To take a home made cake into work for my birthday knowing at least one person doesnt eat homemade?

[Slartybartfast]

for reasons I cannot fathom

I agree with those saying take your scrumptious cake and let her choose. Don't start faffing around with shop cake or biscuits as an alternative.

extinctspecies I wouldn’t be putting myself in a situation where I’d be going to someone else’s house for dinner (the actually act of doing that is a whole other issue for me). If I’m having a particular high anxiety period and I know it’s going to be a problem, I’d arrange to do something different with thy friend instead of a dinner date. Friend wouldn’t necessarily know what’s really going on. Over the years I’ve built up quite a good repertoire of excuses/reasons/compromises. For me personally, in a low anxiety period, it would probably not be a problem but I would be subtly checking out what’s being cooked and if there was anything I could bring in advance.

I wouldn't eat homemade anything but I know that's my choice and wouldn't care less if everyone else did.

What kind of job involves birthday cake?

Don't be so obtuse Ethylred It's pretty clear that some offices / work spaces are very amiable to staff bringing in cakes, sweets and bits and bobs for their teammates at times to celebrate a birthday or for no apparent reason at all but just thought it would make a nice gesture.

at all this faux lack of awareness of the entirely normal ritual of taking cake into the workplace to share with colleagues on birthdays.

DH has a friend who will not eat food prepared by other people. It is so limiting for him. At our wedding he brought his own packed lunch. You can’t suit everyone. It is your birthday so take what you want in.

Incredible number of people on here with food phobias/neuroses.... MN-world can sometimes seem to be a different universe.

I’d take my Home-made cake in without a second thought. If someone doesn’t want any, all the more for me!

Are phobias/neuroses/anxieties of this type universal, or are they are first world problem?

I often wonder that too coco. You do have to wonder how the 'couldn't possibly eat food that may not have been prepared under clean room conditions' people would cope in a society where people are looking in bins for food.

I think some people are probably just programmed to be phobic or anxious, and no matter what conditions they live in, they’ll find something to be phobic/anxious about. I’m not saying that it’s not real, or that it’s the person’s fault, just how it is. I do think we can often pander to these phobias rather than expect people to deal with them, for their sake more than anyone else’s, though I realise it’s not always that easy.

Are phobias/neuroses/anxieties of this type universal, or are they are first world problem?
👍

The 'eeeewww' variety usually don't wash their hands after visiting the toilet.

I think the faux-concern over it being a neurosis/anxiety/phobia/ first world problem is more of a problem. For some people it can be. I don't wish to deny anyone's lived experience of MH.
But not wanting to eat a bit of cake made by Susan from accounts is just that - not wanting to eat Susan's home-made cake.
I also never eat anything my toddler/primary nieces or nephews bring home from nursery. Or the school cake stall.
Imho, comparing this to serious MH is equivalent to saying someone has OCD because they like all their nail varnishes to be perfectly aligned on their drawer.

Never worked in an office, but if I did I would make it a policy to not eat any cakes or extra food there. I've only worked in customer facing jobs where you don't eat or drink unless you're on your break and tbh I prefer that. You just eat your own food, and it isn't an issue.

There was a thread a few days ago about food industry horror stories, I certainly had my eyes opened, I think Mr Kipling was mentioned by one poster as having dubious hygiene practices
But the one that really got me was the Harrods gammon , posters friend admitted to fucking the defrosting meat and then it being served in the counter with his semen still in the middle 😮
So on balance, homemade every time

As others have said, make a lovely cake to take in, don’t do anything special to accommodate the attention seeker. If she won’t eat it then it’s her issue, not your job to buy something extra.

We have a baking club in our office, luckily lots of people like home made cake and are excellent bakers!

Pinky I never said it wasn't. I would have to know the individual in question. I honestly don't think we as a society should attempt to 'medicalise' any deviation from the "perceived" norm - as evidenced by both our accounts on this thread - you avoid home-baking due to anxiety, I do so because it's my personal preference.

I use "perceived" because to my knowledge there aren't any UK-wide studies that cover 'home-made cake eating in workplace attitudes'.

My otherwise very rational, pragmatic friend that works in statistics and advises on government policy decided against buying a property addressed '13' when she was buying. To someone else it's just another property on the market...

I had a very extensive career in advertising and we went to pains to understand norms and views which were different from our own, e.g the significance of the colour red in China. It was a potential minefield but it mattered in the context of the work we were doing there. I've also on multiple occasions had to delay the publication of certain slogans because when translated into the languages of some of our biggest EU-based brands it would render it silly-sounding even if the English version was perfectly acceptable and indeed understood by most of the customers we wanted to reach.

Like I said, it's the faux 'oh how must you manage in life' concern that I personally find bullshit.

My first post on this thread basically said that we should all be free to either cake or not without any judgement or inquisition into our reasons. The subsequent, LOL at how you don't know what goes on at factories and indeed the potential of sperm in your mayo posts etc etc are fine but disingenuous. Equally, I have no idea if lovely Susan from accounts gives any fucks about hygiene and cleanliness in her kitchen. I just don't know. Hence it can always only be an each to their own decision.

Those people who think anxiety ‘of this type’ is a first-world problem clearly know nothing about anxiety or mental health. Very ignorant comment to make.

Well, tbf Usernamechecksout, you wouldn't have this problem in a 3rd world country because you'd be dead by now if you had food anxieties that stopped you eating the meagre supplies of you food you had access to, so yeah, it is a 1st world problem.

I don't judge people with anxiety.
I judge people who are rude and ungrateful instead of quietly declining a bit of cake.
Not everyone with specific anxiety is mentally ill.

YANBU

if she had dietary requirements or food allergies I would take in an alternative. If she’s just a fussy bugger I would crack on and get her bugger all. She can eat the cake provided, she just chooses not to.

I understand that people have an aversion / anxiety / phobia about certain things, what I don't get is all the hooha surrounding it.

My friend brought in a coffee cake, which I don't like , so I didn't eat any.