I work part time and often prefer to have a quick lunch break at my desk while doing some personal admin/surfing. I usually have salad but sometimes if i have soup or something that needs heating up I put it in a bowl and eat it with a metal spoon/fork as appropriate.
Today a colleague of mine came over and very politely said that he found it intensely annoying to hear people eating in the office, as it makes him feel as though he's working in a restaurant, so wondered whether it was reasonable to ask me to either use plastic cutlery/dishes, or eat hot food elsewhere.
I don't know - is he over sensitive? I'm inclined to stop doing it, because even if he's irrational i don't want him sitting there feeling annoyed. Also i know it's healthier to get up and go and eat elsewhere. but i don't always have time....
AIBU?
To eat soup at my desk with a metal spoon and a pottery bowl?
LovelyJudy · 21/03/2011 20:44
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
I work in an open-plan office and think it's rude & inconsiderate to eat hot food (or puddings with spoons) there.
I can't abide the smell or the noise (slurping & scraping) when I'm trying to work and speak on the phone or to other colleagues.
I'm 
and 
at how many people have to eat hot food at lunchtime and even at breakfast time.
What's wrong with sandwiches for lunch and eating breakfast at home where it should be eaten?
Porridge and soup do not belong in the office.
I have soup at my desk- cup a soups though (Ainsley Harriot Seczuan Hot and Sour if you were wondering 
) I don't think I'd eat out of a bowl.
I do try to be considerate though, I suck all my crisps so they don't crunch :o
i have to admit this really grates on me too.
our office is open plan (a massive large room, so noisy enough as it is, with people talking, on the phone, printer noises). there are so many people here eating and making clinking noises at lunchtime that i've taken to arranging conference calls before 11am and then after 3pm, it's that bad.
seriously, the woman to my left eats early, she goes for sandwichs and a coffee at 11am, rustles the wrappings/slurps, etc.
then the guy to my right goes and gets his packed lunch at 12, normally it's crisps, so crunch crunch crunch
later on the soup people get their lunch out, so the microwave (at the side of the room ) pings, and there's the clinking of the bowls
It honestly drives me mad, and will be one of the criteria i'm adding to my next job: somewhere people can eat their lunch in peace, and somewhere people can get on with their jobs.
because it's not like i can just avoid doing work in that massive 4hr window, right? so i have to arrange my working life around the shitty open office design.
i have no idea how nice it was to have my own office in my last job. here, everyone, no matter what level, is in this open plan room, and it's a huge issue for me.
so no i don't think your colleague was BU. your soup bowl may just be the final straw in a wider issue (poor office planning for the type of office work you're doing e.g. like me, who has to take 3 or 4 conference calls a day, usually with non-native English speakers, so I have to speak clearly and listen intently)
p.s. i have no issue with the smell, it's purely the noise issue (esp. whilst on the telephone) that causes me such annoyance.
i literally have to walk out the door to the toilets some days because i can't concentrate with the microwave pings, slurps and plastic wrappings being undone. what sort of office environment allows it to such a level, i wondered at first. then i realised all of the management do it too, so hardly something i can change - which is great for them, not ever having to deal with outside customers to such a frequent level on the phone
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