My colleague kindly offered to go out to get me lunch today. He’s very big on environmental protection, for which I applaud him. However, he sometimes takes it a bit far IMO e.g. he washes out the cardboard food container that his lunch is served in and takes it back to the shop to use again. I’m a bit of a neat freak and I find this absolutely disgusting (how do you clean cardboard properly in a work sink with lukewarm water), but it’s his life and he’s hurting no one, so whatever.
Anyway, today I specifically asked him to get me a fresh container and not reuse one of his for my lunch. He agreed, and came back with two lunches. I ate most of mine and then he told me that mine was in the reused cardboard container. He hadn’t realised in the shop but did realise when he got back to work but decided not to tell me until after I’d finished eating.
I still feel icky about it now, and told him that he’d behaved in a paternalistic and patriarchal way by imposing his own views on me without my agreement. He got a bit huffy that I was ‘bringing gender into it’ as apparently he’d do the same to a man.
AIBU to think this was rank and to still be a bit annoyed?