To eat soup at my desk with a metal spoon and a pottery bowl?

[LovelyJudy]

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....

[exhausted2011]

lunch at desk is normal in my work environment.
We don't get to take lunch, and it's the norm for people to order take out, or go get hot sandwiches for everyone
but I can understand that it is annoying in a small office

[shitforbrains]

yes, to be fair, I probably overreacted, I can imagine in a small quiet office it might be annoying.

My office is a massive, open plan monolith and smelly lunch is the least of my worries

[ifancyashandy]

If I didn't eat at my desk, days could go past and no food would pass my mouth!

I often do days where I'm getting in at 8am and leaving around 10pm and literally pop to the cafe on the corner (or someone goes for me) and head straight back to my desk and that can happen for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Not everyone gets a lunch break and nor do all companies provide an eating area.

[carminaburana]

I wouldn't really sack someone for eating at their desk - (I doubt I'd be allowed to) but I would ban it, or draw up a list of suitable non-smelly/non-noisy choices.

an ideal desk lunch would be;

Cucumber sandwich;

one small banana;

small box of raisins;

healthy, and not too anti-social

[thumbwitch]

I used to eat at my desk all the time, we all did. But I agree it was pretty painful if someone had something hot and smelly and that hung around for the rest of the day - wasn't good if anyone came into the office from outside either. However, our boss did it too so could hardly complain!

We did have a dining area but it was usually over-populated with students so didn't really like to eat there.

[MaternityNursesaregreat]

Good grief... I'd ignore them if I could refrain from throwing it at them.

They need to get a life and find bigger issues to worry about

[Lucifera]

looking at this as I messily eat a sandwich at my desk ... 4 of us in my office eat all sorts, I am vegetarian and don't like it when others eat fish because of the smell, but I'd never say anything as I think the more tolerant we all are, the happier the office. BUT I can see your colleague's point and I guess it's about fitting in with general office norm.

[Skinit]

Yes,,,go to the canteen....it's smelly because people eat there. Food smells. You might be making the office smell!

[shinyshoes]

LOL Isensitive?

He wouldn't like to sit near me then, I eat everything at my workstation from Icelands egg fried rice and Indian dishes, to left over chilli con carne or Thai green curry from the night before

[shinyshoes]

AND I warm it up in the microwave first.

Crikey some people need to worry about more important things

[OhPressureDrop]

Jesus christ, you lot are wierd.
I'm pleased I don't work with you.

OP YANBU IMHO
Your colleague, like most of the people on this thread, must hate job if people eating within earshot upsets so

[KatieWatie]

It all depends on what the set-up is at your workplace. Where I am there's no kitchen, eating area, dining room etc so we're pretty much forced to eat at our desks and people just have to suck it up and deal with it.

I do try to make it as easy-on-the-ear-and-nose as possible though - sandwiches, or plastic tupperwear for salad or soups.

I'm only too aware of how other people's eating habits can get you down. I used to sit opposite a fella who ate like a hog (open-mouthed chewing, intensely irritating noises) not to mention the stench of the food during his meal - and then after...all afternoon long he would openly break wind. Awful.

[CointreauVersial]

I think you have to fit in with the office "norm", whatever that is, particularly if you work open-plan. So if you have a canteen, you ought to use it.

Here, we have a large open-plan office, but a set lunch-hour, so at 12.30pm on the dot the place empties as people disappear to the shops/pub etc. although some don't bother and surf MN do something recreational at their desks.

We have a small kitchen here, but no "canteen" or set-aside area, so desk-lunching is totally accepted, although stinky microwave meals / fish etc. get the general thumbs down, as the MD gets twitchy if there are too many smells wafting around.

There was talk of putting a breakfast bar in our kitchen, but it hasn't happened yet. I'll stick to my desk-salad til then!

[SineadHanks]

Dear me. Can't really imagine why anyone else cares unless it's very strong smelling food. It's like people being 'disgusted' about women putting make up on whilst on bus and tube. Who cares, why can't we live andlet live? Some people just love getting in a tizz about nothing. one of those annoying office things.

Ha ha i love this

• how else do you demonstrate that you are so Busy and Important that you don't have time to leave your desk for lunch?!
  

in my office people CONSTANTLY complain they are too busy to get lunch. There is a Waitrose 2 mins from our front door. You can't spare 5 mins? REALLY? People love to be self important.

[BaronessOrczy]

What I want to know is where does he eat his lunch?!

Meh, it's all a bit of give and take.

[Bellbird]

What I'd like to know is what does your colleague actually do lunchwise? Are you sure he doesn't have other issues....?

Personally, I'd continue with the healthy eating, BUT get a set of reusable plastic cutlery (camping shops do it) which can stand high temperatures. Provided you aren't a slurper , the noise shouldn't be a problem. I'd stick to low odour meals until the summer when the windows can be opened (remembering how I was when I was pregnant - whiffy smells made me sick).

I hope this will mark the end to being hassled!

[LovelyJudy]

can i just add that my comment about the canteen smelling was supposed to be knowingly ironic. i am not a duffer.

[LovelyJudy]

thank you - yes he and lots of others eat at their desks, and usually scentless, quiet things, which he said was fine. we are all quite reasonable in our office! i was just surprised - confrontation is rare in our open plan office, but that's cool, people should mention things that upset them, rational or not, then it can be resolved one way or another.

[greenlotus]

I would say the key question is, is there an official lunchtime and were you eating during it? The sounds of eating during lunch hour are not really unreasonable. If colleague chooses to work through lunch he should expect to hear it.

[adamschic]

Ha, in our office everyone eats their lunch at their desks then goes for lunch. I'd find it irritating tbh, we have a noisy eater who munches all day in ear shot of me and I have to listen to music through headphones to drown the noise. Pottery bowl and metal spoon would send me up the wall.

I am particularly sensitive and have already had to make a complaint about someone who coughed incessently, thank god that one got sorted out. I was climbing the walls.

[PercyPigPie]

This thread is hilarious, I didn't realise food could be such an emotive subject. myonlysunshine - do bananas squeal when you eat them or something?

[curbyburr]

The thread seems to be more about noise than food. It is so loud where I work you cannot hear yourself think let alone what people are eating,on the floor above where admin and HR are based you can hear a pin drop, so maybe it becomes more an issue when you can hear what is going down someone's neck

[halfcaffodils]

I think sandwiches can be quite messy and less hygienic than soup - you are touching them with your hands then touching stuff on your desk...if you use a spoon and eat soup there is no contact.

[carminaburana]

Hmm - true, Maybe a pill or something - what do astronauts live on?