The sad thing about this is that back in the day, we had public bathing houses. I read about this as part of my social justice studies, while getting my teaching license, in college. Back in the early 20th century (1930-ish) we had public bathing. Women on this and that day, men on other days. Then we started to have home bathrooms and the public baths were converted to swimming pools and segregated... there was a whole ballyhoo about it. One of the effects was that people of color didn't get bathrooms in their homes for quite some time and lost the ability to use the public washing facilities and thus got a reputation... <sigh> It was a wee bit ugly for a bit... and no, I don't mean to run the conversation down this rabbit hole.

<sigh> What I mean to point out is that back in the day, there were regular facilities maintained by cities that allowed people to get clean. Whether or not you owned a home, you could get clean (and we valued people who could make their own way in the world). Now? Now you can't do that (get clean), generally, unless you own a home, or pay to stay in a hotel, OR pay to stay at some sort of facility that has lavatories.

I think that in some ways we are marching in the wrong direction. :/

Here is a link to an NPR article on the subject. They talk to the book that I believe I studied in school "Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America" by Jeff Wiltse:

[npr.org]

What I recall of it was a fascinating read... my memory is sketchy enough I may have to reread it soon.

This man was fully functional walking, normal.. there was no excuse for it.

@mistymoon77 walking does not connote ...normal! Lol

@Freedompath what I am saying is he was not handicapped, he was doing the same thing we all were doing.. going to the grocery store to shop.

@mistymoon77 Perhaps he was homeless. Perhaps he has only one set of clothes, so he has nothing to wear if he wanted to wash his clothes. I would not assume that being dirty is his first choice; rather, I would assume that he has nowhere to go to GET clean. The (judgmental) bar of soap will do him no good if there's no place for him to get access to water to use it.

Well that makes me nervous I have a male friend who is incredibly nose blind.

I was wondering the same thing, however, there was been no indication regarding this.

In the U.S., it's been more than unfortunate that they closed the asylums, but left all these people loose, unable to completely care for themselves.

Thank you! I was wondering if anyone was going to consider that maybe he doesn't have the "means" to do better.
Sure, if your boss has an unpleasant odor, you know it isn't from no place to clean up but keep in mind, some people are sensitive to deodorant, etc. so do not use these. Some people just choose not to, that's up to them. It may impact their love life but who knows? As mentioned, there are also people who have olfactory challenges or are just adapted to their own odors. Prime example is people I've encountered who live with a male cat and they are oblivious to the odor the cat leaves by spraying.
Personally, I don't "bathe" every day. My skin cannot handle that, especially during cold weather, psoriasis will leave my skin cracked, raw and burning. I use deodorant but it can fail.
Sometimes the right thing to do is stop and consider what you don't know about the person's situation. They may not deserve the judgement and scorn laid upon them.

Not a homeless guy.. he had a car... he was going in to purchase groceries. Looked normal.

@mistymoon77 Normal or normally mentally ill? Or did he have a colostomy bag that was leaking gas?

@dahermit that I was not about to check.., think I would pass on that one.

@mistymoon77 He may have been living in his car...no showers in there either.

Old English Leather does my head in. Instant asthma and migraine.

me too aged hippy tough I am !

patchouli gives me flashbacks

Yes Tony, you got what I meant.. thats exactly what I was trying to get at.. not about judging this man,.. I have no clue what was up with him.. he sure was not homeless, he dressed well, he didn't appear filthy, he looked fine to me from the glimpse of what I saw which was enough. but ya, it just boggles my mind on how some people are oblivious to certain odors where others, they could care less.

No, see thats just it.. I would have never noticed anything odd other than he reeked that bad.. omg.. it was to a point of almost throwing up. This is not a judgment call on anything other than some people just have very bad hygiene.

I’m canadian, we bathe daily, French Canadians, well I assume they do too,,, i think this woman was opposed to bathing and it has nothing to do with being French Canadian but who knows. I know French Canadians and they bathe and shower every day, I think its just this one particularl person, i really can't say.

yes but its about the smell.. the odor that is was so pungent.. maybe someone else wouldn't have blinked an eye but it was very noticeable to me.. that's all I am saying here.

He really looked perfectly normal. It wasn't like he had nasty ass clothes but then again, I didn't examine him either.. just sayin.. I got out of the area as quick as possible.

This wasn't like a body odor thing.. what I posted on what it smelled like is about as close as you can get to it.. was just so bad.

@mistymoon77 no excuse for the individual, no excuse.