A coworker that heats up rice with curry every day!

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The smell is awful. Help!

Yum, I love curry.

OK, that doesn't help. Honestly, I don't think there is anything you can do. Most people can deal with that sort of thing. If you want to find out quietly if other people are bothered by it, then you might be able to approach someone in authority about creating a food policy (I've worked in offices with posted signage barring the heating of fish, for example). But anything that happens has to be a blanket policy, and not something aimed at the one individual.

If your desk is close to the kitchen, another idea may be to ask to move further away, letting the supervisor know that you have sensory issues and worry the smell might disrupt your work.

The smell makes me nauseous.

Sorry, I can't think of much that would stop that, short of being rude to them about it. I feel the same way about certain flavors of microwave popcorn that to me smell like reeking dirty diapers, or fresh steaming dog s**t. I used to work w/someone who popped a bag every day at 2pm like clockwork. Could smell it even through closed doors.

If you just want revenge, try eating sauerkraut and black-eyed peas for lunch and sitting next to them all afternoon.

I go out for lunch every day and eat my lunch out. I NEVER bring it back to the office because I don't want any smells from my lunch to make my coworker's uncomfortable. This is not happening with them. They should at least do me the courtesy.

Food odors are very particular. When my neighbors barbecue, I have to shut all my windows and wait it out, or eat something with a strong taste so as to ease the strong smell coming in from outside. Would eating something with a strong flavor that you happen to like help?

It would be nice, but it doesn't work like that. Employees have the right to keep their costs down and bring their own lunch. When it becomes a problem affecting too many people in the office, the office may adopt a policy limiting the types of food that can be heated in the kitchen, but that is as far as I've ever seen it go.

I used to work in an office where most of us ate lunch at our desks. Someone complained about someone eating something very strong-smelling, and after that a memo went round telling everyone that we were not to eat "pungent foodstuffs" in the office.

In my office we hot-desk. The guidelines cover eating at your desk, and suggest that hot or smelly food should be eaten in the break area.

If you want to punish me, feed me bland food. I have to have my spices, including curries. I've gotten complaints from NTs about my "smelly" food. I'm not going to change my eating habits because someone else doesn't like my food. Fortunately, with the airflow in the new office, odors vanish quickly, so nobody has grounds for complaint.

*gag* XD;;;
Hmm... you could try eating mints. I eat mints on the bus because the new-bus-smell makes me kinda nauseous, and it works really well.

Man up. There's not much else you can do.

If you'll ask him - no matter how kindly - to not do that, he'll either:
1. Tell you to go f**k yourself (not literally) and keep doing it anyway, and gossip about you with co-workers
2. Not tell you to go f**k yourself, but keep doing it anyway, and gossip about you with co-workers
3. Not tell you to go f**k yourself, and stop doing it, but gossip about you with co-workers

No matter what outcome, it's not worth it. Gossip will lead to much, much nastier situations.

I don't know... I know lots of places whine if you cook fish.
To me that popcorn smells a lot worse. Gross. What I hate more than that is people popping gum at work. GOES ALL THROUGH ME.

Is there a way to have a fan to blow away the gross smell?

I am half Korean, but I would never bring in certain dishes that I know would make any office smell. Some Korean dishes are very strong smelling and some people may not like the smell. I have a co worker that is Indian, but she never brings in dishes from her country. I do smell curry, but the smell doesn't bother me that much. I know if I were to smell a certain food that is making me feel sick at the office, I get an air freshener or open the window near me.

Anna

Bring in Dhurian fruit when nobody's looking, and leave it in the fridge... believe me, that will get a "no pungent food" policy in place.

Seriously, I agree that if you mention it to the individual it will cause more problems than it's worth. I would however write a courteous note to management.

I agree-- this is the absolute most that you can do, unless you have some option for moving your workspace.