To eat crisps in office

[Foood]

I'm currently pregnant and have terrible morning sickness.

The only thing that helps is keeping snacks in my bag; hula hoops seem to be keeping the sickness at bay.

A colleague who sits at the desk to the back of me hates the sound of chewing or crunching, and comments every time someone eats.

Am I being unreasonable that I just ignore this and carry on eating my snacks despite the glares when I turn around ?

@KimberleyClark Always surprises me when people suggest wearing headphones in the office. Last place I worked we were meant to be listening out for other people’s phones and answering them if necessary. Headphones would have been a total no no.

Where I worked we had soft phones and could see if they needed answering on our screens. It was easy enough to remove my headphones to replace with the phone headphones when necessary. The admins answered most of the calls anyway so it obviously depends what job you do.

Can you not eat them in the kitchen? If it's one bag and you're not taking ages then fair enough I guess

I have misophonia and my colleague is a really noisy eater so I just pop headphones in when she eats. It is a physical reaction rather than a dislike but it can be dealt with by using headphones/earplugs. I have to wear headphones when DH eats noodles and can't go to any restaurant that is mainly noodles. Again, my problem.

If they are happy to munch and crunch away, then they have no right to dictate what you do.

I’m currently in the morning sickness boat, and have to eat little and often in order to avoid puking. My safe foods are crackers, plain crisps etc. I can fully sympathise with you.

If she can’t work in an open plan office, then that’s her issue. I’m autistic and can struggle with noise at times, so when I am struggling at work, I put my Loops in, or my earphones. (I can still hear if my phone rings, but it blocks out any noise that may irritate me).

I’d rather deal with someone crunching crisps, than throwing up in the office. That woman should have a bit more empathy towards you. Morning sickness is horrible!

I think the idea of someone "moistening" crisps in their mouth annoys me more that the crunching would.

When we were kids we used to get minichips (now probably banned because they were horribly fattening due to the surface area) and crunch them up in the bag to make "more" minichips. Maybe you can do some sort of pre eating bag squashing to reduce the crunching necessary.

Crack on then! The absolute cheek of her to munch at her desk but expect anyone else not to 😂 I love @neverknowinglyunreasonable suggestion. Do this! Make a song and dance of it.

I had morning sickness that could only be half helped by eating every half an hour. I worked in a quiet customer office (could could hear a pin drop amongst 70/80 people) so I was very very conscious of not making too much noise. I stuck to mostly soft things such scotch eggs and sausage rolls etc. I'd personally have a quiet word with this person and explain as much as you are comfortable with. Maybe come to a compromise somehow that works for both of you. She can't sit there making noise and not expect it from others. However you can't also sit there feeling horrendous when there is an alternative that allows you to still function.

I have misophonia - like others have said I try to control my reaction before I try to control the environment around me.

Having said that, some people have disgusting eating habits that they are subjecting other people to with no escape. The horror of “grazers” which is just a nice way of saying no self control over eating, why are they always so noisy?! You eat enough, you’ve clearly had opportunity to learn to close your mouth

A couple of times a day no problem but constantly eating sounds is really annoying and disruptive if you are sound sensitive, pregnancy doesn't trump other people's issues

In that case, I hope you comment when she's eating crunchy stuff!

I used to sit next to a woman who would crunch her way through several whole carrots each day. As soon as I saw her hand go towards her bag for another carrot my headphones would go on.

That sounds like their problem to solve, whether they do that by buying headphones etc. They cannot expect the world and the people within the world to not make sound.

But we can be sure if someone in the OP's office did something that annoyed her the responses would be quite different because she could play the 'pregnancy' card. Maybe a bit of consideration for others would be a good idea, she may need something from them later.

I have diagnosed misophonia. It is an awful thing to have, but it isn't other people's fault. I bought myself loop earplugs which really help. You should carry on eating your crisps!

I work in an office of 4 people and we're all crunch away happily! 8 suppose some people are more sensitive. I think they're being a bit unreasonable though. If I was them I'd suffer in silence.

Of course, we should all have consideration for others. But unfortunately in situations like this a side has to be picked! This is just what happens in open plan offices, people are noisy.

Maybe during a hobby but in an actual job there's usually some standards needed.

As for the OP if the morning sickness is so bad that you can't work without eating you need to either see a doctor or take time off (obviously returning once the morning sickness phase has calmed down.
Doing something to make yourself not ill is one thing but doing it repeatedly in a work environment because you can't cope without it is excessive especially if somebodys complaining about it unfortunately.

I have misophonia and work in an office where snacking at desks is very common. It's my problem to deal with and I just whack my headphones on if someone is crunching.

If she's scoffing pretzels at her desk she hasn't a leg to stand on!

If she has misophonia she can't control her reactions to triggering sounds. Eating noises are one of the worst triggers.

I have always found it difficult to tell people how I am responding to the sounds they make, because it sounds as though you are telling them they are in some way disgusting - which isn't the case. They are just making a sound that affects you far worse than nails being run down a squeaky surface. Most sufferers would give a lot to be free of it.

The effects can be pretty bad - I used to shake and break out in sweat if I was exposed to a sound I was sensitive to, my breathing would go haywire, my heart would start racing and it was difficult not to scream.

It's irrelevant that she eats at her desk herself, because misophonia is not triggered by your own eating.

I have misophonia and someone eating crisps next to me will send me over the edge (eg severe uncontrollable rage). Even with my best intentions I would not be able to just ignore it. With misophilonia something in your brain just goes wrong and I personally won't be able to restrain my anger. 😭

Saying that I would also not eat crunchy stuff or snything in wrinkly paper stuff at my desk.

Yes just talk to each other and your boss. If its misephonia she might need to wear ear protection.

Also: parenthetically, licking a lemon will often clear pregnancy related nausea wuite effectively.

I work in an open plan office. I can’t bear the sound of people eating. Crunching, chewing, slurping etc. And I have very sensitive hearing so I can hear it all.

Do you know what I do? I put headphones on and get on with my work. Because it’s my problem and not theirs. They have every right to eat at their desk. And so do you - pregnant or not.

Yes, maybe only eat every other hula hoop off your fingers?

😂😂😂 too funny @neverknowinglyunreasonable

OP, please do this for every single hula hoop you eat.

I am the same as your colleague. However, it's my problem not anyone else's so if someone is crunching too much for me I just go to the loo or for a leg stretch until it's safe for me to return!