Biscuit police -AIBU?

[Supermagicsmile]

There is no rule on buying biscuits, if the team are gifted any we put them out in the staff room and all enjoy them.

One woman at work had taken it upon herself to monitor and ration the biscuits/sweets as she sees fit.

Yesterday we were given a box of chocolates. I was looking forward to having one but they were not in the staffroom. I was told X had put them away because we already had some biscuits out (they were the dregs of a Christmas box that no-one wanted to eat.)

She will often appear at random times with a new box of sweets/chocolates that were donated and she was keeping 'safe.'

I also noticed that at the end of our break last week she took the whole box of biscuits with her to stop anyone eating them when it wasn't our collective break time (we don't all have breaks together everyday so feel this is unfair as when we are in the staffroom there is often nothing to eat at all.) she has not bought any of these herself so has no more 'claim' on them than anyone else.

Aibu to think it should not be up to her what we eat and when?

Is she overweight? Or really skinny

She could still be scoffing them and be 'skinny fat'

She has obviously worked with Big Davey from my office who has form for goodie guzzling.

A prime example was last week when someone brought in 3 mixed trays of donuts. He ate five chocolate ones in a single day. FIVE!!!

This would do my nut. Self appointed workplace monitors really bug me.

We've got one who is obsessed with the kitchen. At the height of her tyranny she used to take anything that was left to dry on the draining board and throw it in the bin. People's personal mugs etc. She didn't like anything being on the draining board. If you left a mug on the side and then went out to the loo or something, you may well find your mug in the bin when you got back. Absolute nutter.

She eventually stopped when it was pointed out that taking other people's personal belongings and doing what she wanted with them was technically theft.

lol @ Big Davey.

I'm picturing Big Keith from The Office

How awful!

What would she do if you were to buy a box and put it in there? I think that's what I'd be tempted to try. Let everyone else know that they are for sharing and not to worry when you claim ownership of them, but that way, if she does take them, you could legitimately ask for them back as they are youts, and you fancy one now.

I can sort of see keeping biscuits back until one lot have gone & then starting another tin.

But keeping chocs back because there are still biscuits?

No logic there!

When you say she 'keeps them safe', where does she keep them? Does she stash them in a kitchen cupboard or does she lock them in a private drawer where nobody else can get to them?!

If it's the former, I would ensure that the moment she puts them away, someone pointedly walks over to the kitchen and gets them out again. If it's the latter, you all need to walk over to her desk and say 'Miss, can I have biscuit please?' at a rate of about one person every four minutes.

I briefly worked in an office where the office admin bloke was a man in his 50s who was incredibly set in his ways and irritating. He had the key to the stationery cupboard, and if you wanted anything you had to go and ask him. He wouldn't just give you the key; he would ask you what you wanted and go and get the item for you. And he would make you justify that request. For example, if you said 'Arthur, I need a couple of Bic pens please' he would ask you why you needed more than one. This reached a peak when someone asked for a new notepad and he demanded to see their old one so they could prove to him that there was no more room in it.

In fairness we do this in our team. But only because we have an appalling mouse problem and we'd probably come back to the kitchen and discover them all nibbled by furry friends

I would make or buy a tin of biscuits and bring them in as a treat for everyone and then create merry hell when she whisked them off. She has no business doing this. God I hate self appointed control freaks!!

You have to steal the biscuits! She will then move the chocolates into prime eating position (ie the table) and once the chocolates are opened,you can put the biscuits back. and step back to avoid her rage

My boss does this. So controlling.

I'm looking forward to elevenses today - surely op will be along to update us.
We often have a couple boxes of biscuits open plus a couple of boxes of chocs should we be fortunate enough to have been given them. It's a free for all help yourself office.
You do need to speak to her. You are all adults capable of deciding what biscuit or chocolate to have! Tell her to keep her controlling habits to her own home.

What a weirdo.

When I was a student on placement most places just let you have a tea/coffee on your break. In one place a woman said we all pay £X towards drinks, I've worked it out as your only here part time for a fortnight you need to give us 24.5p if you want drinks but we'll call it 25 and if we put in all year for birthday cakes so if you want a piece of Debs cake it's going to be another 30p.

