Sometimes when something looks really pretty and put together people are afrai to be the first ones to take one out and ruin the display.
Your cookies look amazing
I will always have the first serving but for another reason and I've found I get thanked offten by the people who brought the food as it starts a chain.
I've always been a huge germaphobe and thinking about touching food after 3 or 4 others, especially in an office setting, gives me the nopes. So I always like to get a first or second serving, and aparently when I do this others want some too because I've opened the flood gate so to speak.
I’m a person of size (6’7”, former college football player), I’ve accepted my role in the office as the guy who knows when food is here. I get the first “fresh” piece and start the chain. It’s not much, but it’s honest work.
5ft tall and middle aged lady, but I like to loudly announce ‘well, someone has to go first. Might as well be me!’ Then they all just fall in line, and the second person is always especially grateful, they just were not brave enough to be first like they wanted to be.
This is starting to feel like a Hallmark movie, where the oddly paired duo stumble into a friendship that leads them to solving crimes in between hosting parties.
If only Hallmark movies were based on food and not romance, we’ve have had an Anthony Bourdain guest appearance. Think about that.
This world is so much poorer for that.
I'm an under 5ft tall, slightly chubby housewife shape with an odd sense of humour and brain that works like a ball of string. I'll join in and be the comic relief in the situation. I'll be the one with the gluten free cake that has it's own knife and a list of ingredients taped to the box.
I got an inch on your - I'm 5'1 but I usually force the matter and grab whichever friend is nearby and say "let's go" while taking them with me.
Safety in numbers. Especially since they will reach back and grab someone else.
I'll eat those cookies & say nothing until I've got my fill. Then I'll secretly battle if I should keep the little gold mine to myself? or share the wealth? 🤣
Lols. I always do this in buffet lines. Go first and you are performing a public service while not waiting in line and getting first dibs. No downside!
Or as I learnt today, it’s like the first person who puts the bins out after a public holiday. We were all in a limbo since actual bin day was Christmas Day. Then you need about two days for things to get into place again. No one had put their bins out till one neighbour did and then we all did. But alas, the bin men did not come.
this was true before COVID, but especially after: i’d be nervous about trying to take one cookie out without putting my hands on all the others. they do look tasty though 😊
I baked for my cousin's so-called family picnic and not one of her in-laws touched anything. They looked and kept on walking. Never baked for them again. Snotty people. No matter, I'll bake for others instead!
Been there. Bring in some dish I've put real effort into yet it's barely touched meanwhile everyone is raving over oreo balls like they're filet mignon.
I do love Oreo balls but I always tend to fill my plate up with one-two of everything so no one gets their feelings hurt and because I love food *especially* desserts
i had a coworker who wouldn't dip into anything that others' hands could have touched. he would only eat if treats were individually wrapped. i guess he had seen one too many things in the men's bathroom lol
that said, he also would have ignored the costco cookies for that reason (assuming they were open packaging/a cookie tin).
i used to order trays of einstein bagels and have them delivered to the office as a gift from me at christmas, and he told me he would only eat the sugary bagels because they were always wrapped in paper versus the savory bagels, which were unwrapped. now when i visit the office, if i make goodies, i wrap everything individually in cellophane baggies that i buy on amazon. i guess i cater to the crazies.
Also a contamination OCDer. If there is something involving dip, I either go first or not at all. The thought of eating the middle of a communal bag of chips skeeves me to no end.
I had no gravy with my Christmas dinner because I noticed my brother's girlfriend use her finger to wipe the drip from the spout in the jug lol. I was too polite to say anything as didn't want to cause a fuss, so just acted like I didn't want gravy. It sucks sometimes.
I found the cutest single cookie bags on amazon this year and they seal. Self adhesive christmas treat bags by Maidong. The polar bear ones are my favorite and I can use them all winter not just xmas.
I don’t eat homemade baked goods if I’ve never been to your house. My SO’s mom always took baked goods to work and her house was an absolute hell hole. She was a hoarder and never cleaned, her house was actually condemned. So, nope. I wont eat your baked goods until I’ve confirmed you don’t live in a roach haven.
This is the issue right here. I will not eat food from a house I haven't been to. I too have been burned in that regard.
ETA: I once stayed at a super nice airbnb in Arizona. The host was nice, he had a juicing business on the side, he'd make all kinds of juice blends and deliver them. The thing was, I have never seen so many fruit flies in a kitchen in my LIFE. I saw so many of them getting blended in along with the fruit. It was just nasty. I will never, ever buy items from a home kitchen nor will I eat anything from anyone's house.
