It’s neither the first nor the last time that I blog about food at the office, but this tile I thought about it in a different way.
Where I work is not the worst place when it comes to sweets. We tend to regularly have them in the house, so to say, but we don’t have “pig-out days” or whatever these might be called. When someone brings a cake, it’s ONE cake; we don’t end up with ten different kinds scattered around, and this is precisely part of my strategy to cope with food–I know that if I don’t have a slice right now and “wait just a little, you can have one later on”, by the time ‘later on’ comes, the cake is gone. Good riddance, right?
But earlier on this week, I confessed on Jonathan’s blog that I, too, tend to unload at work.
Yes. When I find myself with leftovers from my birthday, I bring them at the office. Or at school. Or at friends’. But mostly at the office, because I know I can just leave it there and someone (not me, by all means) is bound to eat it.
So, of course, I too take part in that food fest. I plead guilty. Sometimes, I throw candy and leftovers away; sometimes, also, I feel bad about wasting food all the same. hen you don’t have much money, every food looks like some kind of sacred thing, I suppose. Unless I am just weird like that.
Maybe I’m just using other people as a trashcan. Maybe this is bad. Maybe I should stop. Nobody would resent me if I were to never bring food at the office again (it’s not like I do it every day, and they’re not exactly used to expect something like this from me!). After all, I am the first one to grit my teeth when a cake appears in the kitchen in the morning, and it’s not because some WW leaders or whoever and their dog suggest we unload at work that I should do it and maybe tempt other people will it.
Yep. I think I will stop. The trashcan will remain my trashcan, the one that sits lazily in my mini-kitchen, and nothing else/no one else. I know it’s an example nobody at work will follow, first of all because I’ll never mention it, but perhaps I’ll feel a little better about it.
January 11th, 2008 at 16:25
I think it’s a great idea to just throw away the food and not take it to the office. Nobody will miss it, and they will definitely benefit by not eating it. Yay for you!
January 11th, 2008 at 16:33
Well, this is how I rationalize it: I send the goodies to work with my husband who places the container in the break room. Probably 90% of his co-workers are men without weight issues and they adore him and, by extension, me, for treating them. The women are on to me…they forgive me because they would do the same if they found themselves in the same predicament! And they run in the other direction until the offending food item is gone…which is usually in a flash…according to Hubby! So…no harm…no foul.
January 11th, 2008 at 16:58
CC - I bet nobody will miss it, indeed. Sometimes, I even wonder what’s so appealing about it all. Maybe because it provides the perfect excuse to slack off in the kitchen with a coffee and a slice of cake?
January 11th, 2008 at 17:00
Kathy — Looks like the perfect situation.
(But still, these men are lucky to be without weight issues. >.
January 11th, 2008 at 22:53
I’ve been thinking about Jonathan’s blog post, too. Everything I don’t want goes to work with my husband. (I work from home - taking it to my office means it stays where it is.)
Some folks (women and men, all sizes) from his office are coming to our house for a party in a few weeks. I’m going to ask them about what they think. Because when I send the food all I get is positive feedback and thank you’s and … I don’t know. I’m not sure stopping is the right answer here.
But I’ll find out!
January 12th, 2008 at 15:14
Asking is probably a good idea, indeed. If they take the time to send “thank yous”, it seems that they really enjoy it. (or that’s what I suppose. I don’t think they would send positive feedback if they were in fact sighing in the silence of their minds every time, thinking “Oh noes, here comes the food again, my diet is ruined”. XD)
January 13th, 2008 at 02:25
I’ve actually never really thought about doing that - no one else at my job does. However, there are still always office goodies, because a few times a week there are catered meetings and they always bring the leftovers out. Last week there was fresh fruit every morning, which I loved! Usually it’s more of the pastries/fatty sandwiches/cookies variety though.
January 14th, 2008 at 15:14
Ohh, I wish it was fresh fruit in our office too, there’s never any of this. Never. (But of course, the fresh fruit I have home, I oddly feel like keeping to myself… ;))