Waging a war agains office snacks
 

Alright.... I know to expect it during the actual holidays but really...it's October! There are 2 huge Christmas themed tins of this chocolate covered caramel popcorn that someone gave us as thank you for some theatre tickets.
Alright first off.... there are 10 people in this office....there is no need for 2 tins of anything! Second of all...now we have all had a taste of it....even me...nothing overboard but it's very delicious....and we aren't even through half of one tin. I was getting my salad and heating up my soup for lunch and made an off hand comment that the goods were 'awful and way to tempting' to which another girl responded 'I agree, I can't wait until it's gone' and I have a feeling that others feel the same way.
Am i wrong in my thinking that at this point....where this has been there since last Friday....that if people want some come and take it...and it's time to get rid of the rest? What is so wrong with throwing it out? If we are all complaining about the 'awful temptation' why keep it around? I'd get rid of it but it wasn't given to me so I'm not sure I have the right.

Where does this mentality come from? 'I can't wait until it's gone' translates into 'We must eat it all and then it will be gone' as opposed to 'we've had our taste lets just get rid of it if we want it gone'

Ahh, I can feel the office full of baked goods holidays right around the corner. I'm trying to pile on the willpower now.

I understand what you mean. As the holidays come around my office is already preparing to feast. I'm mentally steeling myself against the temptation, but yes, it's so difficult when the food will just not go away!

I'm not sure how your office structure works, or who is in charge, but maybe at the end of this week you could offer up the remains of the food to someone in the office to bring home to their family. (Some families love that sort of thing.) Or suggest it to someone with the authority to do that, if you do not have it.

Heck, maybe you could even donate the unopened tin to a food shelter?

And to help out a little:

:dust:

See... there's your problem right there. You need to stop giving away theatre tickets! Problem solved!

;););)






But yeah, I know what you mean. The problem with "communal food" is that no one feels like they have the right to get rid of it. That's why sometimes I'll see trays of food from the day before on our counters the next morning. It gets thrown away then, of course, but no one felt like they could throw it out the day it was set out, "just in case" someone else wanted some.

One office I was in had a "one treat at a time" rule. If they had two boxes of something, one was set out and the other put into a drawer for later. Another had a "three-day" rule, where for candies and things it would be put out for three days and then sent home with people who have families who would eat it, or thrown out.

If the office is only ten people, you may want to see ifyou can find a consensus with them as to what you (all) want to do with holiday treats.

Now that's a good rule!

I dread the holiday season for this very reason. We have two seasons here in Florida; summer and "the eating season". I work for an Architectural firm and any day now the food will start to arrive. This week we have the eating season kickoff party, cleverly disguised as a United Way fundraiser. A full breakfast, followed by a tailgate party and bakesale. Then for the next 2-1/2 months the food pours in, gifts from clients, consultants, engineers, etc. We must get 100 pounds of glazed pecans alone each year. I'm not in charge of the food storage or rationing, unfortunately, and all suggestions to improve the flow of food tend to be ignored. Our receptionist (or Director of Intial Impressions) is very heavy and resistant to any idea which is not hers. (I love her to death, but sometimes I wish she'd retire.) She's very gracious and very southern, and from the "food is how you socialize and how you show love" mentality. She's cut back to 4 days a week now, so I think on the 5th day we're going to be pitching a lot of food. Personally, I'd like to see it all donated to a homeless shelter. Our office is divided into 2 major workspaces, and I did ask that maybe we could divide the food and put some in each area. Since I only work on one side of the building, that would be 1/2 the temptation, right?

Dixiedieter: Would the receptionist (or her boss) go for donating the food gifts, or at least those in commercially wrapped packages, to a food bank? The glazed pecans, in particular, must be pretty spendy, and a nice treat for families that could never hope to afford it.

I also wonder about the propriety of asking clients, etc. to donate to the food bank directly in lieu of giving an annual gift to the office staff. I know this type of request is frowned on by the manners mavens -- Emily Post would have a fit. But, "donations in lieu of gifts" is more and more common (e.g., for weddings or memorials) and also more and more acceptable.

We're still in birthday cake season around here. I don't know how we ended up with an all-Libra front office staff, but we did!

Kim

Ha ha ha!

