To ask if my joke to new work colleague would have offended you?

A lot of po faced people on this thread. It was a throwaway jokey comment. No offence and I would've laughed.

Since when do eggs make you fart??? Bad joke OP

Oh no, how cringy (for you not her).

I have a colleague who is from India, when she first started with us she always used to eat alone in her car. I wondered if she was uncomfortable with us and asked if there was anything wrong.
She said that at a previous workplace someone had called her lunch "stinky" and so she ate lunch alone ever since. 😥.
OP, Words have consequences.

I would have thought you were objecting to the smell of my lunch and telling me not to eat it at work again. And that after just telling you I ate it every day.

Yes I would have a blank face too as I'm not quick enough to untangle the complexities of how to respond in real time.
Are you joking/Are you easily offended/Are you the class bully/Do I have to completely rearrange my diet for you (will cause farts as well as really complicating my life)/Are you always this forward and offensive/Was taking this job a mistake/etc.

That's a really mean move on a new colleague. Establishing the hierarchy on the first day.

Is your name Colin Hunt?

The only person who seems to have taken offence in this scenario is the OP who is pissed off that the new colleague didn’t laugh at her pisspoor “joke”

All the new colleague do was to respond with a blank face. They haven’t complained or retaliated etc.

But this non-response seems to have been enough to upset the OP into whining on mumsnet that it must be their new colleague who is flawed

If that’s you trying to be funny OP, I’d stop. You aren’t very good at it.

I’m going to put money on the fact that you and your colleagues use the word “bantz”
If I’d been the new colleague I’d have just thought you were a dick tbh.

Commenting on anyone’s food or the way they eat is just rude. Did you not learn manners?

And if this is an example, it sounds as though the ‘light ribbing and jokey atmosphere’ are circling the drain of a bullying/harassment claim at some point. Nothing quite like insinuating on their first day, that a new colleague smells. Makes for a wonderful workplace atmosphere (no pun intended).

I wouldn’t be offended no. It was just trite and not funny.

I wouldn’t have laughed because it’s not funny. I’d probably have thought ‘oh god, I’ve got a colleague that tells unfunny jokes🙄’

You think this demonstrates you have a sense of humour!? I’m so embarrassed for you.

It only counts as a joke if it’s actually funny. HTH.

I absolutely agree. I'm there to work not to be insulted, trade jokes, or be 'lightly ribbed' which could be just a bullying culture.

Not particularly funny I wouldn’t make the connection between eating an egg and farting

Same here.

I mean what next OP? - are you going to write BOOBS on a calculator and pass it round the office whilst giggling?

Pathetic.

You don't know this woman and shouldn't make a joke like that at work unless you are sure it will be well received. She didn't find it funny so don't do it again!

Cold egg smell of farts when you're eating them, it wouldn't be a lunch I'd bring as a new employee, egg and fish can stink.
Still, not appropriate for you to comment on.

She’s either wondering as a new colleague whether she’s being told that her choice of lunch is unacceptable under the guise of ‘banter’, or wondering if she’s really condemned to work somewhere in which colleagues make fart jokes.

She’s probably wondering whether, next time she passes you in the corridor, you’re going to start doing that thing where you put your hand in your armpit to make fake farting noises.

Crude and not the least bit funny. You’re lucky you got a blank face in response, I’d have struggled to maintain a professional poker face at that.

Your 'joke' is not funny and is just gross.

Totally inappropriate in a workplace.

Are you 12?

I can handle fun jokes and light ribbing but that would’ve missed the mark with me. Fart humour stopped being funny when I was about 12. If I started a new job and someone said that to me I’d be embarrassed for them.

It's just not funny. It's not offensive, I wouldn't say it's gross or immature. Just not funny.