Employer says I am not allowed to heat up my breakfast

[KittyKatty123]

I work full time, 9-5, computer facing all day, work that requires a lot of concentration. I understand the important of taking regular breaks to get away from the screen but don't take the mickey with this. I can't eat first thing in the morning so I have always eaten mid-morning, at my desk, sometimes something cold, sometimes something that needs a minute or two in the staff microwave.

Past employers have never had an issue with this.

I'm fairly new to this job but in the past two months that others have observed me doing this, including my line manager, no-one has ever raised it as an issue. We have access to a microwave and toaster so sometimes I'll bring in a tub of beans, or eggs that I've already put in a bowl and whisked at home so it takes 2 minutes in the microwave to heat them, sometimes I'll do some toast at the same time. All during the space of time it takes me to make my first cup of tea of the day - which is taken after having already put in 1-2 hours work since I got in that morning.

All of a sudden my line manager took me aside and said "it had been noticed" that I was heating up my breakfast and that I was no longer to do this as it was in work time, that the microwave and toaster were only for lunch breaks, unless I decided to split my break over both. This seems ridiculous to me as it takes max 5 minutes and I then bring it back to eat at my desk whilst working. I have seen colleagues gone for much much longer than this if they get into social conversation with colleagues.

Also, this instruction was directed only to me, not as a general "heads up" to the team or department as a whole, so it very personal.

In my mind, from an occupational health point of view, it is very important to take regular breaks throughout the day from VDU work, to make tea, go to the loo, chat with a colleague etc, so why is heating up food whilst making my tea any different.

Am I being unreasonable here? Do others do this at work with no issue? As I said, past employers have never had issue with it and I don't take the piss with it. Thank you.

Cooking eggs in the microwave at work is horrible - it must stink

Only one break a day is not uncommon.

Or no breaks at all in plenty of jobs.

If a cold breakfast is ok, and hot breakfast is not - then it's the smell and YABVU. No one wants to smell that mid morning. Either come in earlier and eat before you start away from your desk or take 15 mins away from your desk to have breakfast and have a 45 min lunch.

Your productivity levels also drop off while you're eating at your desk & that's unfair on colleagues.

I work with three other people in our office and eat what we want at lunch. If one of us did egg & beans for late breakfast we would just take the piss. Have a snack but why would you turn up to work and start doing your little breakfast. Funny.

I wouldn't cook or eat eggs at work cos they stink !

@JesusIsAnyNameFree 😂😂😂

I can't eat first thing but I get to work and make a drink for anyone who wants one then sometimes may have a brioche or breakfast bar. Making beans and eggs is just taking the piss.

Can't you get up 10 mins early and do it at home?

Did you miss the “can’t eat in the morning” bit?

I could get up hours earlier for work, I still couldn’t have breakfast first thing.

I agree, it will be the warm food.
warm food smells more and unless you sit in your own, well ventilated office it's pretty unsocial to do so.
take a sandwich instead.

I find it really weird that so many people on MN seem obsessed with strict work times, breaks etc.

I've always just taken breaks when I want; in my professional roles no one cares if you're not taking the piss and you're good at your job

I would hate :

The smell

The noise (clinking cutlery, crunching toast, slurping etc)

The mess (toast crumbs, dirty plate on your desk, greasy fingers on the keyboard)

The time it takes (no way does heating, eating & washing up take less than 15 mins)

All of which makes a cereal bar or an apple mucked while the kettle boils a much better option.

But yeah it's the smell. It really annoys me when people eat smelly food at work.

To be fair I wouldn't hate the time it takes, not bothered about that if you have an independent work load.

@BoredZelda

Can't you get up 10 mins early and do it at home?

Did you miss the “can’t eat in the morning” bit?

I could get up hours earlier for work, I still couldn’t have breakfast first thing.

I can't eat in the morning either so I have a protein bar. It smells of nothing and it's gone in 90 seconds.

Also, this instruction was directed only to me, not as a general "heads up" to the team or department as a whole, so it very personal.

Does anyone else cook smelly food like eggs and take it back to their desk mid morning? If not, and it's just you then a personal approach is better than a general "heads up" for everyone else.

It's a new job, forget what was normal your old job and read the room a bit. It does sound slightly like you're taking the piss tbh, making a hot smelly breakfast after doing an one or two hours of work and then eating at your desk? Some of your colleagues have probably complained about the noise, smell, and the fact that you appear to be having a bit of an unpaid break mid morning when they don't.

I think your manager has actually been quite fair, they've offered you to either carry on with a cold breakfast at your desk without taking a break, or split your lunch break to carry on with your hot breakfast.

Maybe OP is a noisy eater. They're the worst.

I would say its the smell you are creating.

This has been a thorny issue in most places I've worked although with one notable exception run by an utter sociopath, we usually got decent breaks, and could work early/extend lunch break to compensate...It probably is partly relating to the smell, but I shared an office for several months with someone who brought pretty strong hummus in every day, so cold foods aren't always odourless....

I've also worked in places where we had fairly decent break rooms with good doors and openable windows, and a couple of people used to eat their breakfast in there before work. I"ve tended to stick to cold snacks if there's no other option than to eat at my desk, though if you've ever had to clean a keyboard, or look up the issues with shared keyboards, you really might not be so keen on that idea! In many jobs I just resorted to eating in the car.

I've also worked in plenty of places where the way to get plenty of breaks, cynically, was to take up smoking. The breaks they were allowed for their addiction (since that's what it is) were pretty much limitless even if what they were actually doing during those breaks certainly wasn't smoking (I sat by one of the main windows so couldn't help but see them)...!

Everyone eats whenever they feel like it in my work, we have lunch breaks and can take them when we like but usually someone is eating mid morning, the toaster is always on the go. I don’t pay too much attention to it as it’s none of my business.

If it’s the smell then they should just say it’s the smell.

I notice a lot of people saying it will be due to the smell (egg and beans probably don’t small amazing) so that’s a fair point, but surely a lot of food that you cook/heat in microwave smells?

Whether it be breakfast or lunch?

Why do people start threads and then never return?

Unless the OP is away from her desk microwaving some eggs…

Please don't swap to bringing hard boiled eggs in from home. I would hear a knock, then the un peeling, then the stench of eggy farts would swamp the whole office. Absolutely nauseating.

But presumably lunch is eaten in some sort of staff room and not at the desk?

Thank you all for all your comments, it genuinely never entered my head that the smell might be the issue or that it might be off-putting to others so this has been very enlightening. I will take all your points and suggestions on board.

This thread reminds me of an ex-colleague that used to leap up from her chair, wrinkle her nose and shout ‘who’s got smelly food?’ while scanning the office for anybody eating.

I used to live in fear that something in my lunchbox might have a smell that would waft across to her desk as I opened the lid. Looking back it was probably passive aggressive and being aimed at someone like the OP that wasn’t aware of their repeated office faux pas