The modern office: so much eating, so little time!

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from the Sydney Morning Herald

times change, and the etiquette and incidence of office dining has transformed significantly...  This requires a new employee categorisation.

First to appear are the toasters... The supercharged aroma of fruit and cinnamon toast makes its delicious presence felt in...

Following closely are the spooners, named for their cereal eating . No longer needing milk at home (why eat on your own time when you can...

Next are the manufacturers... you are now more likely to discover their workstations converted into mini production lines, preparing either gourmet sandwiches or health-conscious snacks...

Appearing throughout the day are the grazers, who arrive at the office with a half dozen hand-prepared nutritious low-fat organic mini-meals ...

the gourmets appear in force...

the whiskers, the tuna eaters....

Do you recognize any of these people in your, or in any other, work setting?

Are you in any of the categories yourself?

Fantastically humorous article with more than a grain of truth in its sharp observations!

[moosnsqrl]

Guilty as charged on all counts! And I am not alone. Here is a thread started by jgm, wherein many of our society members confess to the lengths to which we will go to keep body and soul together while toiling in our soulless cubicles.

I can't wait to read the full article this evening, Melissa. Thanks for sharing.

[Milagai]

Then there's the aromatherapy group:

fragrant leftovers or takeaway (India, Thai, Chinese etc.)

locked in mortal combat with

the "If food is fragrant it's a sinful excess" aka

"I'm going to complain all day about the smell"

group.....

Milagai

[Megan Blocker]

Then there's the aromatherapy group:

fragrant leftovers or takeaway (India, Thai, Chinese etc.)

locked in mortal combat with

the "If food is fragrant it's a sinful excess" aka

"I'm going to complain all day about the smell"

group.....

Milagai

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As someone who once worked in a ten by twenty foot space with five other people, often for 10 to 12 hours a day, I can tell you that smells that linger all day really are a problem, not just something non-foodies complain about.

When you've been working non-stop for eight hours post-lunch and you're hungry but also so tired that you're queasy and the air still smells of curry and tuna fish, it's not a good time.

We made a rule that any fish had to be eaten in the cafeteria. Beyond that, we went on a case by case basis.

[moosnsqrl]

And there are the anti-popcorn crusaders. That's a battle which flares up periodically.

[Megan Blocker]

As for what I am...none of the above, really! I sometimes buy breakfast to eat at my desk (usually a bagel with peanut butter), I take a quick coffee break with my colleague around 10:30 or 11:00 (just to the coffee machine down the hall...we're cheap, and there's no great coffee in the 'hood in any case), and I buy my lunch every day. Usually it's a salad, a sandwich, or a gyro-esque thing from a cart on Park.

Boring, I know.

ETA: I really miss my old office. We had an incredible cafeteria - it wasn't free, but it was partially subsidized, and it was really good. Tossed salads, which go for about $8-10 a pop in Manhattan, were about $6.00. A turkey sandwich could be had for $3.00, and a cup of soup was $1. Amazing. And huge variety...sigh. The breakfast in the morning...oh, man. Now I'm nostalgic.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[liamsaunt]

Everyone in my office is a work muncher. Our office takes up an entire floor of a building, and we have three kitchens, all with toasters, microwaves, fridges, and coffee makers (no ovens--fire hazard). I am lucky in that due to my location on the floor I only have to share my kitchen with five other people. The other two kitchen fridges get pretty nasty, but ours stays clean since so few people use it.

Of the six total, in the morning we have three toasters, two oatmeal eaters, and one fruit muncher. At lunch, things are usually reheated in the microwave--we have three daily "smart ones" eaters (blech), two bring leftovers from home, and there's one sandwich eater. The only rule is to never, ever microwave fish. Curry, on the other hand, is acceptable. We are lucky that our suite has good ventilation so odors don't linger.

[jgm]

Years ago, my workplace was often the scene of arguments about food smells. I tried to stay out of it.

On one particular day, I went into one of the cubicles to perform a particular task that required the equipment in that cubicle. The smell of beans was strong and unmistakable.

So when the supervisor walked by, I turned around and got his attention. I complained about the strong smell of beans in the cubicle. And I reminded him that I normally don't complain about such things, but this odor was so strong it offended even me.

Deadpan, he told me he could smell it too, and he also found it offensive. "But it's not beans," he maintained. "If you'll turn around, you'll find your monitor is on fire."

I quickly unplugged it, and we propped the cubicle door open to let it air out.

And all afternoon, we could hear, "Ewwww who brought the beans?"

[Fresser]

What about the Carnival Sideshow Eaters--able to eat whole fruits in a single bite!?

[moosnsqrl]

OMG, can you just imagine the list of forbidden items at Fresser's place of business? And, everytime they think it's finally comprehensive, some new item or combination is discovered and they have to add it and cross reference it with other unstable compounds and hazardous materials on the MSDH docs.

