Colleague eating egg mayo sandwiches - to say something?

[DontGiveUp90]

As above really…my colleague is lovely but insists on eating the most foul smelling egg sandwiches for her lunch. It lingers all afternoon and makes me feel sick.

Would I be unreasonable to say something? We don’t have a break out area where she could eat them as only a small office.

It's how re: deeply unpleasant smells.
I eat egg; I personally wouldn't inflict that type of smell on others. Sorry not sorry it offended you.

I used to work with a man who would eat those tins of stinky mackerel for his lunch. They are in different (smelly) sauces. I seem to remember he would sometimes heat them up.

Anyway, we all used to tell him that they stink, he never batted an eyelid. He just carried on buying them and eating them 🤢😆

Do you behave like this in real life?

As in, eating them at her desk? Then say something.
Eating them in the lunch area? YABVU.

People hate all sorts of things, but that doesn’t mean everyone else has to pander to them. It’s an egg, not a human turd.

If you don’t like the smell of a very, very common and bland food item that millions of people eat every day, that’s unfortunate, but you can’t expect your colleagues to stop eating it.

One of my colleagues used to eat a tin of Heinz Big Soup every day for lunch which I personally thought looked like stomach contents and smelled very strongly like dog food, but I wouldn’t have said anything because I wouldn’t expect anyone else’s lunches to be tailored to my preferences. I also absolutely despise, and I mean despise, the smell of mint, but I don’t throw my toys out of the pram if a colleague opens a packet of Polos.

It really makes me wonder how some MNetters would cope if they worked in the multicultural environment that I do.

People bring in all sorts of dishes from home and reheat them in the microwave.

There are all sorts of unidentifiable strong smells going on from midday to about 2pm, yet I've never known a single person to complain.

My favourite food is cheese, the stronger and riper the better. But I'd never dream of eating it at work.

I love eggs too, and whilst I've never had an egg-mayo sandwich I wouldn't take hard boiled eggs to the office either.

It's common courtesy not to eat notoriously smelly foods where others can't get away.

Egg mayo wouldn't personally bother me at all, but I do agree with those who have mentioned cooked oily fish. It smells horrible to me. I'm so glad I work for a vegan company where meat is banned and therefore will never have to deal with that.

Ooh delicious.

How can people NOT know that egg sandwiches smell? And that they smell pretty horrible. If they know and don't care, ok, but to say they don't know they smell?

God people are so ridiculously neurotic about smelly food. I find it really childish and small-minded.
It's an egg sandwich, not a dog turd. Get over yourself.

Your work really should provide somewhere people can eat outside of the actual office. Trying to work with people eating smelly food or eating loudly is just awful. I had colleagues that used to eat smelly food in the office just because they couldn’t be arsed to walk across the building to the lunch room and I had to leave the office while they were eating as it made me want to retch. Doesn’t matter what it is, anything smelly shouldn’t be consumed in a shared work space.

Yup

I'll never forget being on a Christmas train experience with my child (like the polar express) and the family next to us whipped out a picnic with pots of hummus and pickled onion crisps. It's like they were trying to stink the carriage out.

Agree. I genuinely would never do this myself. I had a driving instructor who loved curries but said she never ate them during the week because she wouldn't want to inflict it on her pupils. I think that's being considerate.

Problem is the sensitive souls probably deem most thing are smelly
like complaint about crisps and hummus
if everyone dinner had to meet the not smelly criteria we’d all be sipping mineral water

You can't police what someone eats and I say that as someone who hates eggs!

It's the confined space that's the issue for me. I actually like hummus and love smelly crisps but wouldn't eat them on a train.

I'm presuming none of you sensitive-nosed retching and vomming types ever eat in a restaurant then? They serve all kinds of smelly food. Eggs, garlic, fish - all sorts! Food doesn't become disgusting-smelling just because it's in a different kind of room (e.g. an office).

I suspect the people who are so nose sensitive wouldn’t realise if they were not SEEING the offending food.

I recall a mn smells thread. Someone had asked colleagues not to use scented products. Oh and they could smell scented sanitary liners too. They essentially wanted scent free environment

Thing is, smells are more subjective than this kind of comment suggests. Some people might not be offended by fish or curry, but really loathe the smell of cucumber or ginger (I've known people who couldn't stand the smell of either of those things).

What’s wrong with a food smells? Food is life!

I agree a train is different as it’s not a food space generally but a kitchen at work or staff room is for that very purpose.

It’s all pathetically fastidious.

I don’t understand how people who want to vomit because of an egg sandwich manage anything worth doing in life. Like eating in a restaurant or traveling or having sex.