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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that bringing cakes into work is a bit try hard

225 replies

Cateyes113 · 29/03/2022 15:16

Fair enough if it's for an special event or something. It's a nice gesture, but I think bringing in cakes for everyone 'just because' is people trying to be liked and win people over. Maybe I'm just miserable.

OP posts:
Calandor · 29/03/2022 16:34

@JemimaPiddleDick

Sometimes I get the feeling it’s because whoever brought them on wants a face full face cake at 3pm but knows everyone will talk about them if they do so they take in enough cakes for everyone so they end up as fat as she is
You give a shit if someone eats a cake in the office? I've literally never thought about or cared if Margaret digs into a lemon drizzle or John brings an eclair back from lunch.

What a strange mindset

SantaHat · 29/03/2022 16:35

Fucking hell. People really will be offended by anything. How miserable a person must you be to actively be pissed off at someone bringing in cake. For free. You don’t have to have it or thank the person.

DrSbaitso · 29/03/2022 16:35

Why do you really dislike this person?

godmum56 · 29/03/2022 16:36

@Cateyes113

Fair enough if it's for an special event or something. It's a nice gesture, but I think bringing in cakes for everyone 'just because' is people trying to be liked and win people over. Maybe I'm just miserable.
yup you are. Eat the cake don't eat the cake who cares?
MoniJitchell · 29/03/2022 16:38

YABVVVVVVVVVU and I will never forgive you if one single person reads this and stops bringing baked deliciousness for their colleagues because of it.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 29/03/2022 16:39

We’re not allowed to share food due to covid right now. I really miss Jo’s random coffee cakes she baked because she couldn’t sleep. You’re miserable.

IEatChocolateForBreakfast · 29/03/2022 16:40

You sound miserable. What's the issue? Are you jealous because you can't bake to win over people?

Of course YABU. I used to bake quite a lot on weekends before life got too busy with the children. I bake because it's a stress reliever and I enjoy baking and trying out new recipes and techniques. But I didn't want the baking hanging around my kitchen for the entire week while I slowly ate it getting fat. My partner and I would enjoy it on the weekend and I would bring the rest into the office on the Monday for everyone else to enjoy. They all raved and practically salivated when they could see I was carrying a cake box 😂 Never earned me a promotion though, but that was never the objective.

Let them eat cake! 🍰

CoalTit · 29/03/2022 16:40

Well, I googled "donkey libaries", Howyoualldoworkme, and was very moved. What a nice ending for a thread started by a spiteful, misanthropic idea.

Goldfishmountainclimber · 29/03/2022 16:43

Oh, I love it when people bring in home baking! 🧁
I’m not good at that sort of thing and would never do it myself. But I am very happy to eat it, praise them and they do win points with me!

godmum56 · 29/03/2022 16:44

@JemimaPiddleDick

Sometimes I get the feeling it’s because whoever brought them on wants a face full face cake at 3pm but knows everyone will talk about them if they do so they take in enough cakes for everyone so they end up as fat as she is
well aren't you the judgey charmer?
MotherOfChaos28 · 29/03/2022 16:45

What sort of person gets wound up about free cake?! I don’t even eat the cake at work normally because I have food allergies but the boost in morale for the staff when there’s treats is definitely noticeable. What a bizarre thing to be grumpy about.

Leodot · 29/03/2022 16:45

I do this a lot at work. Most weeks I bring in a little something. I don’t do it because I want to be liked and think this will make me popular. I do it because I like my colleagues and I know they enjoy and appreciate it. Why is it try hard to do something for other people that you know they will like and that makes them feel happy?

sillysmiles · 29/03/2022 16:46

Started in a new work place during covid and one of the sad things is that because of covid people couldn't bring in food to share - cakes/sweets etc.
I'm hoping once we have lifted restrictions it can start again.

TheChild · 29/03/2022 16:47

I bring in homemade stuff with a note to help themselves, I work in a big place and I don't put my name on the note so no one knows who made them. Not try hard, just trying to make sure the food doesn't get wasted and who doesn't like baked goods?!

Ohfgsnotagain · 29/03/2022 16:48

You are being miserable.

I LOVE making cakes ie cupcakes, sponge cakes such as lemon drizzle and I’m quite good at it, I can’t eat all the cakes so it’s either share them or bin them!

No one is making you accept a cake, if you’re too miserable and cynical to be able to see that maybe that person enjoys baking and maybe that person enjoys sharing their cakes and maybe that person gets pleasure from seeing other people enjoy their cakes then you need to stop being so miserable.

Laptopsandmouses · 29/03/2022 16:49

So I’m guessing you dislike the person who has done it?

AngelinaFibres · 29/03/2022 16:51

@Finfintytint

I bring in home baked stuff for my colleagues. I do it because they like it . I’m not trying to win anyone over. Daft assumption to make.
I was a teacher. There are few things more spirit lifting than walking into the staff room on a Friday and finding that someone who bakes has brought in a cake 'just because. It's a lovely thing to do.
Hankunamatata · 29/03/2022 16:54

It lifts spirits a bit. Your being bahumbug

EmpressSuiko · 29/03/2022 16:58

YABU myself and my husband love to take sweet treats into work, it’s a nice thing to do!

blackheartsgirl · 29/03/2022 17:05

It depends on who the cake bringer is. Bringing in for your colleagues is a nice normal thing to do. My lovely ex colleague used to bring me and one or two others polish sweets and cakes she’d baked, soup she’d made, all sorts which was lovely.

However I used to work with a woman who was the biggest arse licker going, she’d bring in bacon butties every fri for the managers..not us..she was an arsehole, sneaky nosy grass as well.

Butteryflakycrust83 · 29/03/2022 17:09

You are miserable.

Firstly, most people like cake.

Secondly, work is largely tedious affair and no ones day was ever not improved with cake.

Third - some people, like my DH, struggle with chit chat and forming work relationships but as a keen baker, has always found this as a great icebreaker.

Basically, go and eat cake and mind your business.

Tooclosetothewind · 29/03/2022 17:09

Yeah, your just being miserable, eat some cake!

Severntrent · 29/03/2022 17:13

I have allergies, i don't really like most cakes, i want to save calories for treats i actually like. My colleague bakes me special 'free from' cakes which i don't really like but i cant tell her that! So i have to eat them. So my heart does sink a bit - but i know she is really kind and i always express my gratitude! I should have got in early and said i dont like cake. I have only worked in one place where people bring in cake (or buy each other choc bars). I do find it odd but prob because i dont like cakes or baking!
My former colleague used to make indian snacks for me - now that was amazing!

RockingAFrock · 29/03/2022 17:15

You appear to be on your own.

I trust as you think the baker of cakes is trying to be liked and win people over you abstain from them….

NandorTheRelentlessCleaner · 29/03/2022 17:18

... but what is so very wrong about people trying to be liked, by doing nice things for other people?

How can that be a negative thing?

If more people tried to be liked and were generous, life would be better imo