YANBU. Can't stand this sort of thing. Why is it up to her to ration/dole out biscuits? Does it really matter if they get eaten quickly or not?

I worked in admin and was in control of the stationery cupboard along with an older lady. She kept the cupboard locked and bolted and even senior managers had to come begging for a pen or whatever. She wouldn't open it and leave them to it, they had to say precisely what they wanted and she would dole it out. Then she would write down what they had taken in a book. I get that this is quite sensible in terms of not wasting items or taking things not really needed, but she just got so much pleasure from the power of it, and she was soooo stony faced and humourless and if they said they wanted two pens she'd say "one's enough for now, when it runs out come back again". Also she'd refer back to the book and say "You had a new Biro two weeks ago, where's that gone, it can't have run out yet?" etc. Barmy.

She also rationed treats. But I wore her down with my cheeky charm and soon she was tucking in like the best of them

She sounds like our office manager who seems to make it her life's work to fill her days with as many pointless tasks as possible, and never do any actual real work

I had a boss like that once, except her two main duties seemed to be pretending she was the busiest, most put upon person in the world office, and being an epic bitch to anyone who wasn't in her little gang.

She hogged the biscuits too, in her locked desk. Fucker.

Cora that's a great point! Re-jig the system by OP bringing in her own treats that Biscuit Police can't justify locking away! That should then generate a conversation about just leaving out what is brought in and not rationing it.

She sounds quite mad!

I would much rather have a chocolate thank a biscuit!!!

notso, I encountered a few places like that as a student nurse. I ended up taking my own tea/coffee/snacks in to every placement. They often looked offended, even if it was a place where there was a kitty. As if they were looking forward to having the awkward chat about the 50p a week for the tea kitty and were disappointed to have it snatched away .

Have a takeover bid. Appoint yourself as biscuit monitor. Steal the biscuits. Make her request a biscuit in writing.
That'll teach her!

Definitely bring in lots of your own treats, nicer than the ones she hides.

Bring in a box of chocolates and let everyone help themselves, when she goes to take one slap her hand and tell her she isn't allowed until hometime.

We have an office manager who polices all sorts of stuff that isn't in the job description, does a lot of what other posters have described. Biscuit, kitchen roll, fridge, dishwasher policing, pretty much everything really.

The worst though was when a personal parcel was delivered for one of our staff and it had a chewed corner, she widened the hole with her finger to try see inside so she could see what they ordered. She'd go nuts if someone did it with her Debenhams order so I don't know why she thought it was acceptable to do it to someone else's.

We had one of these. We'd get gifted things at Christmas and she'd take it upon herself to lock them away in the stationery cupboard. She also kept "a register" as to who was in or not and would pass it around at the end of the month for us to sign. This was a totally off her own back thing. She was the oldest by far of us all (and most junior in terms of job skills etc). Drove us mad.

She has also made a laminated poster with a picture of a Forever Friends hedgehog on it which she's put in the ladies loo with a reminder to change the toilet roll on the holder if you finish the last piece.

Fantastic idea, it drives me nuts when people finish the loo roll and don't replace it.

I once worked with a (very nice in so many ways, so we all forgave her) control freak who was famed for sending out very long, detailed emails about whatever infraction has taken place. All common areas had notices up instructing us how to behave - e.g. exactly how to wash your hands in the sink area of the loos, including what to do with the used towels, how to turn the taps off etc. But her real tour de force was a laminated 2-pager in each cubicle in the ladies' loo explaining how unpleasant it was to arrive there and find the person before you had 'wet the seat' (yep, that was how she put it) with a diagram illustrating the only acceptable way to wipe the seat before leaving. She retired about two years ago now, and we all miss her emails and notices - they were such great talking points. To be fair, it helped that she was the most caring colleague you could hope to have, and would always be there for anyone in difficulties, so her little eccentricities were usually received with humour rather than irritation.