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.

@Astrak

I'm vegetarian. I had a colleague who regularly heated-up meals containing meat or fish. This person would then sit in their allocated office space and take the full one-hour lunch break to savour the chosen food. I raised this with the person in a respectful manner. The result was being told to "p* off you f** c**". I raised it with our manager. Essentially, the reply was the same. I got another job. Life's too short to waste time on people such as them

Would you have complained if they'd been doing the same with a meal that didn't complain meat or fish?

Couldn't believe it when this story came through my Facebook newsfeed from the Liverpool Echo www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/womans-boss-tells-shes-not-22118136?fbclid=IwAR0_GKrlzRJPH3vrKLVuSWGCtSBBbuni3i9wqW80HxuUU_aAlXtMgo5IP1E

There seems to be a lot of people on this thread who don't actually like food very much, with all this aversion to nice aromas and suggestions about having something called Huel instead.

I quite like Huel but otherwise yes, I agree with you and was thinking the same. What do half the people on this thread actually eat for lunch?!

Also so many assumptions about how we must all have staff rooms and canteens where we could eat instead. I’ve always had access to a kettle and microwave but never an actual seating area where I could eat lunch. It’s always been basically eat at my desk or find a bench on the street outside!

YANBU. This wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I can't eat first thing either so usually have something mid morning. The last job I had, there was a cafe downstairs that sold all manner of hot and cold food. No-one batted an eyelid if you ate at your desk.

I used to work with someone who loved sardines on toast for lunch. It was the only meal that's ever really bothered me. Luckily nobody eats fish at my new workplace. We don't have an eating area so it's either eat at your desk, go buy something to eat at one of the two cafes on site or go outside.

I look at it this way ...

If I employed, say, a cleaner at home who suddenly stopped work and went and made breakfast and then sat there eating it, whilst I was paying them to clean, I wouldn't be happy. However, if they bought a snack bar and ate it whilst working then I wouldn't mind.

OP - you are paid to be working, not cooking!

I don't think it's a case of micro-management. I think you're being inconsiderate to your colleagues, eating food that is quite smelly. One can only assume that one, or a few, complained.

[quote HeadPain]Couldn't believe it when this story came through my Facebook newsfeed from the Liverpool Echo www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/womans-boss-tells-shes-not-22118136?fbclid=IwAR0_GKrlzRJPH3vrKLVuSWGCtSBBbuni3i9wqW80HxuUU_aAlXtMgo5IP1E[/quote]
Well done, 'Kate Lally Senior District Reporter'. Another fine piece of journalism there for the tabloids, completely ripped off from MN.

"A woman said ... and then a mum said ... and then someone else said ..."

@treguffin

But what if some of your employees hate the stink and resent the fact she takes more breaks? Don't their opinions matter?

If someone said something about the smell of food (I dunno what you're all eating but scrambled eggs and beans don't smell like anything to me unless I'm 2 inches away!) then sure, I'd ask that if you wanted to eat you did it in the kitchen or 'common room'. It's never been a problem in 10 years, but of course I'd make sure people were comfortable with the working environment.

If they were complaining about breaks I'd remind them they had the same flexibility as everyone else and if another employee has organised their work in a way that allowed for more breaks, they were free to do the same. Because they are. I'm not monitoring everyone's time at their desk and away from it, we never have - if anyone was ever deemed to be taking on less work deliberately to abuse that system or work wasn't getting done, we've spoken about it, but it's only happened twice. I have employees on my team who spend a 20-hour lunch a couple of times a week doing admin for their freelance side work - I'm perfectly happy with that, as long as their work (or the amount of it taken on) doesn't suffer.

Works for us.

People are happy, they feel trusted, they know the onus is on the work they produce and not how many minutes precisely they are visibly at their desk pretending to look busy.

We've got ridiculously low staff turnover and our business growth has been amazing - nothing stealth about this boast, I'm genuinely proud of how we work and how well it works for us, and we're well on our way to an Investors in People gold award

People come to us from uber-corporate, every-minute-accounted-for businesses where they're not allowed to so much as leave their desk for a wee without telling someone and breathe a sigh of relief. It's my proudest achievement, genuinely.

I’d just take the time off your lunch even if it’s only 3-5 mins

But I’d avoid anything smelly, which is unfair on others mid morning

@Astrak

I'm vegetarian. I had a colleague who regularly heated-up meals containing meat or fish. This person would then sit in their allocated office space and take the full one-hour lunch break to savour the chosen food. I raised this with the person in a respectful manner. The result was being told to "p* off you f** c**". I raised it with our manager. Essentially, the reply was the same. I got another job. Life's too short to waste time on people such as them

So you complained that someone:

• Took their whole lunch break as they are entitled to do
• Ate food they liked
• That food was hot?

...I'm not sure why you're surprised you were told to piss off, to be honest. Do you think everyone in your office should eat cold, non-meat lunches and not use their fully allotted lunch break?

