Is it unlawful for a job to fire you for having bad breath without giving you a chance to correct it? 

Do you remember the stinky kid in your class growing up? I’m almost certain you do. A video recently went viral of an older man looking through pictures of his fellow boot campers from way back when. His memory isn’t the best, but he pointed to one kid and vividly recalled that he was the stinkiest kid in the barracks and refused to take a bath. He might not always remember his family members’ names, but he will never forget the stinky kid. 

It’s easy to turn up your nose at people with hygiene problems, but it is very distressing to be the one with a hygiene problem, especially when you don’t know how to solve it. For some people, it doesn’t matter how much aluminum powered-deoderant they apply to their pits. If they have hyperhidrosis, no amount of Axe body spray will eliminate the smell.

If you’ve been a manager or a superior to someone with a hygiene problem, you might’ve had to stumble your way through the awkward conversation of asking them to improve their cleanliness. Most managers and higher-ups would not be so brash as to fire an employee for the crime of having bad hygiene, but the teenage lifeguard in this story might be getting the chop sooner rather than later for having bad breath. Either that, or he’s a paranoid teenager. You be the judge!