To think it's so rude to comment about other people's food?

[2025isavibe]

I heated a tesco thai curry at work the other day and my colleague came in while I was eating it and said it stank like BO and then proceeded to spray air freshener outside the room door. This seemed so rude to me. I understand sometimes if someone's lunch smells and it's not to your liking and I won't buy it again as I don't want to make a room smell but I feel like it was really uncertain.

She has weird BO if it smells like Thai curry!

Yabu for making curry at work.

I only comment if I know my audience, or if a compliment.

The bombay bad boy pot noodle one of my colleagues always eats actually does smell like BO and she's well aware too 😂😂

On the whole I agree that it’s rude to comment on peoples food, but it’s also rude to heat up strong smelling food at work.

That is really rude of your colleague and the air freshener can cause problems for people with asthma and allergies.

I think it's quite rude to bring strong smelling foods into the work place. Why shouldn't she be able to comment on how bad the smell is? I can't really get my head around why it's rude? She hasn't said you smell of BO.

I think it's so rude when someone is enjoying their lunch to come in and make a fuss and a horrible comment about it. She wasn't even on her break. Spraying room spray outside the door made me feel like some kind of outcast!
I've already said that I won't buy it again, I didn't realise it would smell strongly and the people eating with me said it didn't. We only get half an hour and I just wanted to enjoy my lunch.

Why does the brand matter? Oh well! Maybe try sainsbury's next time

YABU

Weird comment. I included the brand because I didn't make it at home. If I'd cooked it, I'd have known how it smelt.

Yes, the air freshener is the problem in this scenario though I wouldn't heat up curry in a shared confined space either. There is a special place in hell for people who spray fragrances where you can't escape from it.

You didn't think curry would smell strongly? For future reference curry, eggs and fish are best avoided in the work microwave op. They are probably the most pungent food smells going.

Weird post!

But surely you know a CURRY is a very strong smelling spice. So did you think Tesco's wouldn't smell curryish?

It's basic office 101 not to eat pungent foods in the office.

Are you and this coworker of a different heritage by any chance? Surely more going on here than a curry..

YABU. More so now because you are just being defensive

One of my colleagues microwaves leftovers containing offal on a regular basis. It smells terrible and everyone else avoids the kitchen when she’s in there heating/eating it. We don’t pass comment, but she must notice that the smell is horrific and that everyone makes an excuse to leave the kitchen when she wants to chat as she eats! I’m fairly used to unpleasant smells as I work in healthcare, but microwaved offal really is something else.

These currys are awful in a workplace. For hours. I would expect people to comment.

She was rude but it’s also rude to eat stinky food in a shared space

Yes, I think, it's incredibly rude and the performative air freshener spraying would have irritated the hell out of me.

Smells are so subjective. (Eg I hate air fresheners. Their smell is nauseating.) Any hot food has a strong likelihood of smelling bad to someone. I hate the smell of bacon or any pork really but am fine with most curries (mostly because rhe spices override any other smell). I'd never say anything to anyone though because I'm not an arsehole.

It's no more rude than people who don't understand that strong smells, of any kind, don't belong in the workplace.

You could rule out a lot of stuff with that though
tuna, eggs, one of my colleagues even said my balsamic vinegar on a salad “stunk”
I mean I wouldn’t microwave kippers but… some give and take!

Spraying air freshener is overly dramatic and rude. Curry smell wouldn't get to me. Artificial air freshener would. People are weird and insensitive.

I used to work with someone who had terrible BO and if she'd been in a room it smelled like cheese and onion pies. I thought she had a medical condition till someone I knew started working with her husband and he stank too. Maybe he smelled of Thai curry.

You were in the wrong. Heating and eating a Thai curry at work is really anti-social. The room will smell for the rest of the day and likely linger into tomorrow morning as well. Your colleague was right to object and right to spray air freshener (though opening a window would have been better. If you were heating and eating smelly food in an office with no opening windows then you were doubly anti-social).

I'm with you on this one OP.

You were wrong, she was wrong. Hide the air fresheners and never heat curry in work again.

Fish sauce is part of the base of a thai curry and it stinks to high hell, let alone a processed microwave version. I think you should just accept the fact it did smell and thats the end of it. Dramatically spraying airfreshner or deodorant around in a confined space however, is the work of an idiotic fool, so they are also unreasonable. The pair of you should not be allowed in the lunch room 😂

I'm with you OP. I often bring in my take out curry leftovers the next day and people are so rude!