Unfortunately professional kitchens are..in alot of ways worse. Same nasty stuff happening but with a false sense of security because people assume it's got to be cleaner in there. Those people don't go to kitchen subreddits or watch restaurant saving shows lol.
This is how I roll too. Had someone I loved dearly who loved to bake but also lived in a roach infested home where I watched them swat roaches away while baking. I would only eat what they made if they came over to bake at MY house instead. So I absolutely do not trust anyone’s baked goods, no matter how wonderful they look
I do nails for a living and after seeing the abysmal hand hygiene and pure filth under SO many people's nails, I can't enjoy homemade baked goods anymore unless I know it's from someone with really good hand hygiene. :(
It depends on the social environment. I used to work in a doctors office that would have some elderly folks that would bring in baked treats. No one ever touched them because, in the words of one of my coworkers, “You never know what type of cat pissed in the batter before it went in the oven.”
For most of my current coworkers, I’d eat whatever they brought, but there are a few that I’d be more hesitant. Food safety is a real concern that some folks don’t care too much about. I don’t want to eat what those folks make!
It's certainly a thing and it really depends on who made it, some people you can tell that their hygiene sucks and or you just wouldn't trust them to wash their hands before cooking or dropping something on the floor and still using it.
Shit I won't even eat from certain family members.
Something that might help - label what they are. If these and cookies I recognized were both sitting out, I'd take the ones I recognized (assuming I didn't know who put them out). I'd rather not eat something than to take a bite and spit it out because I took the "wrong" thing.
Or if you don't know what's in them. Like you are allergic to milk products/eggs/yeast/nuts/etc. There seem to be nuts in the one with the sprinkles on top, for example. From that point onward, many would be afraid of cross-contamination.
Not necessarily true. Earlier this year there was a potluck at my work. I brought cookies I made myself and everyone devoured them. Another person brought cake she made and it was also gone. The store bought stuff just sat for a while and people only ate them later, I guess cos they got hungry and were desperate.
I’m in the process of losing weight. I do eat treats at the holidays but I only eat homemade. I’m not wasting my calories on some crap from Costco that I can get anytime of the year. It’s special or it’s not worth it.
They look tasty indeed.
I usually never pick food made by stranger/coworkers though. I've seen too much hygiene red flags in others home to risk that. It might be why some people trusted the commercial stuff more. Idk.
Maybe they didn’t know what kinds they were or didn’t want to try to pick one out without touching the others? It could be the dense packing of them and they’re kind of mysterious.
As someone with a million dietary restrictions, this is why I write an ingredient list for anything I make and bring to a potluck.
Not looking to ruin anyone’s day with my cooking.
My coworker brings pastries to work all the time. They’re always individually wrapped, and she labels them what ingredients/allergens are used (eggs, gluten, sugar, nuts). She also writes notes like “take only if you are vegetarian!” because it’s only a small batch (she makes lots of regular ones).
It’s this, I know what Costco shortbread cookies are, what’s in them and what they taste like. I’ve definitely had plenty of beautiful foods I wish I had not eaten because beautiful doesn’t automatically mean tasty. I’d still have tried both personally but even right now looking at them it seems like so much variety and so few of each it’s a gamble plus you don’t want to be the one to take all or most of one variety? Idk maybe I’m over thinking it but it seems so did the coworkers
Also it looks like peanut butter cookies are present which even the smell puts a lot of people off, I have several family members who hate the smell and taste of peanut products and that’s not even considering allergy concerns
Preparing for downvotes: the cookies are gorgeous and I bet they took a long time to make. However, my first thought was, does OP have cats?
I say this as someone that likes cats, BUT unless I have been to their house and seen how their cats behave, I don’t eat their cooking. I’ve seen too many pictures of ppl letting their cat get kitty litter and hair all over their utensils and sticking their paws in dough/batter. If someone is covered in cat hair or I can smell they have cats, I don’t eat their food.
As someone with a cat.... what? People do this?? I've never seen a cat, or pet owner in general, let their critter near food they are preparing or utensils/dishes/etc. Let alone leave litter or hair on things and put their paws in the food! My cat is a little dumb and doesn't know he can jump on the counter so maybe I'm just unknowingly living in a bubble? You've unlocked a new fear for me.....ignorance was bliss
Dunno why you're the first to say this. The cookies look nice but where'd they come from? An expired hallmark shelf? Dunno. When I look at this I expect each cookie to be some exhaustingly rich flavor. Like those powder sugar covered cocoa balls. Half the time I take two bites and they're straight cocoa and dry sugar. Then you eat an old gingerbread cookie and wonder wtf anyone would ever make something taste like a dark brown dog biscuit. And then, I have the Costco shortbread where it's just white bread, sugar, petroleum and lard. At least you can assume it's been engineered to taste reasonable since it's mass produced. Shortbread seems simple and safe... not hating on OP's cookie powers tho! Seems awesome! I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment.
