People eating at work/at desks

[RightsaidFreud]

This stems from another thread i've just read, and it got me thinking!

Does anyone find that people eating constantly during the day at their desk/in the office, a distraction? I only ask this as my OH sits next to a women who litterally doesn't stop eating during the day. breakfast, 2 bags of crisps, lunch, countless biscuits, fruit. It sounds relentless to be honest, and distracting. He's come across this at the 2 offices he has worked in. Everyone gets an hour for lunch, some people eat at their desks, others will go out or go to another part of the office to eat. He eats lunch at his desk sometimes, doesn't take up the whole hour (hes not a slow eater, more wolf it down kind of guy) but that's it. Not constantly grazing the day away.

Where I work, we're lucky there is an area where we can go sit for lunch, and sometimes I will eat at my desk, and whilst people will eat at different times of the day, its not an ongoing all day activity.

Just wanted to get others opinions really!

It makes me wonder how these people would manage to get through the day if they worked on a checkout till for example, or any other job where you can't continually eat.

I wonder if it slows their working down? You know in the same way people nipping out for cigarette breaks used to?

Excellent point Worra I didn't think about that, you don't see checkout workers just tucking into an areo or a large bag of sharing dorritos (just some examples OH has told me about)

I think if you work in a shared office you have to learn to tune out distractions to some extent, there will always be people with annoying habits, and as long as they're not doing anything too unreasonable there's not much you can do about it.

I would wonder though how people manage to get any work done if they're constantly eating all day!

I can imagine it can be irritating if people are eating noisy food like crisps. And smelly food should be banned from offices. But tbh I think it's one of those things that you just have to put up with if you work in an office. Eating little and often is what many people need to do. My dh is diabetic, so he does this at work and if anyone told him they didn't like it he would tell them to fuck off. And rightly so.

Absoutley outraged, I didn't consider that if someone is diabetic, they will need to eat often. Agreed about the noisy foods, nothing worse than someone chomping loudly on a packet of extra crunchy walkers crisps!

I eat constantly at work but I still get loads done! I just eat while I'm reading emails, or have a little pot of raisins to dip into while I'm working. But I do get that it might be irritating for others. Unfortunately where I work there is nowhere to go and sit to eat so it's either at desks or out in the rain!

We have no choice where I work we lucky to get five mins to go get the food without actually leaving the counter to spend time eating it. Can take half an hour to eat a bag of crisps

Eating at desks was banned at an office I once worked in after a maggot crawled out of a colleague's keyboard.

nancerama ewwwwwwwww!

There is something wrong if people are eating almost constantly though, I know my dh doesn't do that! I'm talking about a few nuts or a small piece of fruit here and there. I can't imagine that taking more than five minutes tops, probably three times a day not including lunch when he eats elsewhere anyway.

No one can claim they are eating a big bag of Doritos for health reasons!

Yes I would hate that, all the smells and crackling of bags & wrapping paper.

TBH it's a bit glutonous and gross, kinda like someon constantly picking their nose.

Was it my thread about my non eating colleague that got you think op?

I did sound like gluttton didn't I

I eat my breakfast before my colleague gets in ( it is only me and him in my officeusad to be just me).
I have a coffee and a biscuit or fruit ay about 10.30 and then lunch at one and when a another coffee and some fruit or a yogurt at about 3.30.. so it is not like I am constantly grazing. I don't eat noisy food like crisps.

I can't stand people eating hot food at their desks as it usually smells. I used to work in an open plan office and the guy sat next to me would eat hot chinese/indian food every lunch time. Often would have hot breakfasts from cafe too. He would also burp a lot.
don't miss that!

maggot in keyboard!

Choceyes It was! But I didn't want to hijack your thread :)

I think its the noisy food that really bothers my OH, oh, and the fact this woman is also constantly moaning about how she can't lose any weight whilst going in for another custard cream.This office has a lot more people in it than the other place he worked, so I think it will take a little time adjusting. That, and earphones. :o

Sitting here reading this whilst eating fizzy haribo and checking my keyboard for maggots..

My old boss used to take his false teeth plate out and put it in his top drawer before eating at his desk.

If I was in a job where eating wasn't possible then I guess my appetite would just adjust to eating less often.

By law you are required to have a 20 min break for every 4 hours that you work not including lunch breaks which are not paid anyway. So there's that opportunity yo have a mid morning and afternoon snack and still do your job.

Can I have ur job then please choc ? :) what's a break?

I dont think that even a diabetic needs to be munching constantly all day on biscuits either.

Until recently I worked in an office where there was nowhere to eat - you ate at your desk, or in the car park, basically. Yes, some people used to graze all day, including me at times. Others ate only at lunch time.

The snacking is a habit, more than hunger, if you get in the habit of having a snack at a certain time, you begin to expect it. If you don't get the opportunity, you don't snack, your body expects food at the times it's used to getting it. For me, the habit was easy enough to break when I realised I'd fallen into it again - I just looked at how much I was spending. Not a massive amount, but enough.

I used to sit opposite a man who literally ate all day long. It was horrible. He chewed with his mouth open too so that just added to the noise level.

Where I work now there are a lot of people in a small area. There are facilities for eating away from the desks but most people choose to just sit at their desk and annoy other people

Just as the person opposite finished their chomping and crunching from their rustly bag of crisps the one behind will crunch down on an apple :( Sometimes I find it better to go for a short walk just to get away from it.

sabriel I will tell OH he's not suffering alone! Sounds horrible.

I used to work in a place where there was a culture of constant eating.

A colleague had a theory about it, that because it was quite a stressed and unhappy environment, the food was all they had to look forward to, to puncuate the day. A variation on the theme of comfort eating.

Since I started working from home I can obviously, eat what I want when I want. I've found I enjoy food so much more now that I can just sit and graze.

I never ate breakfast before, but now I can spend an hour or so leisurely nibbling away at my fruit/toast/whatever - and can have breakfast at 10am - I actually eat it. And being able to do the same for my lunch instead of wolfing it down during my miniscule break means the world. Am genuinely bothered by how I'll cope if I have to go back into the big wide world to work!