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....

curbyburr, that's exactly it, for me.

i don't care what smell there is. i don't even care about if i'm on a diet and other people aren't. it's simply the issue that the noise directly impacts on me doing my job - which is something a lot of posters don't seem to feel happy admitting to being a problem ("I don't find it annoying, therefore it can't be annoying to you, it's not affecting your job, therefore there's no problem"). I wish!

how sad that in my next job i'll be adding "traditional office setup" to the criteria!

Soup is just wrong and shouldnt be allowed under any circumstances. I shall contact ACAS immediately to see if it could be included in a constructive dismissal claim.

Valpolicella - totally with you on the yogurt pot everylastlittlescrap scrapers.

I had a colleague who used to bring in last night's supper, microwave it and eat it at his desk. Always something strong smelling - curry, soup, stew.

He'd then pop out for a filter coffee and a fag, so by the time he came back he'd reek of food, stale coffee and smoke. Then he'd lean over my shoulder and ask me questions. Bleeeuuuggghh.

yanbu. Its a quick lunch break ffs. Tell him to get over it

i will ask colleagues surrounding my desk if they mind me eating lunch next to them, esp. if it smells really yummy. (As its from the staff canteen, the answer to that is generally no.)

I don't think its unreasonable to switch to plastic cutlery or something, but i'm having trouble understanding how they can hear it. Is this office in complete silence like a morgue? THAT would freak me out more, i would hate any working environment if its too quiet.

I didn't realise that so many people can't tolerate that? I always had my sandwich at my desk when I worked in an office, and still I eat at the computer while surfing. The only thing I thought might be off-putting for some people is food smells of heated food, eg. soups.

I don't mind food, non smelly, but the thought of that spoon on a pottery bowl is like nails on a chalk board and absolutely sets me on edge!

YABU

The two things that drove me mad were one woman eating pilchards from a tin for lunch on a regular basis (who then had the temerity to say that the Clarins body lotion I'd put on after swimming one day was smelly). And the woman who just ate apple after apple after apple in a tiny office. I literally sat with my fingers in my ears.

We have a restaurant here but people still eat at their desk mostly. No one seems to mind unless you eat smelly stuff. YANBU.

I hope he was eating the lab biscuits quietly, MDS!

I agree with Apples82

I used to work with a couple of Pakistani guys, who would eat curry/dhal at least twice a day.

Not good when suffering from severe morning sickness.

Any guy who was the greediest/tightest bloke you would ever meet, who, after eating his soup would drink the remnants out of the bowl, then use his fucking finger to clean the bowl.

My boss is also a very noisy eater... Especially when eating apples. Chomp slurp chomp SLAP!

Or the guy who used to alternate between mackerel and fecking roll mop... The office was lifting!

I hate:
people talking too loudly on the phone in my open plan office
people talking too loudly to each other near me
people laughing. Sometimes the gaffawing is just too much
people being too cold and turning the air con off
people being too hot and turning the air con on
talking to ME when I am busy
wearing mp3s when I might want to talk to them
the receptionist tannoying when I am concentrating really hard or on the phone

But.

I tolerate it. As I work with other people. I accept the things that I do not like for the good of the general office environment.

He should just shut the fuck up and tolerate it, it is not all day every day is it?

Eating anything that smells or requires cutlery in the office is really bad manners, I think. Sandwiches (non-smelly ones only!),biscuits etc ok, as long as you don't chew noisily.

I would just carry on as if its not the soup its always something else! ... He is just being a control freak!!

I think it depends on what the rest of your colleagues do... cold food and snacks are ok (IMO), but anything hot depends on your office

I used to work with somebody on a strict diet, and her choice of snack during the morning was celery sticks! I can still hear it now, at 11 am every day the sound of CRUNCH SNAP CRUNCH came across the office, used to really grate on our nerves!

In one job in a tiny office (only 4 employees) I used to regularly eat in the car. My boss used to go home for lunch (office near his house) and saw me eating one day. When we later moved into an office with a separate room to eat in he admitted how embarressed he was about the lack of facilities.

In current office they recently banned any hot food at desks and moved the only microwave to the top floor kitchen. Salad/sandwiches may be eaten at the desk.

They put a table in the kitchen with 4 chairs when 30 plus people work there. The email banning/lack of consulation caused a lot of bad feeling and first day everyone stuffed into the kitchen to make a point. Now there is a sort of blind eye turned to non smelly hot food. I eat soup with the window open, door shut - have my own room.

Since they found a dead mouse behind a cupboard in our office, the idea of anyone eating smelly food at their desk (or leaving bits of food in the bin or stuck in the keyboard) just turns my stomach. Sorry!

YANBU. In my office, people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at their desks. Breakfast involves cereal from a bowl or a cooked breakfast, and then lunch and dinner involves the usual spectrum of cooked food through to soups, sandwiches and salads. The canteen serves the food up in takeaway boxes specifically for you to take back to your desk. I can't see why it's a problem, I guess it's just what you're used to. It was much worse where I used to work, when the guy that sat next to me drunk protein shakes all day - they smell VILE!!!