to ask my colleague not to cook broccoli...

[crazybutterflylady]

This is my first AIBU post so please be gentle with me...

I work in a small office of about 10 people. I sit right next to the kitchen. I am 4 months pregnant and have been really battling with all day morning sickness. One of the things that really makes me want to vom is the smell of veg cooking, particularly broccoli.

There is a girl in the office who does the South Beach diet which is basically a lot of veg and a bit of protein. She insists on steaming broccoli most days and it makes me feel really ill. I have mentioned it a few times and said how it makes me feel really rough. At first she seemed sympathetic and stuck to other veg but recently she has started steaming it most days.

I am really starting to feel pissed off about it. Surely she could cook it when I was out on my lunchbreak, or stick to salads or soups or something that doesn't stink the entire office out.

Grr. Yours greenly

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm pleased I'm not completely overreacting.

I think I will wait and see if she has the offending veg again tomorrow and if she does, I'll email her asking if she can either cook it when I am out or not have it at all. I'll try to be nice about it and if she insists on cooking it then I'll ask HR to step in or let them know that when she cooks it, they can find me in Starbucks or similar.

Agree with maisie.

Ask her again nicely, if she refuses then see hr.

Throw up all over her shoes. She will get the message pretty quickly.

I don't think it's very acceptable to boil vegetables in an office area anyway, regardless of whether anyone is pregnant. I certainly wouldn't want to work in the lingering atmosphere of steamed broccoli.

I think you need to start making wild retching noises the minute the broccoli appears, add a few dashes to the loo holding a hanky over your mouth and hope she gets the hint.

Congratulations btw. I'm sure this nauseous time will pass (hope so, as broccoli is a great finger food!).

I mentioned it to my boss a while ago and he said that's why he goes out for lunch every day. Nice! So at least I know I would have support if I did whinge.

major it's funny but I can't even buy the stuff now. I can just about eat it if it's on a plate at a restaurant because I can't smell it then, but the thought of it in my house...

BTW, it can be dealt with without it having to be a 'word with her' from HR about her smelly broccoli. It would presumably be a company-wide thing about the people being generally considerate and using the microwave only to heat food e.g. soup rather than to cook meals from scratch.

D

Well in our office we are not allowed to heat up any food that stink. We have a kitchen patrol bitch PA lady who takes it upon herself to reprimand anyone who dates eat any food with a whiff about it.

I take it your office is not customer facing?

We are client facing yes, but not every day - we are just using this office as a temporary overflow so most of the meeting hosting is in a different office. The waft of broccoli heads down towards the boardroom though...

I've actually been buoyed by your responses so much that I have emailed the H&S guy and asked what he could do if I was to 'complain'. Hopefully he will say something along the lines of your suggestion delia

Tenderstems crossed...

I just don't understand some people...you don't bloody steam veg in an office! Youeither bring it ready done and eat it cold...or if you must, eat it up in the microwave...but honestly people are selfish!

I would leave the room every time...and say "Yak! It's broccoli O'Clock again!"

Shanahan I'm not the most reserved of people usually, and this woman and I have had run-ins in the past... her response? To cry.
Then I feel awful!! So I am trying to handle it without her collapsing into tears.
Today I said 'is that broccoli again' and she said 'yep' with no hint of spology. Either she has some sort of memory problem or she has decided it's not her issue... hopefully H&S will fight my corner so I'm not directly responsible for her tears...!

Just as she's coming out of the kitchen with her broccoli, get up from your desk, stagger into her and retch in her broccoli at her feet. She should get the message. Otherwise make loud retching noises whilst she is trying to eat it.

She's obviously deliberately antagonising you - looks like you'll have to fight fire with fire.

Action from HR.

And when she asks if you complained, you can say 'yep'

Ok. Vomit on her keyboard. It's the only way.

Bloody hell, she must have some serious wind eating steamed broccoli every day.

If it's any consolation I read a great article by some guy who confessed and ex-girlfriend was on this type of diet and the ahem..night time wind issues were so dreaful that he had to dump her. Dutch ovens I think he called them.

oh no, floating duvet! That was it!

This is one of those tricky ones where I sympathise with both parties.

Obviously from the OP's point of view, the smell of broccoli cooking in a microwave is pretty gross, and in fact it doesn't smell that good to a non-pregnant person. Thank goodness it tastes better than it smells.

However, I take my hat off to your colleague for taking charge of her health and eating a high fibre nutritious lunch instead of a horrible, overpriced "diet" sandwich from a fridge at Boots or similar.

Its good in a way that she is able to do this, and its a shame that working in an office makes this such a "bad" thing to do when it would be commended under any other circumstance. Its hard for some people to control their weight when sitting all day in an office, and rather than becoming morbidly obese, she's doing something about it.

The smell would have cleared within about 5-10 minutes, and if not, there is a ventilation issue which is not her problem.

I personally feel the answer lies in compromise with her co-ordinating with your lunch break or something along those lines rather than her just not being allowed. Why have a microwave at all if you can't use it to heat up food? Should there really be a list of "approved" foods which dont smell bad - most of them, no doubt, junk food.

I dont blame you for hating the smell though and feeling sick, I've been through that during pregnancy and its not fun.

There are plenty of high fibre nutritious lunches she could make for herself without boiling broccoli - dh manages just fine.

I would take the easy route (and did this when I was preg)

...eat at your desk about 12ish when you're hungry but keep on pretending to be working

then, when madam is steaming her veg, go for a nice gentle swim, or a cup of tea somewhere. Or something.

Then everyone'll be happy

I was really sympathetic (15 weeks myself and still get the odd blast of sickness) until you said that the assessment guy had offered to sort it out for you! Would it not have been easier to them him do it then instead of not bothering and moaning on here about it? There isnt much we can do about it for you!

WHy not just go back, say "yes please" and let them sort it out?!

to HAVE him do it! (dont know where THEM came from lol)

it has taken me years to tolerate broccoli, so overwhelming was my REVULSION when i was pregnant. all brassicas, as it turned out. i nearly threw up when i went to my sisters house and she offered me some romanesco, the bastard child of broccoli and cauli.

so i feel for you, OP, i REALLY do. in a couple of years you may be able to handle this, but not now...

Boozilla the thought has crossed my mind too... and strangely enough she is single... perhaps it's the curse of the floating duvet at work

mummytoatribe I wasn't asking anyone here to do anything about it. I was under the impression that this board was a place to moan and whinge, not somewhere to hire a handyman to fix a broken boiler or a hitman tro chase an annoying MIL. Perhaps I am mistaken. And as I said earlier, I have actaully emailed the H&S guy with a request for assistance. Thanks for your kind input, though.

Why don't you ask her as a compromise to eat at 1 for the next few weeks, and you go out at the same time?

I was pregnant in SE Asia and all my colleagues used to eat fish noodle soups, nasi lemak (with friend anchovies, fried eggs etc and we had fruit bowls with (occasional) durian and jackfruit on the ends of our desks.

I used to hurl about 3 times a day (borderline hyperemesis) but wouldn't have dreamed of telling them what to eat or cook. My pregnancy, my 'fault' as it were.