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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Colleague making me feel physically sick?

163 replies

BurnMeDown · 06/09/2018 16:13

Every morning colleague gets a big cooked breakfast to eat at her desk (next to me) and as soon as she sits down she turns the desk fan on.

So literally the smell of the breakfast is being blasted into my face. It makes me gag.

I darent say anything as she’s so ridiculously sensitive.

Am I acting like a princess?

OP posts:
Sparkletastic · 06/09/2018 21:04

Grim. Anti-social. Thoughtless.

Bring it up at a team meeting. It's a workplace not a fucking dining room.

QueenOfMyWorld · 06/09/2018 21:07

Could u blame it on you being cold to stop her putting the fan on? Then you're not criticising both things

YouAlwaysTry · 06/09/2018 21:14

Is she huge? Eating a fry-up every day and having a desk job... she must be massive.

Just say, "Would you mind turning the fan off, please. It's blowing the smell of that greasy food and your sweaty fatfolds right into my face, thanks."

Well what a shit thing to say.

BIWI · 06/09/2018 21:54

Just tell her! Honestly, how hard is it really to say - without being aggressive - that the smell of her breakfast is making you feel ill. And the fan is making it worse. If a colleague of mine said that to me I'd be mortified, because I probably wouldn't have realised.

Eliza9917 · 06/09/2018 23:10

Dear god op, what do you do when she's got her period and uses normal (scented) pads.

It must be torture Hmm

NadiaLeon · 06/09/2018 23:15

If it does actually make you vomit in the loos, then YANBU.
If it doesn't, stop being an exaggerating snowflake.

Original poster
BurnMeDown · 07/09/2018 00:08

Dear god op, what do you do when she's got her period and uses normal (scented) pads.

It must be torture

You ok hun? Confused

I think being able to smell anyone’s period is gross.

I’m not sure smelling a fry up and a period are the same.

OP posts:
krisskross · 07/09/2018 00:11

Can you move the fan before she arrives and deny k nowledge?

AjasLipstick · 07/09/2018 00:34

I'd tell management that people are "Clocking on" too soon and then not working while they eat at their desk.

THey should eat in the area designated and THEN sit down to work...and actually work!

LadyRussell · 07/09/2018 00:45

We often eat at our desks.

A colleague either chooses when I am eating my sandwiches to stand over me (I hate this) - or when she eats her own lunch she will also find reason to hover over my shoulder taking with her mouth full of tuna sandwich 🥪🤢

I hate people talking with their mouths full of food.

HappenstanceMarmite · 07/09/2018 09:18

people are "Clocking on" too soon and then not working while they eat at their desk.

This! Why is this not an issue? Whilst I’d find the smell (and eating noises 😱) annoying, the piss-taking of clocking in to EAT FFS beggars belief.

Polarbearflavour · 07/09/2018 11:31

I don’t see anything wrong with getting breakfast during work time. Most people do hours of unpaid overtime, work through lunch, take work home, are contactable on their mobiles outside of work etc.

AjasLipstick · 07/09/2018 11:47

Marmite it beggars belief doesn't it!? OP just tell management that the culture of people sitting down and spending a quarter of an hour a day to eat when they're meant to work AND when there's a suitable place elsewhere, isn't on.

Those minutes add up! Probably hours and hours a year of company time, going down the drain. Hours mean money.

hellsbellsmelons · 07/09/2018 11:47

Hide the fan - job done!!!
Or speak up.
Just say - look the fan being on means I just get your breakfast smell wafted all over me. Would you mind not switching it on until you've finished eating. Thanks very much HUN!!!

SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning · 07/09/2018 11:57

YANBU. In our office, we eat what we want in the eating area. Lots of people eat meals at the desk but nobody eats super smelly food. I love boiled eggs but they do smell, so I wouldn’t eat them at the desk.

DayManChampionOfTheSun · 07/09/2018 12:28

I think it really depends on the culture in your office. We all eat at our desks and if someone brings something that smells grim, everyone just laughs and berates the person eating it. They don't tend to bring it in again.

rosealltheway · 07/09/2018 12:32

I would break or get rid of the fan. And make it very clear with looks/body language you think its foul. Why would anyone take a fry up from an actual eating area/cafe and carry it to sit at their desk?! Mental.

LollyPopsApple · 07/09/2018 12:35

“Sensitive” people are sometimes doing it to be manipulative. Kick off a few times, face no consequences, become known as sensitive and then you’ll get your own way most of the time in the future because people are too wussy to actually have a conversation that might cause the sensitive person to respond badly.

Have the conversation. You’re not being unreasonable. How she reacts is out of your control and not your problem to manage. Be assertive!

Sandstormbrewing · 07/09/2018 12:43

Surely there's somewhere to sit and eat on site other than at your work desk?

Not in our office, unless you want to sit on the low wall outside, in the rain. We have a kitchen, but it has nowhere to sit in it.

Eating at our desk is expected.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 07/09/2018 15:26

Not everyone “clocks in” for work. I often used to go in early and study in peace and quiet before my scheduled time to start work. I’m not paid by the hour so I’m not pretending to do work I’m not

EthelThePiratesDaughter · 07/09/2018 15:41

YANBU but now I have a massive craving for hash browns.

AjasLipstick · 07/09/2018 16:09

Symphony OP said they're all on flexitime and that the working day starts when they sit at their desks.

That's what I meant by "clocking on" and also why I used inverted commas.

She also says there is a proper area meant for staff to eat in. So as I said, they are taking the piss by sitting at their desks and eating.

LexieLulu · 07/09/2018 16:27

Could you make a off comment about the fan. I'd do it after she's eaten not to make it awkward?

Maybe on a email?

Be super polite and say you struggle with certain smells and cause of the fan it is bothering you.

user1483875094 · 07/09/2018 18:01

What on EARTH?? Look into the company rules...? presumably she is eating this during her working hours? Also, presumably, she is buying it in the works canteen? So she should SIT THERE, and eat it, not "start work" on the clock, eating such a breakfast! She should absolutely not be doing so, and you need to raise this further up the line. That is truly, truly, disgusting and I would be pretty sure it was not allowed in the company guide-lines. Good luck! That would make me feel physically sick too, and as an employee YOU have the right to start your day (and I suspect she is cheating on her starting time, hence eating at her desk rather than staying in the canteen) without having to feel sick like this! Hope you find a way around this! xx

MrsPeel · 07/09/2018 18:03

Personally I would object on the basis that I would be gagging not in distaste but for a bacon sandwich myself if the alluring smells of a fry up drifted accross my desk. It sounds like you are both a bit on the sensitive side