The one thing we all like to do at our desks is eat. But what should we eat? It’s a question to ponder, because the food you consume, rather like the clothes you wear, says a lot about you. And just as you wouldn’t wear day-glo leg-warmers to minute a meeting of the board of directors, so you’d be ill-advised to spend each lunchtime with a polystyrene box of doner meat and chips, criss-crossed artistically with ketchup, and expect that big promotion to be in the bag. Some foods ooze professional kudos. Other foods just, well, ooze.
So what are the good, the bad and the ugly of desk-top delicacies? Top of the list of pariahs comes smelly food – burgers, kebabs, hot dogs, saveloys and the like. In fact, any food which is normally consumed after four or five stiff drinks is best avoided at your desk.
Next there is kiddy food. Most of us have a hankering for the tastes of our childhood from time to time but indulge in infantile treats on a daily basis and people will start to question whether you’re really mature enough to have responsibility for … well, anything. If you need to kick-start the day with an outsize bowl of Coco Pops, do it in the privacy of your own home. And if you have a mother who is still willing to make you sandwiches with the crusts cut off on a daily basis, that might not be something to shout about.And then there’s the problem of noisy food. A perfectly ripe peach is a lovely thing – but is almost impossible to eat without making disgusting slurping noises and getting juice all over your face and/or clothes.
But that’s the problem with eating – it tends to be a messy business, especially when your mind is on other things, even if you’ve packed the most carefully chosen non-smelly, non-kiddy, non-noisy items.
All my years on the road required developing survival skills – like how to eat a chile dog without turning my shirt and slacks into an advert for organic spot remover. While not running off the freeway at 80 mph.
I believe the worst thing I’ve smelled at work was a burnt bag of cheddar cheese flavored popcorn. Smelled like the worst dirty socks ever.
The strangest thing I’ve seen at work was a whole raw chicken in the break room refrigerator. The chicken had it’s head and claws intact but fortunately most of the feathers were removed. (mmmmm-mmmmm just a little afternoon snack.)
Rule of thumb. It doesn’t matter what you eat, if you can smell it outside your office/cube then you shouldn’t eat it at work.
Sunflower seeds in the shell.
and cafeteria food for lunch.
and I just got a promotion.
People who make microwave popcorn at work should be dragged into the street and shot. Twice. First of all, it stinks to high heaven when everything goes well. But it doesn’t always go well does it? No, someone inevitably leaves the popcorn in too long and then it’s a burning charred smelly bag of burnt kernels that stinks all day long. At our work someone tries to make microwave popcorn about once a year (usually an intern)and we simply sit them down and explain why they should not do it and the reasons we find it irritating. Then we each hit the offender (open handed, we are not savages) to reinforce the point.
A food article from the UK, culinary capital of the world!
Who eats at their desk? Ew. That gets food in your keyboard and of course spilled foods. Go out for lunch. Do yourself a favor.
#4 Paddy o
Reminds me of the old joke.
In Heaven the French do the cooking, The Germans run the trains and the English tell the jokes.
In Hell, The English do the cooking, the French run the trains and the Germans tell the jokes.
We once had someone heat up fish in the microwave at work. Nobody could come near the kitchen for hours without gagging. After the criticism he received for that he doesn’t dare bring anything smellier than a turkey sandwich into the office.
I often eat at my desk. If I am in the middle of something and the juices are flowing, I don’t want to stifle my creativity.
When I was younger I would often eat at my desk in order to avoid the smokers. Even though there was policy, they smoked and as a former smoker I didn’t care to complain.
Another reason I wouldn’t eat in the lunch room is having to listen to all the whining, griping, bitching, moaning, complaining, blaming, and whatever about George Bush.
I bet George Bush eats at his desk.
Probably the still warm corpses of unborn babies.
I prefer to eat at absent co-worker’s desks, helps keep mine clean. About 3-4 of us get take out on any given day, pizza, burgers, burritos, chinese, so no food is really off limits.
I do agree though, popcorn stench is pretty gross.