Office Etiquette - Snacks in the Breakroom, Kitchen, Office Whatever

It's that time of year again... when people bring in snacks and treats galore - either leftovers from Holiday Parties, sharing the contents of gift baskets or just bringing in stuff because they are nice.

Here's my pet peeve with this... it's the people that always cut something in half - like a cookie or a piece of cake/pie, and leave their half behind. It just bugs me... why leave the half? Maybe someone else doesn't want your half, maybe they want a whole... and now there is this stray half-piece... This is happening everyday in my office and it's driving me crazy.

So what's proper sharing ettiquette for office snacks? Anyone have any interesting tales relating to this subject?

melidasaur wrote:

Here's my pet peeve with this... it's the people that always cut something in half - like a cookie or a piece of cake/pie, and leave their half behind. It just bugs me... why leave the half? Maybe someone else doesn't want your half,

...but maybe they do.

Happy Monkey wrote:

...but maybe they do.

I used to think they might, but now I realize I'd be a hypocrite if I cared about half-a-cupcake while people are driving cars over the speed limit.

melidasaur wrote:

...why leave the half? Maybe someone else doesn't want your half, maybe they want a whole... and now there is this stray half-piece...

This is happening everyday in my office and it's driving me crazy.

Sounds like your personal problem.

What about the person who has diet issues (weight or diabetic) and can only have (or allow themselves) a half piece? If it were me, I wouldn't take a whole piece knowing I could only eat half, and then throw it wastefully away. If it bothers you...throw it away or leave a snarky note about not cutting things in half.
WHY is it bothering you? Do you just like things neat and ordered in your world? *cough*obsessivecompulsive*cough* :D You cannot control everyone, only yourself and how you choose to react to outside influence.

Don't think I'd eat half of something if I didn't know who cut/left it. :unsure:

Well, IMO, half a cookie, cupcake or any other snack food intended to be served whole, is just weird. I also would have trouble taking a half of anything left behind unless I knew who had handled it.
I think that is probably what is bothering melidasaur...the wastefulness of it. Sorta like leaving half a can of opened soda in the fridge.
...now with cake or pie...you can cut the size slice you want.

Hoof Hearted wrote:

Well, IMO, half a cookie, cupcake or any other snack food intended to be served whole, is just weird. I also would have trouble taking a half of anything left behind unless I knew who had handled it.
I think that is probably what is bothering melidasaur...the wastefulness of it. Sorta like leaving half a can of opened soda in the fridge.
...now with cake or pie...you can cut the size slice you want.

Precisely!!! I don't know who the other half belonged to. Who knows who's half it is... if it belonged to my office mate, I would share it with her. However, this is an office of 50 different people.

Call me obsessive compulsive or whatever, but I think that its really rude to leave a half a piece of something. If you want half, share it with someone else in the office. Don't just leave your half just sitting there.

Thank you, Hoof Hearted for understanding my point :)!

You're complaining about somebody cutting it??? I used to lurk around the break room to find out which of the salesmen were just taking a BITE out of something and putting it back on the plate with the rest. You might think people like that have no shame, but it helps to yell just as they start to put the uneaten part down :)

Tonchi wrote:

You're complaining about somebody cutting it??? I used to lurk around the break room to find out which of the salesmen were just taking a BITE out of something and putting it back on the plate with the rest. You might think people like that have no shame, but it helps to yell just as they start to put the uneaten part down :)

Cutting it, breaking it, dropping half of it on the floor and putting it back... I don't really now.

My pet peeves with office food are limited to people eating tuna and smelling up the place, and those who leave dishes (and disgusting old food) in the sink I guess thinking fairies will come and clean up after them. People are just basically rude.

Anyone who works here gains weight; there is food all the time.

Tonchi wrote:

You might think people like that have no shame, but it helps to yell just as they start to put the uneaten part down :)

I would suggest the same. And use plenty of profanity.

That's what we do at work.

Like cats, coworkers also respond to a short blast of water from a plant sprayer.

Tonchi wrote:

You're complaining about somebody cutting it??? I used to lurk around the break room to find out which of the salesmen were just taking a BITE out of something and putting it back on the plate with the rest.

There's one on every office eh? The guy that used to do that in our office was doing it for effect, just trying to get a reaction. I put manure-grown daisies (they were beautiful but smelled like a used diaper filled with Indian food) in his office. He admitted to trying to smell his own ass for an hour before he figured out it was the flowers.

Then the fucker snuck a head of broccoli into my trunk.... in July...
God damn I miss working with adults.... good times...

:whofart: Broccoli? That's the first I've heard of that being a odorificant. Details?

The most pleasant food in the world would smell hideous before long, sitting in a trunk in July.

A long time ago, my parents rented out a duplex near Philadelphia. I occasionally did very light maintenance on it. One day the upstairs tenant called to complain about an odor coming from the downstairs apartment. When I got there things smelled pretty bad in the hallway. When I opened the door the to downstairs, I considered calling the cops because I figured there had to be a body somewhere to make that awful smell.

I turns out there was a bowl of what looked like beans or lentils in the sink. I don't know how long they had been there, but it must have been a while to make that awful smell.:vomit:

footfootfoot wrote:

Like cats, coworkers also respond to a short blast of water from a plant sprayer.

muahahaha.

Seriously people, I need warnings for posts like that so things stop coming out my nose.

I always take the whole thing and split it with my secretary.

@ jinx: You got off easy with the broccoli. There are much worse things that get left in people's trunks. When I lived in Tucson (summer days can hit 110F regularly) I once went grocery shopping with a friend who had two small children. As we were talking, she opened the back of her van to put the bags inside and the most horrible odor rushed out. One of her kids had spilled a cup of milk in the back, apparently a few days before. It had soaked into the carpet, which was now writhing with maggots!!! :sick: