to think that I should be able to eat at work?

[GlassyPinkP]

I work in an office, am not public facing, and sit behind a computer all day. 6 months pregnant and feel hungry throughout the day, but heartburn means I can't eat big meals. I've been eating at my desk (not huge or smelly meals, usually a bowl of cereal, sandwich, fruit etc) throughout the day. It doesn't impact on my work and it makes me feel a whole heap less hungry throughout the day compared to when I eat a tiny breakfast and a tiny lunch in between!

My manager has raised with me that one of my colleagues is not happy that I am eating a lot at my desk (I'm within my calories, it's not a huge amount it's just more spread out). Apparently I should go in to the kitchen area and eat out there. Everyone eats their lunch at their desks but their screens are turned off so it's an official lunch break.

AIBU to think I should be allowed to have a 30 min lunch break to eat my sandwiches and if I want to eat fruit or the odd bowl of cereal 2/3 times a day this shouldn't be an issue?

I'm finding pregnancy really hard and have nausea constantly as well as heartburn and gallbladder problems. Food helps! I don't want to be banished to standing in the kitchen every time I want to eat an orange...

Opinions?

*snacking, not sacking!

You're pregnant. You need to eat regularly. They are being areholes. Work need to make adjustments for you.

I'd try to avoid crunchy foods, foods that smell, foods with crackling wrappers, chinking and scraping of plates or cutlery.

But you eat oranges! They STINK and are very sticky - everything must be up to the eyes!

It would make me physically ill to share office space with an orange-eater. I would get a migraine. I am unusually sensitive to oranges, including the smell, and I can't be the only person who is.

Hah, SunShades, even if it were lawful to dismiss workers who have a medical need to eat more frequent meals, I bet they'd be happy to be rid of miserable fucks like you for colleagues!

Careful EMilia - Sunshades has a LEGAL TEAM and they will set you out!

Also - Sunshades, your office practices sound much more fascist and constricting than the lodger rules you complained about on another thread.

OP - it wouldn't bother me if you ate and drank throughout the day, but as I mentioned, I couldn't cope with the smell of oranges. Hard-boiled eggs can also be pungent.

Perhaps it isn't the frequency of your snacks, but the nature of them that is causing the problem?

You have my sympathies though I think you need to plan your snacks more considerately. Someone has a problem with something you eat- with 30 people, it could be anything! Orange/banana smell, crunch noises...
I found milk helped- no one could complain about you drinking a glass of milk. Digestive biscuits are quiet and don't smell, same with cheese cubes. Grapes and cherry toms are pretty inoffensive too...

Bananas, oranges, eggs, celery sticks- very intrusive!

Quite a lot of people eat food I don't like the smell of though:

Tuna
Egg
Banana
Coffee
Pretty much most pungent savoury smells (since I've been pregnant!).

Unless someone has an allergy surely this is just part of life? Or do we put a list on the wall of all things people don't like the smell of so we know what we can and can't eat?

A passing thought, not particularly my opinion.

Are you making a big fuss about your pregnancy and the subsequent need to eat?
Maybe your work collegues have had enough of pregnancy talk and your continuous eating may be seen as attention seeking.

melon no chance of this. My pregnancy has been extremely complicated and I'm quite distressed about some of the experiences I've had, so avoid talking about it at all costs! If I'm asked I answer but I don't really like talking about it. I'm quite a private person.

What are the eating at desk rules? If only at lunchtime, fair enough

It seems that you are able to use the kitchen but you don't want to.

If I have read accurately you are provided with an alternative to eating at your desk.

The size, temperature, and decor of the kitchen is irrelevant.

You have been approached by your manager, if I was you I'd take this as a friendly warning.

You can't do as you like when at work.
Your needs have been met, just not in a perfect way for you.

Do you get mid morning and mid afternoon breaks as well as a 30min lunch break. If everyone else is only stopping for a 30min lunch break then maybe they think you are getting extra breaks, there might be other people there who need regular food, diabetics. If your having to stop work to eat then maybe others think that's a bit unfair, they should provide a separate eating and rest area though for everyone, eating at a desk is pretty unhealthy, don't any of the staff leave the office to go out for some fresh air and exercise.

gamer so when I'm 8 months pregnant + I'm going to be expected to go and stand in a cramped kitchen whilst I eat a pear or an orange? I just think this is ridiculous! Would you say the same to a diabetic person who needed to eat, or someone who had trouble regulating their blood pressure, or any other health related reason? Or is it just pregnancy related problems you'd send me to the kitchen for?

