So I get to work the other day and right by the sign-in sheet there's a notice that my department has to attend a mandatory meeting with another department. And get this, the meeting is during afternoon break. As I've posted before, I have an active job and I need my breaks if only to relax for a few minutes. So being deprived of break pi$$ed me off. Also there were rumours the meeting was about merging the two departments and possibly eliminating some jobs (like mine?).

So we were all in a great mood when we got to the meeting and found that it wasn't a meeting after all, but an interdepartmental party with coffee and cake. It was announced as a meeting to make sure everybody was there and the company didn't waste its money on a cake that nobody was going to be around to eat.

The cake. It was huge. A whole commercial sheet pan huge. I mean, it would easily have fed 150 people. There were maybe 19 people at the party.

So I get myself a cup of coffee and watch the assistant to the manager of the other department cut the cake. Too much cake? No problem, she apparently thought. I'll just cut huge pieces. So she did. They were easily 5 inches square. She put 2 pieces on each small plate and then went around giving the plates to everybody there whether they wanted cake or not.

I did not want cake. Even before I lost weight I was never much of a cake eater, and, on the rare occasions I did eat cake, I always scraped the frosting off. I just don't like frosting.

This cake had frosting an inch thick.

All around me people are digging into the cake, some enthusiastically, some reluctantly but eating it all the same. Me? I find an empty spot to set the plate down and head for the door with my cup of coffee.

"You forgot your cake" someone calls after me and she (yup the same person who cut the cake and, it occurs to me now, probably baked it) rushes over and hands me the plate.

Anyway I ended up taking the cake home and sticking it in the fridge.

When I was at work the next day DH scraped the frosting off the cake pieces and weighed frosting and cake separately on our food scale.

Weight of each piece of cake sans frosting: 4 oz.
Weight of frosting: 12 oz !!!!!

Each piece of cake with frosting was probably close to 1000 calories. Two pieces were more calories than I eat in a day.

Grr! No wonder I tend to avoid company parties.

The cake and frosting, by the way, went right where it belonged... in the trash.

That's a LOT of cake! LOL Good that it's in the trash.

good for you!!

I used to like cake but I've always hated frosting so I'd always scrape it off. That is an amazing amount of frosting. Sadly, I've grown so that I don't even like cake anymore.

I'm also a bit appalled that they would 'force' a party onto you.

At my work, every month they have a small celebration for the birthdays of that month. They'll buy some dessert and get together. Sometimes I'll go just to say hi to people that I don't normally see. I am usually the only one not eating cake/pie. (I don't like pie either)

It's tough to be put in those situations...good for you sticking to your guns!!!

I'll admit, I am one of the folks that absolutely loves cake and icing....but I love getting healthy even more!!!

My work always has candy and treats around. Every month there is a birthday cake. I visit with everyone, occassionally have a very small taste and then get back to work!

I love cake. Plain and simple. Hey, it's one of the (many) reasons that I ended up where I used to be. But there's no excuse for forced parties, let alone force feeding people. Cut the cake, leave it there for people who want it and be done with it! That would have annoyed me so much, especially given the size of the pieces! I loved that you weighed it and calculated the calories..I would have eaten part of it, (only part; my appetite is smaller and too much of that sugary stuff now makes me sick), but still felt guilty afterward..hey, i'm still learning as I go.

Good job to you!

I like cake. I LOVE frosting. I eat the cake first, so I can eat the frosting last. Oh, and can I please have a corner piece? With a rose?

But I hardly ever have cake anymore, because since I've been eating healthy, I don't want it. A few months ago the family went to a party and there was chocolate cake. I had a piece, which set off cravings so I kept going back for mini-slices until my SIL punched me in the arm and said, 'quit it!'. Thanks, SIL!

In life there will be cake or something else. We have to get out of the diet mind set that it's such a big deal to have cake at some function. Just pass on it. I do it all the time. Just my two cents worth.

When faced with situations like that I'll often take a couple of bites just to enjoy it, then toss the rest (better in the trash than on my thighs). I have a pretty fierce sweet tooth though, and I love cake, so I wouldn't totally deny myself, but if you can pass it up, good for you!

I usually end up sharing mine with my DS. He's only 2 so he dosent need a piece to himself and neither do I!!!

Congrats on passing it up though!!

Wow, good job. How weird can society be, to be literally trying to shove unnaturally large quantities of pure junk down your throat that you don't even want?

Honestly, if it were me ... (and I admit that I've always been a bit of a rebel) ... I'd have gone to human resources and filed a complaint about having sugary cake forced on me. I would have NO problem telling someone in human resources that diabetes runs in my family (it does) and that I don't eat cake or sweets because of that and that this misleading meeting where someone tried to force food on me that I *couldn't* eat could have been damaging to my health. (Ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but not entirely.)

I would also point out that the meeting was announced as a mandatory meeting with rumors of job cuts, only to find out that was a lie to get people there to eat the cake.

Seriously. This is totally unacceptable in the workplace. It's one thing to have to deal with a pushy coworker, but another when the company forces employees to attend meetings for the purpose of eating unhealthy food.

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Um, in the US it's illegal to not allow someone to take their break. I don't see forcing you to go to a "meeting" (or party) as taking your break. I'd have refused to go or I'd have complained at the very least.

I have a really hard time, not going off on people who try to force feed others. Hello??? And some people wonder why obesity rates keep going up.

Since they lied about the meeting, I would have fibbed a bit myself and said something along the lines of my doctor wanting me to limit sugar. IMO, I'm sure most doctors would recommend this anyway, so maybe it's not really a fib.

Way to go Magrat!!!! Three cheers for you!

I do the same thing at work "food functions" You can make me show up, but you can't make me eat junk! I'm not afraid to say it to any manager or anyone else!

My workplace has mandatory morning meetings once in a while, and they supply DOUGHNUTS for us to eat. Of course, no one force-feeds us doughnuts, but it would be nice to have a healthier option like yogurt, fruit or granola. Our workplace recently went smoke free out of concern for employee health and new laws (we are in IL), yet they want us to eat doughnuts?! Talk about an oxymoron! Plus it seems there's always cake, huge bagels with assorted cream cheese or bakery cinnamon rolls in the breakroom. I avoid the breakroom at all costs. LOL!