There is one facilities manager who deserves a raise, I'm thinking.

[kalypso]

And there are the anti-popcorn crusaders.  That's a battle which flares up periodically.

←

Ah, yes..............someone actually set the microwave on fire in our building - which is not insubstantial - leading to a ban on popcorn in the microwave and it was removed from vending mcahines shortly thereafter.

Currently, we are involved in coffee wars. Someone has been buying Folgers Half-Cafe for the communal office coffee pot. This stuff is vile I tell you, vile, not to mention virtually undrinkable. Several of us have resorted to making a pit-stop at the Starbucks a half a block away on our way in each morning. Since I am usually the last person out of the office, I eventually pick up some of the Boyd's Cafe Rojas organic (hey, it's free) from one of our units and the half-cafe mysteriously disappears and the more drinkable coffee appears. Now, you can get quite a caffeine buzz from the Boyd's product, and interestingly enough, none of the half-cafe drinkers has mentioned that they notice a difference in either the taste or potency of the coffee from the communal pot.

[MarketStEl]

It seems oddly fitting that I should run across this topic as I sat down to have lunch at my desk--leftover coq au vin mixed in with leftover broccoli with cheese sauce, all from last night's dinner. (There's more chicken at home in the fridge. I'll e-mail you some if you like.)

For the first time since my support-staff days more than 20 years ago, I have my own office. It has no windows--it's on the side of the suite that is next to the main corridor-- but it does have a vent fan over what was once the door to the main hallway. (There is no evidence whatsoever of this door's existence in the hallway itself, as that stretch of the corridor has been dressed up, with portraits of all the past presidents of Pennsylvania Military College/PMC Colleges/Widener College/Widener University hung on its walls. At the end of the corridor is the office of the current president.)

Anyway, that vent fan is quite good at keeping the smell of whatever it is I'm eating from invading the outer office. However, I really haven't put it to the test, as all I've heated in the office microwave is frozen pizzas and not-terribly-fragrant leftovers. It looks to me like I'm the most consistent brown-bagger in the office right now, but eating at one's desk is not at all uncommon, given the dining options in the immediate vicinity of campus. On campus, our foodservice provider (Aramark) runs the student dining hall (which the faculty and staff also use a lot), the faculty dining room (so far, I've seen no faculty or staff in it, ever), two Java City grab 'n' go cafés and a grill in the convenience store in the student center. There is also a Quiznos Sub shop in the student center. A food truck occasionally shows up on 14th Street. Off campus, there is a small coffee shop that sells pastries, a convenience store with a deli/hoagie counter, a pizzeria that doesn't open until 4 pm and a steak shop (there's a picture of it in the "Lunch!" thread). That's it. Oh, there's also a diner at the Days Inn two blocks from campus.

Which means that:

--lunch outings usually involve driving to one of the nearby towns (or in my case, riding along with a co-worker), or

--lunch is an at-your-desk affair.

I guess I'm a cross between a gourmet and a grazer, though my snacks are almost equally split between healthy and trashy.

(Edited to remove the bit of cheese sauce that landed on my monitor.)

Edited March 22, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[Fresser]

OMG, can you just imagine the list of forbidden items at Fresser's place of business?  And, everytime they think it's finally comprehensive, some new item or combination is discovered and they have to add it and cross reference it with other unstable compounds and hazardous materials on the MSDH docs.

←

Years ago, I temped in an office near O'Hare Airport. Friday was Pizza Day, and among the sundry pizzas delivered was the boss's special recipe: anchovies, jalapeno peppers and GARLIC! Damn pizza stank to high heaven, but I dug in with the boss and found the pizza quite tasty.

The boss and I got along famously after that.

[MarketStEl]

Years ago, I temped in an office near O'Hare Airport.  Friday was Pizza Day, and among the sundry pizzas delivered was the boss's special recipe:  anchovies, jalapeno peppers and GARLIC!  Damn pizza stank to high heaven, but I dug in with the boss and found the pizza quite tasty.

The boss and I got along famously after that. 

←

I must duplicate that combination the next time I make pizza!

Only this time, with habañeros.

[mizducky]

And there are the anti-popcorn crusaders.  That's a battle which flares up periodically.

←

Oy. You just reminded me of another story from my days as a Microsoftie. Not only were their kitchens equipped with stashes of free sodas and juices, but a goodly number of them had old-school popcorn makers like these. When somebody made up a batch, you could smell it for seemingly miles--fortunately it was a relatively nice popcorn smell, not that nasty artificial-butter/almost scorched odor of microwaved popcorn. And then the smell would cause the vultures to descend, so if you started making a batch and left the kitchen, you might return to find no popcorn left for yourself

Which also reminds me--in the Microsoft office-eating ecology, we had a whole other class of people not mentioned in the original article: the Scavengers. Any free food of any sort available, any leftovers from a meeting refreshment tray or a morale lunch, they would magically appear and handily clean it up for you. Not that I was above taking a free handout myself--quite the opposite--but I swear there were some folks who must have been subsisting on nothing but their gleanings. And some people would even bring in overages of food from home (excess baked goods from a holiday party, excess garden produce, etc.) and leave them in the office kitchens so that the Scavengers would take the stuff off their hands.

