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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:
1forAll74 · 07/09/2018 18:04

Oh my goodness, a big brekkie at the desk,. In my young days of office work.. as in the 60's, we would get told off big time,if we so much as got a pkt of biscuits out of the drawer,, and it was supposed to be the swinging sixties, where anything goes ha ha.
Why do people have breakfast at work ?

gottachangethename1 · 07/09/2018 18:10

I eat any cooked food in the kitchen at work, was horrified to overhear a colleague talking about my chicken soup smelling of B.O and vowed never to eat anything hot at my desk ever again!

YearOfYouRemember · 07/09/2018 18:26

Maybe she thinks using the fan I should taking the smell away.

Frazzledstar1 · 07/09/2018 18:44

Don’t blame you op.

My boss had tuna and cous cous for lunch every day - I ended up revealing my pregnancy to him early because I could barely contain the vom by 9 weeks!

mylifestory · 07/09/2018 18:52

Hide the fan, see if she gets the message

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 07/09/2018 19:27

Are you any good at actually being sick?
Preferably at your desk into a sick bag with a fan angled at her to waft the smell across

Might do the trick?

IsaidMrDarcynotArsey · 07/09/2018 20:16

Remove fuse from her fan.
Open cat food fish tin before she gets to desk - turn on new fan you just acquired to reciprocate aromatherapy. Not too high you only need her to be wallowing in fishy fumes.
Adapt and overcome by renting film set grade fan, wait ‘til she sits down, turn on fan - blow the breakfast off her plate.

Touchmybum · 07/09/2018 20:18

I work in a kip of an old office with far too many staff squeezed into it. We have a staff canteen which serves breakfast but eyebrows are raised if you spend more than 10 minutes there... I wouldn't eat a full brekkie in the office but have been 'guilty' of having sausages or bacon. I also use a fan but turn it the other way so hopefully if there is any smell, it's dispersed.

I use a fan every single day because our office is far far too hot and there is always someone to whinge if you dare open a window!! It's perfectly possible to eat and work!

I used to work in a much nicer office - physically! - and there was this baggage who used to sigh and hmm, and actually open the office door the minute I took my sad little sandwich out.... I wouldn't mind, only it was just chicken/ham and piccolini tomatoes on granary bread, washed down with tea...

Surely OP you can just ask her to redirect her fan? Is she the only one who eats breakfast/lunch in the office?

PunkrockerGirl59 · 07/09/2018 20:33

Where I work we have to eat at, or near our desks due to the demands of the service and its always been fine. However, if anyone brought in yesterday's fish curry vom to re-heat for their lunch and tried to eat it in our fairly confined space they'd be told in no uncertain terms to fuck right off and to develop a sense of social awareness and basic consideration for others.

nannykatherine · 07/09/2018 20:37

move her desk into the kitchen

Ledkr · 07/09/2018 20:48

Can you position a fan to blow the smells back at her?

GunpowderGelatine · 07/09/2018 20:53

Ugh that's sounds awful! When I worked in an office the food inhibitions drove me nuts. One guy had a microwave fish pie every day and it made the whole floor honk. Another guy always at his cereal at his desk and the 'clank clank' sound of the spoon hitting the bottom of the bowl went right through me. Why can't people eat breakfast at home?!

I work in a school now, eating is strictly canteen only, bliss!

NotBeforeCoffee · 07/09/2018 20:56

I had a colleague who used to cook fish in the microwave, it stank the whole floor out for hours! There should always be a no fish or broccoli in the microwave rule. And no egg sandwiches away from your own home

profile22 · 07/09/2018 21:58

I can’t believe you’re not giving her a shoulder massage after she’s turned her fan on, and checking she has enough ketchup...

onegiftedgal · 07/09/2018 23:31

Who eats a cooked breakfast everyday? I doubt she'll survive much longer op - she sounds like a greasy, lazy, fat slob. YANBU. Try to 'lose' the fan, that's a start.

ImAIdoot · 07/09/2018 23:43

It's not normal or considerate, if you're going to eat cooked food with a strong smell at your desk (which many offices wouldn't allow every single day) to run a fan while you do it.

I would tend to ask, but if you feel too awkward, ask your manager how to put a lid on it without causing a problem. They will probably do it for you to be honest.

GunpowderGelatine · 08/09/2018 00:04

I think it's fair enough to ask if she is big. If I ate a cooked breakfast every day I'd need to leave the house on a crane.

CoughLaughFart · 08/09/2018 01:07

Christ, grow up - it’s a bit of breakfast!

CoughLaughFart · 08/09/2018 01:08

Who eats a cooked breakfast everyday? I doubt she'll survive much longer op - she sounds like a greasy, lazy, fat slob. YANBU. Try to 'lose' the fan, that's a start.

You sound fucking vile.

BakedBeans47 · 08/09/2018 01:15

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

At my work there isn’t, the kitchen is teeny with no room to sit. I wish there was, I like getting away from my desk for lunch otherwise I get interrupted. My last job had a canteen and while you could lunch at your desk if you wanted I always went and sat there.

InsomniacAnonymous · 08/09/2018 01:42

When I worked, everyone had breakfast before they came to work. I don't understand when and why that changed.

Maisymoo22 · 08/09/2018 06:32

Start spraying air freshener or perfume every time she sits down to eat!
You may have to buy your own fan for this to be effective though else it’ll be blown back at you!

Juells · 08/09/2018 07:02

Start spraying air freshener or perfume every time she sits down to eat!

Oooh, that's a really good passive aggressive idea. She can't really complain if you say you're spraying to cover the smell, can she? If she's entitled to make smelly smells, so are you.

Icanttakemuchmore · 08/09/2018 11:02

If on flexo time, then surely eating a full cooked breakfast, needing both hands isn't like eating a sandwich with one hand and typing with the other so therefore why is she eating at her desk as she can't work whilst eating that. Anyway, you have a right to feel OK at work too so tell her it's just not on.

OnGoldenPond · 08/09/2018 11:36

Ive worked in several offices where there was literally nowhere else to sit except at your desk so everyone was forced to eat at their desks. I hated it as it also meant that bosses felt free to keep interrupting to ask questions and make requests so I never got a proper lunch break. It was always a sign of a poor employer with little consideration for their staff.

However, even then I made sure I stuck to salads or sandwiches out of consideration for others around me.

This woman is a twat. Tell her to eat her smelly meal in the designated break out area. The excuse of wanting to start her shift doesn't wash as if she is tucking into this hefty meal she is definitely not getting on with the job she is paid for!

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