This person would then sit in their allocated office space and take the full one-hour lunch break to savour the chosen food.
Heavens, they were using their full hour of unpaid time to enjoy a full hour of unpaid time, for its intended purpose – lunch; a break, hence the name – and savoured their food to boot. When we all know we should have a hand on keyboard at all times lest we deliver less than double our working hours, while cramming in a processed protein bar containing, allegedly, a whole meal in misery form.

This thread has driven me to go to a cafe for a slap-up lunch, and I WFH

I used to work with someone who loved sardines on toast for lunch. It was the only meal that's ever really bothered me.

Oh god. Having gone on about how much other people’s food in offices doesn’t bother me, this post has just given me a traumatic flashback to the woman in my office who would eat mackerel every day, straight out of the tin, using chopsticks for some reason (and if it makes a difference, she wasn’t East Asian, and didn’t seem to use chopsticks for anything else she ate, so I have no idea what that was about). And she was an incredibly loud chewer, to boot.

My desk was next to hers for a thankfully brief period, and I used to have to find excuses to leave my desk for 5-10 mins as soon as the tin and the chopsticks came out!

@KittyKatty123

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.

Just eat a cereal bar or banana at your desk and then take your lunch at the normal time. Not sure how it never crossed your mind that cooking a meal and then slurping it at your desk during work hours is taking the piss.

I haven't even bothered to read most of the thread, but hot eggs and beans at your desk?? Fucking hell, that's disgusting. The smell must be sickening. Your poor colleagues. YABVVVU. Eat that mess at home.

@Aquamarine1029

I haven't even bothered to read most of the thread, but hot eggs and beans at your desk?? Fucking hell, that's disgusting. The smell must be sickening. Your poor colleagues. YABVVVU. Eat that mess at home.

Not hot eggs! Lord have mercy...!

Are you all vomiting wildly and being sickened when you have a fry up at home? In a cafe?

What is it about eggs and beans that has everyone on this thread so horrified!?

@SunShinesBrightly

Summerdayshaze* I agree! I often bring in a Mcdonalds double sausage and egg muffin meal to eat at my desk when I get to work. It only takes me a few minutes to eat at my desk and doesn’t stop me taking the morning register or reading out form announcements in between mouthfuls.I can multitask! I don’t see the problem! 😆

Whatever about eating at your desk, speaking between mouthfuls while working is disgusting. Save it for the canteen/work eating area where people can at least choose to listen/not listen to you.

I don't think it's just the smell tbh. It's also watching and hearing someone eat a hot meal with knife and fork etc while you're trying to work. It does look unprofessional. It sucks, because if you worked from home, you could eat sardines and pickled eggs and kimchee or whatever, and nobody would care.

But if you work in an office, then you do have to consider other people who have to work there too.

I work in hospitality and would probably get sacked if I stood in the dining room eating even a snack. It's the context which makes a difference. Clearly eating in a dining room, during a time when meals are being served, is absolutely normal. But since I'm there working, it isn't.

I can't think of any jobs where you can sit down for a meal while everyone else is working. Even if it's a working lunch schmoozing type thing, you don't plonk yourself down in the middle of the office and have your meal. You go out so you don't disturb your colleagues.

All this "concern" about people not liking food or whatever is so ridiculous, it barely needs to be mentioned. It clearly isn't that people hate eggs / beans pathologically. They just don't especially want their colleague to eat it in the middle of the office while they're trying to work.

@SunShinesBrightly

Summerdayshaze* I agree! I often bring in a Mcdonalds double sausage and egg muffin meal to eat at my desk when I get to work. It only takes me a few minutes to eat at my desk and doesn’t stop me taking the morning register or reading out form announcements in between mouthfuls.I can multitask! I don’t see the problem! 😆

Are you Desperate Dan ?

What is it about eggs and beans that has everyone on this thread so horrified!?

The farts afterwards.

@Diva66

What is it about eggs and beans that has everyone on this thread so horrified!?

The farts afterwards.

Imagine eating it everyday, you'd be taking off from the gas.

If you eat beans every day they don’t have the same effect on you. In fact you should eat beans every day as they are so good for you.

Also there’s a product called Beano which can help

speaking between mouthfuls while working is disgusting.
Surely you’re meant to speak between mouthfuls, not during them…?

⭐️ too to the posters accusing OP of slurping, inhaling, munching, salivating. She’s eating beans from a Tupperware, not gnawing a carcass in the desert.

a 20-hour lunch a couple of times a week doing admin for their freelance side work
Can I come and work at this 20-hour lunch idyll

@Aquamarine1029

I haven't even bothered to read most of the thread, but hot eggs and beans at your desk?? Fucking hell, that's disgusting. The smell must be sickening. Your poor colleagues. YABVVVU. Eat that mess at home.

Scrambled eggs and beans are mess?

Really?

@Pigeoninthehouse
*Diva66
What is it about eggs and beans that has everyone on this thread so horrified!?

The farts afterwards.
Imagine eating it everyday, you'd be taking off from the gas.*

Good thing the OP says she’s not eating it every day then.