AIBU to wish my colleague would STOP EATING for five sodding minutes?

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I have recently moved desks and the colleague I now sit opposite never seems to stop eating. So far as I know she has no medical conditions that mean she has to graze constantly, it seems to be a combination of liking her food and possibly boredom/habit.

It is driving me up the wall as it is just non-stop. I am learning a new system, I'm having to concentrate hard (inbetween Mumsnetting, obviously ) and it's all to a constant backdrop of rustle-chomp-gulp-rustle-chomp-gulp. She started eating at 09:15 this morning and has barely paused for breath since. It was the same yesterday. I've started yearning to be invited to a meeting just to get away from it, and that's saying something...

ShutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP!

Ok, I understand some workplaces don't have staffrooms or canteens, so people have to eat lunch at their desks. That still doesn't explain constant snacking through the day.
I just don't understand that kind of working enviroment, but then I've always worked with the public, or at home.

We have a staff room but my colleague eats so much all day that she can't sit there all day to eat her non stop food so does it at her desk so it looks like she is working

See, if there is a staffroom then I think it's reasonable for eating at desks to be banned.

Aaaaargh Tantrums! I figure I would be happy if the entire office ate Supernoodles all day, so long as nobody talked about diets..

Can we lure your colleague #2 and my Loud Faster out into the woods with some strategically placed Weight Watchers yoghurts?

All I can keep thinking is how minging must her keyboard be? With all those crumbs, drips of apple juice, crisp bits etc. etc. falling on it. If she is eating with one hand & operating her PC with the other it's got to be happening.

I haven't been an office worker for many years now - but when I was I was always very self conscious about this sort of thing! Although, we were only allowed to eat at our desks at "reasonable times", which meant lunch during our lunch break, a snack with a coffee etc. If people had been making meals or generally eating constantly I am sure our ferocious Office Manager would have had a word to say!

I don't think I would even notice this. Some people are massively over sensitive.

Honestly, I think when you're working in an office it's far more oppresive and creates more of an unpleasant atmosphere if you're someone who gets irritated over every single rustle of a wrapper or the noise of someone chewing than someone eating at their desk.

Incidentally I think being on Mumsnet when you're supposed to be working is far worse than eating at your desk.

You're lucky that you don't share an office with someone who chews tobacco, as I used to.

He was American and chewed tobacco ALL FUCKING DAY. And what do you have to do when you chew tobacco? Spit. He had an empty water bottle on his desk, this is what he spat into.

It was in full view of all us, a clear plastic bottle with brown spit in it.

Incidentally I think being on Mumsnet when you're supposed to be working is far worse than eating at your desk.

Worse than hearing rustle-chomp-gulp-rustle-chomp-gulp all day long?

I don't even see how you'd know the person on the other side of the office was using Mumsnet.

Surely the sound of a keyboard tapping is the same whether you're working or not?

Worra, I would be far more pissed off by a colleague who was skiving than a colleague who was eating.

Someone who is spending, say, an hour giving their full attention to their work & then spending 10 mins updating their MN thread is probably still getting more actual work done than the person who is constantly working one-handed & stopping to prepare more food.

Being on mumsnet (or any other forum) is an issue for management. It doesn't impinge on other workers personal space. It doesn't cause noise, smells or unpleasant sights.
Don't lots of office workers use forums during work hours? That's the impression I get from being on forums.

But isn't it a similar thing SeaSick?

Not that the OP was skiving (as she already explained) but how much work can you get done, when you add up all the time spent eating at the end of the day?

I wonder why the desk the OP moved to was vacant .......

Agree with WorraLiberty how much work can somone get done if they are stuffing their face all day?

at tobacco chewer.
Te munchers always seem to eat crappy food too I notice.

Someone who is spending, say, an hour giving their full attention to their work & then spending 10 mins updating their MN thread is probably still getting more actual work done than the person who is constantly working one-handed & stopping to prepare more food

Agreed

You can work and occasionally eat an item. She isn't actually constantly eating. Just having some snacks.

It is an issue for other employees if they're picking up the slack because their shiftless colleague is on Mumsnet.

If they spend 10 minutes out of an hour on Mumsnet they are ripping off their bosses for 15% of their salary.

It's no skin off my nose but the OP's nasty attitude towards her colleague just makes it sound like it's a bitchy, nasty office.

I suspect that the vast majority of people would be very upset if they were to discover a colleague was posting nasty personal remarks about them on Mumsnet.

But lets all ignore the fact that someone is doing something unprofessional and unpleasant and have a go at the poor woman for eating a cracker.

If you can't deal with a bit of rustling and chewing then you're probably over sensitive. How would you deal with the rest of the noise?

Or is any noise that anyone makes which isn't strictly necessary absolutely sinful?

You all sound like a barrel of laughs to work with.

You can work and eat, if your job is computer-based. She isn't necessarily being less productive because she's eating.

Constant slurping would annoy me too, though. We have nowhere else to eat but our desks, but luckily everyone seems pretty considerate with food around here (apart from the bastards who bring chips back from the takeaway and make my salad look feeble and dull).

You can work and eat, if your job is computer-based. She isn't necessarily being less productive because she's eating

It is not just the eating, it is constant trips to the fridge, going to the shop to buy soup and crisps, washing of the dishes and all the stuff that comes with it

SeaSickSal I've worked in offices - mostly open plan - for over 20 years. I can cope with most general office noises just fine. If it were just "a cracker" it would be barely noticeable. This woman is about three feet away and is the most prodigious, and possibly the noisiest, eater-at-work I have ever come across. She is like a chain smoker but with food. As soon as one snack is finished, out comes the next. That is not a "bitchy personal remark", it is a statement of fact!

I eat at my desk, but only at lunchtime (a sandwich or soup in a mug type of thing). She must be bored to have time to think about all that eating!

All that noise of crunching & slurping would drive me bonkers as well. My DH used to work with a woman who ate a whole lettuce at her desk every day. She would take bites out it like you would eat an apple. Apparently it took an age to eat and was very noisy. Then she would start on the whole peppers...

Slightly off thread, maybe, but I now work near someone who clips her nails at her desk. I feel like screaming when she starts.

Well it is 10am and my colleague has eaten 3 biscuits, a box of sushi and a chocolate brownie already..........