To eat apples and crisps at work?

[Justchillalready]

Not at the same time, of course! (Now I'm wondering what that might taste like!)

I sit in an open plan office. One of my colleagues has misophonia, so really hates the sound of chewing/crunching. I realise this is not something she can control and is not just her being ridiculous. We've worked together for about 4 years and for 4 years I've tried to eat crunchy/noisy food as quietly and discreetly as possible.

If someone else in the office eats said noisy food, she emails/texts me complaining how much it's irritating her. Very funny initially...

Thing is... I'm getting a little bored of it and to be honest, sucking crisps to reduce the crunch just isn't quite the same as actually, well..... eating them.

While I'm certainly not saying I'm going all out and having a packet of crisps every day, crunching away without thought to anyone else, on the odd occassion that I do fancy a pack of crisps or an apple, I just don't really fancy having to eat by stealth anymore.

AIBU to occasionally simply enjoy the food in all it's crunchy glory?

As an example, I recently went to a country where blowing your nose in public is seen as rude, bordering on the disgusting. I had a stinking cold while I was there but went out of my way to blow my nose in private so as to be respectful of someone else’s cultural norms. “Cosmopolitan” or not, you go by the manners of the country you’re in, not the one you’re from.

Hi Cherries, I'd want want to cross check the contract against EU Regulations. Everywhere is different and some companies do use dodgy workarounds but I wouldn't allow this in HR.

LOL at being "called out for prejudice" for not enjoying bad manners. We're not talking about using the wrong implement to eat an artichoke, here, but loud chomping etc in public .

Dh commutes every day by train and occasionally he is on the point of being sick at the way people feel entitled to eat on public transport. For a time one woman would eat cereal in a bowl with the train lurching and swaying and pour on milk and then squash in a banana. Of course it ended in tears when one day it upended on another passenger.

I once sat next to someone who unwrapped egg sandwiches . It might as well have been a fart sandwich.

I have misophonia and it’s excruciating. When my colleagues eat crunchy food in the office, I leave and hide in the toilets for five minutes. I wear headphones because typing sounds make me want to cry. I’m aware it’s my problem, so I leave while they do their thing. I can’t stop people eating!

Honey, you are entitled and protected under Employment Law. I'd bloody take them. If they can't meet their targets without breaking the law then they need to hire more staff or lower their targets - that isn't your problem. They have no recourse, but you do.

Ah if only it were that simple.

This is the norm in many workplaces.

How naive to suggest they have no recourse. Of course they do. They'll just 'manage' you out.

It's her issue to work around. She functions in other situations where she cant control so she should apply that here. I really wouldnt get into it about how you can make adjustments as it's only going to become your issue.