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.

My old boss was one of these. ‘Oh I Jodi want half, so you want half? Go on just have the other half!’ I don’t want half, if I want something I want to enjoy the full thing but I’m equally happy not to have one. Just have your half and shut up. Once after I’d said no six times she sat the other half in my desk, all squished and she was a finger licker..,eugh!

I got norovirus (or similar puking/shitting my brains out type illness) from a work buffet communal food is out for me now,

I could probably polish off 2 or 3 Krispy Kremes over the course of an evening

I like a half donut and would happily eat one that a relative stranger had bitten.

For goodness sake. It’s perfectly normal to want a small amount of sweet stuff but not a large amount. If my colleague has made some brownies and I only want half a brownie (but I actually really want that half a brownie) are you seriously suggesting I should refuse?

Seems to me OP there are a fair few of us half doughnut eaters knocking about. So odds on if you mind your business and avert your gaze from the offending half, sooner or later someone will happen by who thinks its just what they're looking for.

Exactly! OH and I know each other well.
The second half of the donut is usually eaten by him with his afternoon cuppa.
No words even involved by either of us. No performance, no drama no making sure we have an audience.
Silent and unseen.

I've known people only want half a food item, but they usually ask if anyone else wants the other half, cut it in two then give the other half to the person who wanted it. That was never me btw, I don't do halves!!

If they did put it back, someone else would take it - but then most people I know aren't as obsessed with this sort of thing as some on MN are. How I would hate to be so paranoid about things being "disgusting".

I think it's fine to share,it's nice to share !

Oh,goodness! If we have 2 cakes and 3 of us at work we will share either using a knife or clean fingers.We work as cleaners, we go in mucky places,we also kept the place Covid free during those awful times...we know about the importance of handwashing and so do other people, stop assuming other people are gross and disgusting.

I’m not sure maybe people don’t all have the same standards. Once I ate some of my daughters friends leftover kebab the next day, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it was on the kitchen floor and the cat had been at it as well.

Dear lord tell me this isn’t true.

190 calories is nothing if you do shit loads of exercise. Calorie counting is for the sedentary.

I am one of those that would take half or even a third of a donut. I'd cut with a knife. No touching involved.
I have intolerance to gluten. I can tolerate small amount but if I eat a whole donut my stomach would puff up like a balloon.
Thankfully in my new job no-one brings treats so no temptation

Also, why people can't accept that someone may have a small appetite with being a performance? My apetites varies a lot and sometimes I only really need a small portion to satisfy my hunger. Is not difficult or for show. People are different.

You can say that again! Covid literally happened because dirty fuckers didn't/couldn't be bothered with washing their hands, or covering their mouths when coughing and sneezing or staying away from others when sick!

I think you are so caught up in this now you should just avoid communal food. Once you’re overthinking something like this you are always going to find fault with someone. Just think to yourself ‘this is not for me’ and leave people to it.

Yes! Buffets, bring a dish to share at work and literally eating at some people's houses are no go zones for me.

I would happily eat half a donut that someone has torn off with their fingers!

Do people who worry so much about this stuff get ill less than those of us more slovenly?

I pay reasonable attention to my own hygiene but I've never turned food down just on the basis that I don't know where it's been or someone's touched it (isn't all our food touched by others at some point anyway?). I always eat the cakes students make at school, for example.

Apart from a period off sick after a bereavement, I've had approximately 10 days sick in a 35 year career. It can't actually be that bad for me.

I got norovirus (or similar puking/shitting my brains out type illness) from a work buffet communal food is out for me now,

How do you know exactly how/where you caught the virus?

OP, this is MN; one of the most dirtiest people on a forum. Always some threads about bathing weekly and using same water as other members of the household. Sharing cutlery and kitchenware with pets. Not washing towels and bedding. It’s just grim.

I do like MN but avoid the dirty habits of their users threads.

I never EVER will eat anything brought to the office by coworkers as much as I don’t mind my colleagues. Some of these people do not even shower daily let alone twice a day. And if they have a pet, FORGET IT. Can’t trust what they do in the kitchen.

Sil did this once - I'd baked biscuits for Christmas, she broke off about a quarter of one and ate it.

What poor sod is gonna want that incomplete broken biscuit??

Once I ate some of my daughters friends leftover kebab the next day, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it was on the kitchen floor and the cat had been at it as well.
^^

Starting to get competitive now....

Because it was the most likely source. I ate buffet food on Friday lunchtime and then started spewing my ring at 12pm. Considering I hadn’t been anywhere but work I am linking it.

Op I think you are overthinking this! Think realistically, do you think anyone has died from eating half a doughnut which someone has touched briefly to cut in half? I would say that has never happened! Surely you can assume that most people in your office have clean hands and wash hands after using bathroom etc.? And would only gingerly touch it while cutting in half or hold with a napkin. Or do you work with a load of morons who don't wash their hands? I honestly wouldn't be worried at all about this in my work or family. I think id be more miffed if someone took a whole cake and threw half of it away as that's wasteful.