At my last job, my coworker and I used to pilfer the goodies to our desks, then take tons of them out on a walk to a nearby acre of park/nature, and we fed the popcorn to the geese and squirrels.

When I was in charge of that kind of stuff, if we had more than one goodies-package at a time, I suggested to my coworkers that we drop it off at a nearby food shelf. Nobody could argue with that! If there was a half-opened tin, I'd suggest to whoever had teenagers, "Oh, I bet your kids would enjoy this with the rest of their friends this weekend". People were willing to take it home if someone "in charge" suggested it, but nobody wanted to say "can I take this home for my kids?"

I also talked them into, one year, making donations to various charities in our clients' names, instead of sending out more junk food and trinkets. Many of our vendors also did the same, and I thought that was cool.

I know what you mean. Our office is filled with bad snack foods either from vendors or well-meaning supervisors. I am trying to fight back by bringing in healthy food alternatives (low sugar granola bars, nuts, fresh fruit, veggies) but it is an uphill battle.

Good luck to all.

It helps me to get very "black/white" about office temptations, since I tend to nibble and then want more and more. This has now worked for me for 3 years, I just say "I'm not going to eat any holiday food at work." Personally, it easier for me that way, then I don't have to figure out if I can have a taste, figure out how to stop eating, etc etc. No treat at work has ever been worth my mental struggle with it. (but I don't do moderation well, this approach is for me, since I eat one thing and immediately want 10 more).

Oh how I wish I had an office full of people to share this stuff with. My husband is a general contractor and beginning in mid November we will be receiving food gifts from every subcontractor we used during the year. I am the office staff.

Has anybody ever had Fairytale Brownies? It's a mail order company that sells the most incredible brownies. In the last 5 years I don't think I've ever received less than 5 dozen of them. Being a good fat chick, I always worked my way through them in way less time than I'd like to admit. This year I'll be regifting.

hehhehe I'm horrible! my co-workers always know there's something yummy to be had in my candy dish ~ for some reason it holds no temptation for me???! don't know why, but I never have any of it, never did - even when i was eating for 12 :D hahahha

HOWEVER, when someone brings in trays of cookies or brownies and leaves them in the lunch room (this week it was nanaimo bars!!!!) I have to pick them up and put them in the kitchen out of my line of vision !

I completely agree with you. I work at a post secondary institute that offers a Professional cooking/Baking program. We're always getting sweets and fatty pastries sent to our office. When this happens I avoid the area like the plague.

Every Christmas I'm given about 20 boxes of chocolates or specially baked goodies from professors and offices from around the campus to thank me for my hard work (I usually give most of them to the other staff in my office and keep the really expensive ones for myself haha). I'm not looking forward to it this year LOL.

I think they should do what one department did last year and chip in together and give me gift certificate for a spa LOL.

Unfortunately I'm a sucker for Worther's heh and I know that I get a bag full each year... not sure if I can part with those :(

In some ways I wish it was as simple as brownies where I work. We are always have boxes of chocolates sitting around during the silly season. My willpower disappears with a box of chocolates and I almost always end up eating several. I am always happy to see when it is this one brand of chocolate because I can't stand them because they taste waxy to me so I won't eat them. With baked goods I can almost always behave myself and say no but chocolates are my weakness.

We get goodies from vendors & the people we do work for. What I've found helpful in the past:

1) eat enough healthy food/drink enough water to keep full & keep healthy snacks around. The hungrier I get, the more likely I'll binge on something bad

2) If I do indulge, limit it to 1 item per day and watch the portions. Even with nut/raisin mixes, I keep measuring cups in my desk to make sure I don't go overboard on them because even though nuts are healthy and a good fat, too many isn't good.

I love the idea of giving the stuff to food pantries and/or letting folks take it home. Is there anyway you could ask to have an out of sight/out of mind area designated as the goodie area? Moving it away from the kitchen to an area most folks don't have to pass on a regular basis?

Our office space is just too small. There is no place really that is out of sight out of mind...and its not just the holidays...it's all the time...it just doubles at the holidays.
I have a young 22 year old growing male assistant....he's pretty healthy most of the time but has an awful sweet tooth...I just keep hoping he'll eat everything.

I feel like if I talk about it here then it helps me just not reach for it