I have been at my job for 15 years. I am currently in school full time and will be making a career change once finished in one year. I am a dental hygienist in a large practice. I am in people’s mouths all day and feel I have a pretty high tolerance for unpleasant odors. The lab technician (who fabricates crowns, dentures, etc) is an outside contractor and has been in our office for about 7 years. For the last year, he has been smelling increasingly more like raw garlic. If I am within 10 feet of him, my nose burns and eyes water. I can smell when he has arrived for the day even before I have seen him. A coworker tried to delicately tell him. He admitted to eating several raw cloves of garlic per day for the health benefits, but did not believe her when she said that the smell was permeating the office. My operatory is located directly next to his lab, and the smell has become unbearable. We have several operatories on one side of the office which is where the doctors and most of the hygienists work. The other side is where his lab is plus a few operatories, mine included. I am often the only staff member over there. Patients make a face when I bring them back to seat them but have been too polite to say anything (they probably think I smell). It is to the point where I now get daily headaches while working and feel nauseous. Other coworkers say “I don’t know how you stand it. I feel sick going over there for 2 minutes.” I have brought this to the attention of the doctors and the office manager. All agree it’s a problem except the doctor who owns the practice who claims he can’t smell it. Recently a coworker placed a plug-in air freshener, but the lab tech got rid of it claiming he is allergic to it. But honestly the air freshener made for a more disgusting smell combo.
There are no other operatories to work in. I’ve developed a migraine all three days I worked this week. I threw up when arriving home last night. I can’t take it anymore. Would it be completely crazy of me to quit over this? My husband is supportive of me quitting. He came to take me to lunch one day and was horrified by the smell. He smelled it from the waiting room.
We can afford for me to quit, but wouldn’t be able to save much for the next year until I start in my new field. We have $550k saved, $140k in home equity, and my husband’s business which is worth $250k. We plan to FIRE in 6 years but I will probably work a bit longer (part-time) for health insurance benefits. My new job will be in a hospital and they typically offer health insurance even at part time. We currently save about $55k/year (my salary). I don’t want to take another dental hygiene position if I will be leaving in less than a year. I would consider taking an entry level position in my new field in order to get my foot in the door at the hospital I want to work in, but no guarantees I would find something. I can sell on EBay/Amazon for a little extra money, which I’ve done in the past.
Would it look bad to a potential employer for me to have a gap on my resume if I am in school full time? Should I just suck it up and deal with the smell for another year?
There are other aspects of the job that I have been unhappy with (being overbooked so as not to have time to even use the restroom, one of the doctors becoming very short-fused and biting our heads off, etc). But I can suck it up on these things more than I can on the smell.