Social Gaffes...What's OK to Say?

Just curious. Can you tell someone they have spinach in their front tooth? How about a booger in the nose? Zipper down? Pantyhose tucked in the underwear? Bra strap showing? How about if the thong strap is showing? I know you can tell your friends these things. But what about a business colleague? What about a client?

If you get an email with embarassing typos from your boss, and you know he sent it to a client or media person, do you speak up? I guess if you think he's an ass, you let it go...but will he get mad later when he realizes it and knows you didn't tell him?

Then there's the more delicate situations...what if someone who works with you has a horrible squeeky voice? Or an annoying habit of saying "like" every third word? Or has putrefying body odor? Or breath that smells like a newly opened crypt?

These aren't uncommon circumstances; I have encountered each and every one of these scenarios. So, for the record, here's how I handled:

Spinach--yes to friend, no to client

Booger--nope

Zipper-nope

Pantyhose-yes to both friend and client

Bra strap-no

Thong strap-yes, but only to person who reported to me

Email-yes (because I am known as a good proofreader and he'd know I saw it and chose to say nothing)

Squeeky voice-yes, only to the person who worked for me; got them speaker training (it didn't work, BTW)

Like-yes, colleague (again, to no avail...this person is over 40 but speaks like a teenage valley girl)

Body odor-lobbed that one over to HR (hey, that's what they're there for)

Breath-nope