It goes without saying you have to be a very selfish person to eat this at your desk?

[OfficesmellQ]

My colleague returned from Tesco on her lunch break with a pot of boiled eggs from the food to go counter. She ate these at her desk and I struggled not to gag.

Surely it goes without saying that this isn’t an appropriate lunch to inflict on others in an enclosed space?

How about stinky pork "Pâté", or sardines. 🤢

Lovely, I'll turn up with some lovely Italian blood sausage.

Gorgeous.

I used to work in the same set of desks as a man who once ate tinned sardines straight out of the tin. I thought that was bad until a couple of days later when he started eating a tin of squid (or maybe it was octopus) at his desk, I suddenly had some urgent filing to do!

I didn't kniw at the time, but onee day, I asked my colleague whether she could smell sewage, but she confessed that she'd just opened her lunchbox which had an egg sandwhich in.

I don't know who was more embarrassed! 😆

I had a delightful colleague who liked to heat a bag of cabbage in the microwave.

are boiled eggs really so bad? Or is it the after effects?

It’s disgusting in an office and I like eggs as food. I think some people need office/train etiquette spelled out to them. I hope the curry man from my old office reads this. Every time you microwaved a fish/egg curry, the stench permeated the whole floor, I took a long outdoors lunch-break, felt sick the whole afternoon and could smell it in my clothes and hair at home. 🤢

I once worked with someone who microwaved kippers in the communal microwave every lunchtime , urgh. I did struggle with this as it made everything cooked in the microwave taste of kippers and smelled so strong!

but ultimately, eggs (and kippers) are a good healthy food and you can’t police other people’s lunch.

sorry x

Now that really is unacceptable

Lad who I have sat next to for the last decade eats the Tesco boiled eggs every single day. They really don’t smell that bad and it’s not as though it’s a steaming pile of shit anyway is it?

The trouble with those “protein pots” with two boiled eggs in is that when you open them, they release a dense puff of really intense and foul egg-fart stench, it’s much much worse than just boiling an egg and shelling it. I do eat those pots in an emergency, but I have to open them at arm’s length and hold my breath until it disperses. YANBU.

It's a pretty common lunch item at my work and honestly can't say I notice it.

im not one of them as I don't particularly like hard boiled eggs, but can't say the smell bothers me.

Wow, I'm pretty relaxed about most things and I'm surprised by the number of YABU.

I have these personal rules about public eating:

1. Don't do it if physically near someone and you think the munching could be particularly audible.
2. Don't do it in a non-standard eating area (eg train, desk) if what you're eating is smelly.
3. Check people near you are OK if eating a common and serious allergen (eg nuts).

If you are eating fish, brassica based hot food, or egg, you should stick to refectories or staff-rooms.

I don't expect everyone to do the same, but I think not being aware of egg smells is a bit off (no pun intended).

We have a colleague who’s pregnant and has awful HG bless her. So our boss has banned all stinky food in the office as it make la her feel sick. It’s great!!! I hate strong food smells so I’ll be sad when she goes on mat leave 😂😂

I think all smelly foods should be eaten outside of a working environment, and anyone with BO should be sent home without pay until they can follow a hygiene regime.

People make way too much fuss about food smells. We all dislike different things and I really don't think you can police what people eat. Eating at your desk is rank though unless it's just a biscuit or crisps.

In a canteen or other such space, then certainly.
But in a flipping office it’s not good enough to shrug and say people need to ‘deal with it’ (as in: do nothing, and shut up.)
The employer ought to be providing a staff room for eating one’s sarnies of course but in the absence of this, eating odoriferous foods like eggs is very thoughtless, given the way food smells always linger on the air.
People shouldn't have to endure such intrusive elements in the office, where its inevitable at least one person will be heaving after the whiff from Next Desk’s lunch.
Tricky of course, as banning eggs but not ham sarnies would be pretty strange. 🤔
(It’s maybe one of those circs where management must appeal, very carefully, to the spirit of mutual respect and team cohesion, and ask that only very ‘neutral’ food be consumed until the lunch room the company is obliged to provide is up and running)

PS It’s amazing how frequently a gag reaction to the sulphurous smell of eggs being eaten is encountered. I wonder is it a genetic thing, like tasting fresh coriander as soap etc.

Eggs stink .. I go nuts if anyone brings them in

I used to boot my manager out of our small office when she cracked open a banana. She was most disappointed when I moved to a different office and my replacement also loathed bananas!

There are loads of banana haters in my department now. Banana skins are banned from bins. Yeuch!

With a lot of meal deals a boiled egg is all I can have. Does she have any dietary or life needs that mean she relies on this?

I wouldnt mind this but the smell of fried chicken makes me gag.

Of course YABU to say you have to be a very selfish person to eat at your desk!

If it's boiled eggs then yes they are a bit whiffy, see also fish!

But most people don't eat that at their desk (at work I presume you're talking about!)

Selfish seems ott- clueless is more like it!!!

My boss always eats sardine sandwiches and they bloomin stink.

Tbh, I don’t like the smell of other people’s food full stop in the office. Especially things like crisps that make it smell like a school lunch room. People are so lazy these days, they should leave the office to eat!

But do cold boiled eggs even smell? I don't see what the problem is or how someone eating them would impact on anyone else? I do think it's quite rude to heat up fish etc as the smell is so strong and lingers but boiled eggs are fine. If you don't like it look away. What did you eat in work today?