Called “greedy” at work

[HamOnBeth]

Yesterday we had a lunch buffet for a staff member who is going on mat leave. Usual routine is the buffet comes out at lunch time and everyone brings something such as sandwiches, sausage rolls, flapjacks, etc etc … basic party food. We do a little gift and card giving presentation then everyone gets tucked into the buffet. After lunch the food stays there and people just pick at it during the afternoon whilst they work.

So after lunch we got back to work and I walked across and got a few more sandwiches (other people were also going back up). An hour or so later I went back and got a few more bits - certainly not platefuls - just a couple of sandwiches, a couple of (bite size) flapjacks and a muffin.

We leave at 5pm. At 4pm someone said “there is so much food left”. That’s all I heard so I assumed it needed using up so I went back and got a few more bits. At this point someone said “Jesus Christ Beth, are you hungry?!”

I said “well it needs using up doesn’t it?” And laughed trying to keep it light hearted. Someone else then said “there is going to be none left for people to take home! No need to be greedy with it”.

Long story short it was apparently agreed that whatever was left would be taken home by those with kids. I did not hear this. I said I hadn’t heard this so someone said “Well no, you won’t have” and rolled their eyes.

was I really out of order here?? The food was there, lots of it. Nobody else was bothering with it. I’m embarrassed but I still don’t really think I did anything wrong? It’s not like I scoffed it all as soon as it came out.

I might have commented 'Oh, you all feed your children on leftovers that have been hanging around for a few hours!'.

No, don't say that. They won't be stale. This was all just a misunderstanding.

OP was also eating food that had been out for a few hours (which is not a big deal with most foods anyway).

4 times.

I would think greedy but I wouldn't be bothered by it and certainly wouldn't mention it.

Edit: I see you said unfair on her not unfair of her so we’re aligned. I thought you meant OP was unfair and was greedy.

YANBU

Far better to be eaten by adults than giving kids food poisoning potentially. If it’s not been refrigerated, then who the heck would take sarnies/sausage rolls home for their kids? Especially when everyone has had their mits on it 🤢

Honestly it does sound like you took more than other people!

I would assume that most would have one plate and then be too busy working to keep on going back up so maybe others didn’t have the chance to plate up more until it was time to finish work.

i don’t think you were greedy, I hate food police and never count up the sandwiches others eat, I have more interesting things to do.

There is a woman at work who I have realised is watching my food intake, it’s very odd. She is massively overweight and can barely walk but she’s an adult that’s her choice, I lost 4 stones a few years ago and after some events and a holiday I have gained a few lbs so I’m back to tracking my food. The other day I ate my nice healthy lunch and said to my work bestie ’wow that didn’t touch the sides I’m still hungry!’ The other woman piped up ‘how could you be you also had fridge raiders and mini cheese?’ At first I was a bit confused but then I said ‘Wow J I don’t need my fitness pal with you around!’ Fight fire with fire.

i also worked with a lazy, greedy, cheeky fucker. She was always first up at any offering despite never bringing in anything herself. She always grabbed extra goodies for her DC. One day our colleague’s partner (a pastry chef) turned up with an amazing cake as a surprise for her birthday. It really was a thing of beauty. Greedy was first up cutting a massive slab them starting to cut again saying ‘I’ll take this home for dc he’ll love it!’ The colleagues who owned the cake said ‘Actually no P, this is for my workmates and anything left I’m taking to the home for my mum and her friends after work!’ The cheeky bitch was astonished that anyone had dared to deny cake to her little darling and acted like someone had shat in her tea mug!

I avoid works buffets anyway after getting norovirus after one and as i ate the same as DH for other meals I am pretty sure that was the culprit.

If there's a buffet at work, in my opinion it's a free for all. As long as there's plenty for everyone I say eat as much as you like. Sounds like you ate around the same amount I would have

We had one of these ‘bring some food’ events at work recently. As usual, there was enough to feed the five thousand. Lots got left ‘on the side’ until some of it was presumably chucked away. Total waste of food and money!

I’d rather it all got eaten than wasted.

Really? If she's overweight , she's greedy, but not if she's slim? I don't understand your logic. Someone eating excessively from the buffet is greedy - how does their weight affect that?

If they're overweight they're eating more than they need. If they're not, they're not eating more than they need?

@FlightCommanderPRJohnson Unfortunately this the kind of faulty logic a lot of people operate under, as per my post above about people not batting an eyelid at how much I ate when I was slim.

They only criticised me for eating large portions when I was bigger.

When I was overweight my daily calorie allowance for maintenance was actually more, so their “logic” doesn’t make sense.

That logic only applies if the colleague is getting their entire nutritional intake from work buffets.

Honestly, it does sound like you took more than your fair share. Going for seconds, fine, you mention others did too. But going for thirds (which you don't mention anyone else doing) was pushing it, going for fourths really was just greedy.
You mention getting several sandwiches at seconds and thirds too, it does sound like you had a lot of food. Was it rude for them both to comment, yes, but you clearly made them feel you'd been rude and taken more than your fair share.

I think that is unfair and rude to comment when there is loads of food left. Where I work the food goes pretty fast though as other than me and a woman in a different department the other colleagues are men and they don't seemingly have any qualms about eating as much as possible first time around let alone going up for more! We did have a funny situation for World Food day where a new starter who didn't know anyone loaded up the biggest plate of food I have ever seen. He took half of one plated item but he was young so maybe really hungry.

People without kids are dealing with the cost of living too.

this!

You were greedy, your colleague was rude.

Am I the only person who is thinking that buffet food sitting around in an office all day looses it's appeal, is it even safe if meats etc.

When we brought food to work, there were rarely leftovers because even though it was night shift and people were 2 or 3 floors down, they would end up coming up for the food. Even the surgeons who got called in would show up.

But if there were leftovers, they went home with the person who made them.

Your coworkers obviously didn't like you going back 3 more times and called you on it.

"Think of the children!" though, I'd have been dying. 😂

Absolutely and @dottydodah you don’t know each person’s situation.

Someone might have two kids but also a high earning partner, lots of savings from inheritance.

Someone else might have no kids, no partner (so a single income household) and no chance of an inheritance and barely any savings.

Or someone might have kids but also a UC top up which covers their rent and someone else with no kids may be struggling to pay their mortgage.

And these aren’t unusual scenarios, it’s very common.

I need to know how the CF reacted when challenged? Well done to your colleague!

I don't understand that logic either, but I did wonder if OP was overweight for a different reason.
If you were slim in the situation, you would care less about colleagues rude attitude, it probably would be worded differently too.
I love a munch on the sandwich platter in work, people saying stupid things annoys me "Do you have hallow legs" or "I bet that will feed you for a week" stupid behaviour.