To ask why people that take half put the other half back

[AlwaysPrettyOnTheInside]

Inspired by a comment on the crumpet thread.

I understand why people might take half a biscuit/doughnut/cake/pie, whatever. They are teeny tiny and can only manage a few bites. We all get that.

BUT why do they think it's acceptable to touch said item and put it back like someone else will want it?

If you do this, why do you do it?

Why don't you take the other half for yourself another time?

Why do you think someone else will want to eat half a squashed iced doughnut with your fingerprints in it?

Even more disgusting are the people that don't even pretend at hygiene and don't even get a knife, they just tear it in half with their hands and put the other half back

Yabu - it's fine for people to touch up food items with their dirty fingers and leave them for others.
Yanbu - these people are disgusting.

And I'm talking more in office spaces etc than your home, but still, homes count if you have people other than your immediate family there.

I do this. I couldn't possibly eat an entire cake because I am weight conscious so cut it in half - if anyone else wants it they can have it and if they don't then it doesn't really matter as anyone else would have eaten the whole thing anyway. I leave it for a while then ask then bin it if not claimed

The non-crust edges get all curly when toasted

It’s part of the under eating performance for the two women I know that do it.

They announce they couldn’t possibly eat a whole one, tell everyone they’re only having half, offer the other half to everyone, then sometimes tell everyone they might not even finish their half. They eat it and announce how full they are.

I don't see the problem.

We do it at work - we are all adults and can cut the piece with reasonable hygiene - either holding my half by hand and using the knife to cut the other part, or using fork if the first option wouldn't work.

Taking second half for later or home is a faff. Unnecessary package, having the half piece sitting somewhere for hours, that's much worse.

Who are these people who eat half a doughnut?! I worked in an office for several years and never came across this behaviour.

I'm not a germphobe, but there are some things that are just basic manners when it comes to food. Like the woman in front of me at Dobbies cafe taking a piece of cake and then changing her mind and putting it back. All with her hands.
You just don't do that.

Well firstly, I've never seen anyone do this. But secondly, you are giving the examples and saying you then see people take bits of the leftover half. So other people do want it! So I don't see why it bothers you so much.

I think the answer is that most people aren't as bothered by theoretical germs as you are, OP. The likelihood of becoming unwell from eating a biscuit that somebody else has briefly touched is very very small. So your fears aren't grounded in a logical risk of illness, but a more nebulous feeling of ickiness. Which is fine, but is not a universal experience.

YABU. I'm not afraid of germs.

Oh!

You'd hate to see what happens to the food in the a&e staff rooms when the nurses and doctors have been at it.

Half slices, broken off biscuits, a communal knife and fork... and the remainder everywhere

I agree with this. I’m close to some colleagues to the extent that we’d drink from the same bottle of coke.

Other colleagues I wouldn’t eat anything they’d cooked at home.

Nope never seen that and worked in places where there is a lot of food brought in to share eg cakes and doughnuts. No one would eat half a biscuit and no one would cut a doughnut and put back half.

Who on earth would only eat HALF a biscuit? Maniacs

Working with other people is an eye opener about their gross eating habits.

My worst was a woman whose standard lunch was a small tin of carrots which she ate in a sandwich with supermarket white sliced. Honestly, you could put it as an eating challenge on I’m a Celebrity and I bet most would fail.

Funnily enough my second worst also involves carrots, for some reason this woman (another woman, another workplace) used to bring her children to work , luckily she only worked one day a week bullying children who were trying to learn the recorder, I think she was home schooling the rest of the time . Their lunch was raw carrot, huge, whole, unpeeled, barely washed, loudly eaten from a paper bag. One each. It is almost impossible to have a normal adult conversation in a small room where three people are eating raw carrots and one of them is doing performance parenting catch up.

Speak for yourself OP ,but why do you think everyone has dirty fingers?
How do you cope with fruit ,bread and veg from supermarket that has been handled by so many people?

We only do this at home with donuts (and use a knife). I wouldn't do it at work unless I was planning to share something with someone else who was standing there.

It’s the same as having a big cake at work and people cutting slices with a knife. You just have to be careful not to touch the rest, and use a napkin to hold it steady to cut it.

Exactly. I have colleagues who will finish each other's food. It's good for avoiding waste.

Then why make a thing of it, just bin the unwanted cake straight off.

"Crikey lots of germ phones on here. "

Have you just arrived lol?

Throwing perfectly good food in the bin is wicked.

Obviously it’s so that people can eat the half they do t want. Possibly it’s because there aren’t enough for everyone to have a full one. Personally I think it’s best to eat the amount of food that you actually want whether that’s a full or a half.
it’s really pretty easy to cut something in half without touching one half. If it’s solid like a slice of cake/ finger doughnut you don’t need to touch it. Otherwise you put fingers on the half you’re going to take??

Well they obviously do because the halves get eaten too.
YOU don't have to have it because you're overly worried about hygiene, but someone else will be happy to so just mind your own business.

My boss does this and its not great, but this idea that people touching food is somehow wrong is a bit weird. The donuts didn't transport themselves onto the plate, into the box.

I would normally agree with you about food waste, little gets thrown in my house. But no one wants it. And a rejected slice of office cake isn’t exactly going to feed the starving is it?