Oh, and another classification missing from the article: the Tipplers. The folks with little office bar stashes discreetly (or not so discreetly) hidden away in file drawers and cubicle fridges. Nothing like trying to get your inebriated brain back onto your work after a lunchtime bout of Party in a Pail frozen Margaritas (yeah, the stuff looked and tasted a little like that green radiator antifreeze gone semifreddo, but we drank it anyway).

[Kent Wang]

Oh, and another classification missing from the article: the Tipplers. The folks with little office bar stashes discreetly (or not so discreetly) hidden away in file drawers and cubicle fridges. Nothing like trying to get your inebriated brain back onto your work after a lunchtime bout of Party in a Pail frozen Margaritas (yeah, the stuff looked and tasted a little like that green radiator antifreeze gone semifreddo, but we drank it anyway).

←

I used to have a file cabinet where I kept a small bottle of liquor. I filed it under the 'B' folder, you know, B for booze.

[Megan Blocker]

Oh, and another classification missing from the article: the Tipplers. The folks with little office bar stashes discreetly (or not so discreetly) hidden away in file drawers and cubicle fridges. Nothing like trying to get your inebriated brain back onto your work after a lunchtime bout of Party in a Pail frozen Margaritas (yeah, the stuff looked and tasted a little like that green radiator antifreeze gone semifreddo, but we drank it anyway).

←

Yes! Back when I was a recruiter for an investment bank, one of my hiring managers had bottles of liquor (mostly unopened, all gifts) all over the place. Every time he did an interview, I had to go to his office beforehand and hide the booze, because he always forgot.

[I_call_the_duck]

Oh, and another classification missing from the article: the Tipplers. The folks with little office bar stashes discreetly (or not so discreetly) hidden away in file drawers and cubicle fridges.

←

Ah the Tippler. I once had a boss who, when seeing someone who was having a bad day, would pull them aside, and whisper conspiratorily, "I have some Jack Daniel's in my desk if you need some!"

Never did take him up on that offer.

Edited March 22, 2006 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[Fresser]

Yes!  Back when I was a recruiter for an investment bank, one of my hiring managers had bottles of liquor (mostly unopened, all gifts) all over the place.  Every time he did an interview, I had to go to his office beforehand and hide the booze, because he always forgot. 

←

I-banks that used to recruit at the U. of C's business school would hold "Liquidity Preference Functions."

I was so proud of myself when I figured out what "LPF" meant.

[moosnsqrl]

I must duplicate that combination the next time I make pizza!

Only this time, with habañeros.

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Man, this is probably another thread (of course it is) but amen on the habañeros - mass-produced, store-bought jalapeños have NO kick these days.

Oh, and yeah, PM me some of that coq au vin when you get a chance.

[gus_tatory]

And there are the anti-popcorn crusaders.  That's a battle which flares up periodically.

←

i understand that people love microwave popcorn--but the cheap stuff they make in my office smells like heated-up Coppertone suntan lotion...

[moosnsqrl]

Oh, and another classification missing from the article: the Tipplers. The folks with little office bar stashes discreetly (or not so discreetly) hidden away in file drawers and cubicle fridges. Nothing like trying to get your inebriated brain back onto your work after a lunchtime bout of Party in a Pail frozen Margaritas (yeah, the stuff looked and tasted a little like that green radiator antifreeze gone semifreddo, but we drank it anyway).

←

OK, did you write the error messages? Or online help? Or put "shut down" in the Start menu? (After the party in a pail, I mean).

Edited to fix my bumbling emoticons

Edited March 22, 2006 by moosnsqrl (log)

[MissAmy]

I once worked in a office that had an habitual popcorn burner. A person who ALWAYS burned the popcorn, leaving the office to smell of carbonated chemical stank for hours. It drove me nuts. I mean, how hard is it to WATCH the bag of popcorn in the microwave, and oh.. I don't know... TAKE IT OUT WHEN IT STOPS POPPING?! I mean, honestly.

[gingerfreak]

Well at various times I'm all of the above - except a toaster because 1) I don't trust the office toaster and 2) I don't trust myself to keep track of what I'm doing!

For the most part I'm a grazer in an office full of messy scavengers and toasters. I am the smallest person in the office and am ALWAYS eating something.

And one more category, the NON-EATERS. We have people who simply don't seem to eat anything as they foster the image of being too busy for such things (coffee excepted of course, all the better to fuel the ambition).

We may very well have tipplers who manage to hide their habit well.