There is often temptation around me at work. We have "meet and greets" for job candidates and new employees. There are often lunches or receptions, and even if I don't attend, the leftover food is put out & everyone is encouraged to eat it. I can usually resist, or can find something like fruit and take a small portion.
However, there are also those people who walk around offering you things. There's a woman here who always comes in offering candy. Last week, it was Tootsie Rolls. She didn't ask, just dropped some on my desk. I said, "No, thank you." She gave me a funny look, so I lied and said that I didn't like Tootsie Rolls. They aren't my favorite, but I do still like them.
Today she came in with a bag of saltwater taffy. I really like that. She again dropped several pieces on my desk. And again, I said, "I appreciate it, but I don't want any." She kind of sniffed and said, "Well. I won't offer you anything anymore. What, you don't like taffy either?" So I said, "I like it very much, but I don't need to eat it." And then she went on and on to my officemate about how she shouldn't be eating it because she needs to lose weight, all the while unwrapping pieces and eating them. And she also said that if you have it, you'll eat it. Well duh, so why did you buy a pound of taffy and bring it to work? I guess she's offering it because she feels bad about eating it?
It doesn't bug me if she thinks I'm bitchy; I don't care for her anyway for other reasons. But the whole thing annoys me.
At my last job, one of my co-workers often kept a bowl of Hershey's Kisses on her desk. Everyone knew she had it, and she willingly offered it (especially if someone was having a bad day). Some people had the nerve take handfuls or complain when she didn't have their favorite.
I took it very rarely. I always felt self-conscious...like everyone would think, there goes the fat girl eating candy again! But you're kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you refuse candy, then maybe they're thinking, but you're fat, obviously you eat junk!
mental exertion vs physical exertion
8 years ago
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When my office was larger, I had similar problems with people bringing candy in. There were nearly 40 of us, and people treated the break room as the place to get their excess candy or food out of the house. Sometimes somebody would bring their excess of zucchini or tomatoes, but usually it was candy or sweet stuff. We also had one big birthday celebration each month with leftover cake calling from the fridge for days after.
ReplyDeleteThank heavens we were broken up into separate divisions! Now I only have problems at Halloween and Christmas.
My partner has a similar problem with people bringing food around. She works for a surgeon in the ENT department of a hospital, and co-workers are always bringing food around, arranging for pot lucks, etc. Then there are the drug reps who bring in food, cookies, et al.
One of her blog comments on the subject is here.
It is hard to say no, so congratulations for being able to do so!