How Do I tell my Coworker that She Stinks without being offensive?

I (30F) is working in Saudi Arabia. For a long time I was the only female in the whole Department. It is both a blessing and a curse since I have to constantly prove myself and get stares of admiration whenever I am proven good at my job.

Then there came the New Employee, (25F). Let's call her Angel. Angel is From India and She has a gorgeous, thick wavy hair. She and I clicked right from Day 1. I was very happy that finally my department has another female and we became work besties immediately. Outside work, we are not that close though. Just civil.

So ff came the Ramadan. Since we weren't Muslims, we are still working on regular hours and our Muslim Colleagues leave at 2pm. Angel asked me if she can carpool with me since her usual ride is also going home at 2 and both of us are Christian so our time off is 6. I agreed since she lives along my route going home.

The very moment she sat on my passenger seat, I caught a whiff of something unpleasant. It grew stronger as our miles of travel rise. It smells like dried urine under the sun. I know that smell very well since I smelled that before from one of my Friend's Grandma.

Now I am not against anything that smells bad. Just that my car is filled with stinky urine hours after I dropped her home. It is giving me migraines and discomfort. Everyday she rides with me and everyday, I suffer.

Fort Context: I am from Philippines and this is my first Project in KSA. I have been working in construction industry for 5+ years and t is pretty understandable that most of the people I work with really are smelly. Whenever we came back from site, My Pakistani and Indian colleagues smells like a mix of onion, masala, Body Odor and Sweat. It came off as a culture shock for me during my first year living in Riyadh but I managed it overtime. I never called them out on how they smell because there was one time that a fellow Filipino from HR made a memo about this awful smell and these people got mad and it escalated to a full blown argument in the company Group chat claiming they were sweaty because the of site works. They Even demanded that the company provide hygiene products and Shower rooms for them to "smell better". Embarrassing as it is, we left them be and just endured the Silent battle. I made sure to keep my distance from these nationalities since they are infamous for attacking the olfactory Nerve.

Angel however is a different case. She has no reason or excuse to smell bad since she works in airconditioned room, has enough soap in the company washroom, and has never stepped foot on site. And why would she smell like piss???

My real problem is: How do I tell her that she smells awful in a gentle way? I really like her and she's a sweet lady. I don't want to hurt her feelings. What do I do?

Note: Please be kind, remember she's my friend.

Posted Feb 26, 2026, 8:09 AM UTC

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