Jacket potato for lunch

[Biscuitz1]

Just really annoyed right now as someone from work believes it is perfectly appectable to put a potato for 15 mins in the microwave!

There is already a queue as it is.

I think you need to petition facilities / management for more microwaves.

Yuck. Microwave jacket potatoes are awful. I used to work with someone who would put their bread on top of the toaster if it was already in use. Obviously that stopped the other person’s toast from popping up so it would burn. Then the fire alarm would go off and we’d all have to troop outside and wait in the car park for the all clear. After it happened several days in a row, we were banned from having a toaster.

Surely not everyone is trying to use the microwave at exactly the same time? If I need the microwave, I'll take my lunch when it is free, otherwise I'll just carry on working until then

you can get frozen jacket potatoes that just need re-heating, so where she's getting the idea that reheating does any harm is absurd.

She's confusing rice with a potato... you can't leave rice warm and then re-heat because of bacterial growth.

Tell her...
potato = fine.
Rice = death

15 mins? She's taking the piss, I would say 8 mins in a mic, or grab a frozen one, they are 6.5mins. There is no issues cooking it at home and reheating it either, it won't kill her. Is there only 1 microwave? Between how many staff?

She isn't going to die from a reheated jacket potato, if anything it will create resistant starch and be a bit healthier for her, daft moo.

Not sure where you work but how would you “take my lunch when it is free” ? This might mean eating lunch at 11:30am or 3:30pm.

How would you know when the microwave is free if you stay at your desk? Would you base your laptop in the kitchen to wait? For how long?

It gets SUPER busy in some offices at lunchtimes.

At my work place we are only allowed to take lunch between 12-2pm. Desk eating is allowed but anyone wanting to heat anything up has to queue and if people are taking 8 mins plus per time that wont work at all.

My point is that 12-2 is super busy in most office kitchens.

There are definitely very many people trying to use the microwaves at the same time where i work.

Edited as posted too soon and had to correct typos.

This is what I thought. It wouldn’t occur to me to worry about how long my food was in. There are plenty of microwaves and no set lunch hours though.

Most people I work with take lunch at different times every day depending on what is going on that day. You're being flippant with comments about setting up in the kitchen, in most offices you can see the kitchen, so you can see if there is a queue, or a quick walk to the kitchen will confirm if there is a queue or not. I've never worked in an office with set lunch times, we've got 1 microwave for about 40 people and there's never issues 🤷

this post explains why some people wouldn’t give hogging the microwave a second thought. In 25 years of office working I’ve never seen this situation.

I don't know why you dont believe me?! It’s weird to try to invalidate my lived experience just because “you have never seen this”.

I work in a work space spread over 20 floors.

The 12-2 timing for lunch thing is real not made up.

The microwaves are on one level - where the salad and deli
bar etc are but still it gets very busy - we have 8 microwaves i think from memory but still it gets busy in a building with hundreds of staff in the office and more and more people bringing in food from home to save money.

Not sure why you don't believe me? I have a 22 year career here which is nearly equivalent to your 25.

That is why my suggestion to OP @Biscuitz1 was to petition for more microwaves.

Obviously we all know that reheating would be fine but she won't believe you. However, I used to work in a cafe and a comment above reminded me: we didn't really cook anything on the premises as we were a shit cafe at a tourist resort. However, the jacket potatoes were delivered pre-cooked and frozen. She might go for that as the bacteria won't grow in the freezer. We used to heat the frozen potato in the microwave for a couple of minutes, then smother it with toppings so you couldn't see how horrible it was.

Our office is huge - around 400 people. You absolutely CANNOT see the canteen from 95% of the office with where it’s positioned. From my corner, it’s a couple of mins walk down there, so if I were to walk down to see if the microwave was free (and I would have to go in as the microwaves are located after the canteen part so you can’t see them unless you are inside and go around the corner), find its in use, it would take me away from my desk for 5 mins. How many times can you do that each day before it’s taking the piss?

The last office I worked in was in a separate building to the canteen - you had to go over a bridge to get to that! Was a good 5 mins walk at a brisk pace.

The only other office I worked in was over 20 years, that was tiny (5 of us). From the upstairs office you couldn’t see the kitchen as it was downstairs. You could see from downstairs if you looked around the door. But there were so few of us, and we staggered lunch, so it really didn’t matter.

My point is, you can’t categorically state that you can see other kitchen from “most offices”. My experience would have me saying the exact opposite - and that would likely be wrong too.

So how about we don’t go making up scenarios and base it on what we are told about a situation?

Your experience is not representative of all office experiences.

The kitchen area in my office is 12 floors above my desk level. I have no clue what is going on up there until I go up to warm my food.

The myopia is real.

What suggestion do you have for OP that will actually help her address this, rather than arguing with me about when i am allowed to take my lunch at my job that I work at, and whether I can see the kitchen or not, at the job that I actually work at?

They should cook It before the lunchtime rush. It’ll stay hot for ages anyway.

I don’t disbelieve you in the slightest, I don’t know why you think I do?

I don’t think it’s selfish or inappropriate to stick your potato in the work micro for 15 minutes. The reason I don’t think it’s selfish or inappropriate is I have never experienced what you describe above, so why would I?

Complain to get another microwave for everyone.

When I am made Lord of the Workplace, I will impose a maximum 2 mins microwaving. There is nothing that can’t be heated to eating temperature in that time.

People who follow the ready meal instructions involving 8 mins and a minute to stand and then 8 mins again can get in the bin, along with potato woman.

Where does one purchase these bionic microwaves?

Yanbu - this is cf territory.
Plus a baked potato needs to be finished off in the oven if it’s microwaved. Bleurgh.

You said this:

I've never worked in an office with set lunch times, we've got 1 microwave for about 40 people and there's never issues 🤷

But it is possible for there to be issues in other work places!

In MY scenario 15 mins per person IS unreasonable because no one else will have enough time to warm their food. In a 2 hour slot (12-2) if everyone takes 15 mins plus 1.5 mins for putting food in and taking it out, how many people will get to warm their food at the normal lunch window?

That is my point :- consideration is required in a shared facility situation.

OP’s colleague can blast her potato for 15 mins before the expected rush, and wrap it in foil to stay warm OR go back later and use microwave for a further FEW minutes to melt cheese or whatever.

Taking a FULL 15 minutes at peak time IS inconsiderate to me.

Hence - I ask again - what is your suggestion? For OP’s problem.

Mine is requesting more microwaves - what is yours?

My exact suggestion!

I didn’t say that. You’re mixing me up with someone else

you're also getting really unnecessarily upset about a potato

microwave that 700 take more time them1000 o1200