What's the issue with eating some fruit in a kitchen, why is it ridiculous? When I was pregnant with my last I would stand and chat to people in the kitchen and have a drink/ some food. Also you're comparing illnesses to something that you've been made to do; it's healthy to be pregnant if all is well. Enjoy :)

When you work in an office with other people, you just have to suck it up and find a way of coping.

If their gripe is that you spend less time working because of your eating, they're being a childish dick.

Exactly this.

OP, can I ask again:
Apart from your manager 'raising that a colleague is not happy', what has he/she suggested the next move is? Why not ask in writing for some clear business reasons as to why you shouldn't eat at your desk more than once a day?

There are some po-faced professional complainers on here. Everyone sometimes eats or drinks something the smell of which you might not like, and it's personal as to what those things are. You can't just say 'oranges smell horrible' as if that's empirical truth. In a shared office you need to just deal with it like a grown-up.

What's the issue with eating some fruit in a kitchen, why is it ridiculous? When I was pregnant with my last I would stand and chat to people in the kitchen and have a drink/ some food.
Lovely for you. The OP does not have the option to sit in the kitchen. Her employer seems to be suggesting that she should stand in it any time she needs to eat something, which is several times a day. Even with the healthiest of pregnancies, this is not always going to be comfortable or advisable.

melon, 'The size, temperature, and decor of the kitchen is irrelevant.' IT HAS NOWHERE TO SIT DOWN. Did you miss that bit?

Actually it's not irrelevant if OP is the only one who has been told not to snack at her desk melon. There's also nothing to indicate the kitchen is suitable, given that she's very heavily pregnant and there is no chair.

I may sound harsh I don't mean to be.
I'm worried that they are trying to ease you out of your job.

Time and time again I have seen pregnant staff members discussed in the boardroom.
The usually male director would see the woman as suddenly useless, she'll always been off sick, then she'll be off for maternity, then the baby will be off colour, off school etc etc.

They really believed that once a woman had a child she would never be able to give the job her full attention.

I remember working on the 17th floor and arguing with a colleague that I was running the tap as the morning water was coming out brown, I didn't want to have a cuppa with brown water, water wastage or not. I wouldn't want to do it not pregnant, but especially as I was.

My point is, some people don't make allowances because you're pregnant. The "baby being dropped in a field, strapped on mother's back so she can keep working" attitude is one that some folk still have. They think you're being precious.

melon, I don't really get your point, but I'd say that it's important for the OP to stand up for herself and her rights from the start.

Because I'm uncomfortable and honestly don't think someone should be made to go and stand in a tiny, boiling hot kitchen when they want to eat a biscuit. Very aware that many think IABU but just can't see it myself. It's the first office I've ever worked in who have had an issue with a pregnant woman eating occasionally at their desk (3/4 times for 5 minutes in a 9 hour day is really not that much IMHO) - people spend more time going tor cigarette or phone call breaks. I don't complain about that when someone comes and sits next to me wreaking of smoke and that really is a vile smell!

GlassyPinkP I personally wouldn't make you leave your desk to eat but I do think that in terms of the law they have made reasonable adjustments in allowing you to stop work whenever you want to eat albeit not in a place of your choosing.

How about this idea.

They get a chair for the kitchen

Someone could bring a spare one in.
I've got some lovely habitat folding ones if OP wants one.

With no chair.

Are you making a big fuss about your pregnancy and the subsequent need to eat? Maybe your work collegues have had enough of pregnancy talk and your continuous eating may be seen as attention seeking.

Even if the OP had been doing this it would not be a valid reason for her manager to single her out with a ban on snacking at her desk.

Have you asked for a chair, it is thoughtless of them but maybe they just don't realise you need one?

No i didn't miss the bit about nowhere to sit

I read it.
I'm working on the fact that chairs are quite easy to get hold of.

Then you get said chair and put it in the kitchen.
Or any corrider/corner away from the main workspace.