yousef is great. He is friendly, nice, and works hard. But, lately, his food has been SO smelly! It has literally made me nauseous every day this week!

I know his wife packs his lunch, and he talks about how good his lunches have been lately. But when the putrid smell of some sort of sesame chicken is wafting through the office, it is not nice. As I am generally the only one in the office at the time, I don't know that anyone else has noticed. Most everyone here leaves the building for lunch. Yousef and I are the few that eat here almost daily.

I don't want to say anything to Yousef, but it is getting really hard to work around lunch time at all. I am really thinking I may start bringing food I don't have to heat up and going to an empty space on a different floor to have my lunch. I try to make my food smell up the place, but it never gets through the horrible smells of his lunches.

I really hope I have never been the cause of this problem. I send out a general apology to anyone in case I have. It is awful to have to work through!