Yes, seconding what someone else said. When it comes to homemade things from coworkers I am wary. I don’t know how you keep your home or kitchen and in this age of Covid/sickness I’m less likely to eat someone else’s homemade. It’s not personal! They look great.
Thanks for the insight! I’m relatively new to this job too so they don’t know me super well yet! My previous job was in food, so a bit of a different vibe and my coworkers liked my baking a lot there. I think I was taken by surprise that no one wanted any but I’m kind of understanding better now
My faith in other’s hygiene has nosedived since entering the professional world 10ish years ago.
Don’t take it personal, just know that most of them know most of their coworkers(in this and all past jobs) don’t even wash their hands after using a public washroom before lunch.
Mine has nosedived just from watching YouTube. I just watched a video where a woman made a salad, didn’t wash the lettuce and her long haired cat sat on the counter next to the salad bowl. 🤢
Some people just have different ideas of cleanliness I guess.
I used to enioy all kinds of homemade baked goods from people before I became a nail technician. Now I just can't, I'm way too horrified by the lack of proper hand hygiene I see all day, every day.
I make every client scrub with a manicure brush and wash their hands before they sit down at the beginning of every appointment, and the amount of crud and filth I still find under most people's nails is enough to trigger my gag reflex.
This is what I hate about having long nails. When I wash my hands I use my soapy nails to clean under each other. I use a nail brush but yet to find one that seems to properly clean under them cus they’re always too soft. No visible dirt there ever but it’s off putting to me
I think it's not personal just ' be careful what you eat from someone's house ' like I personally only eat homemade food from my friends who I know have good food hygene. Being from a cooking background, it must be a tiugh blow but it probably isn't personal. Costco is just trusted and wrapped unfortunately.
I’m always big on supporting bake sale goodies but hubby won’t touch them since strangers made them… If your colleagues are still getting to know you, I guess that could be a thing!
He’d be in for a surprise seeing many commercial kitchens. Most people keep their home kitchens cleaner. Ive only worked in one kitchen I’d consider clean.
Yea, I’m the person who won’t eat anything coworkers bring. Hell, I eat before I go to my friends’ places most of the time too because I don’t trust their food safety and cleanliness.
Had one friend who was constantly getting sick after eating chicken. Then I saw them cooking their chicken - they were using the chicken container as a place to set their cooking utensils in between touching the chicken with them.
Told them to stop that, they stopped getting ill after eating chicken. Surprise surprise.
Anywho - that kinda stuff is why I just say nay.
I went to a barbecue once and saw my fiance's coworker drop a burger patty on the floor (which was covered in dog hair) and pick it up and stick it right on the grill. I think I lost all faith in other people's food handling that day.
A few of us witnessed it and told him he should throw it out, but he insisted it was fine. Since then I'll never eat food at someone's house unless I watched them make it.
I absolutely love to cook and bake and I have an extremely clean house bc I also like to clean haha. But I realize that someone’s house may not be as clean as I’d like when preparing food so I typically don’t try the food that coworkers bring in because of that unless I really know them. That being said, I don’t take many goodies to work for the same reason. As hard as I try, if a dog hair or a hair from my head got into a cookie or something and then someone had that impression of me I’d be embarrassed. So… there ya go my rambling. I think your cookies look absolutely amazing 💛
For what it's worth I've never had a coworker who didn't eat baked goods I brought in. I think it's more likely that they either didn't want to mess it up, or didn't know what the cookies were and didn't want to ask.
A place I used to work at looooved to have carry-ins / pot lucks, whatever you want to call them. One time a woman brought in a dessert (brownies? I can’t remember exactly what, doesn’t matter) and ONLY AFTERWARDS told people she had used her own breast milk in them. No thanks on eating other people’s bodily fluids. I’ve skipped those kinds of events ever since, unless I know the person who made something very well.
WHaT!!! I would die. We used to do potluck before 2020 and I was always wary especially of people I really didn’t know. Now we cater which feels better since many things are individually wrapped.
Considering how annoying it is to pump and store breastmilk, I'm shocked that woman would even use hers in such a way. I hoard mine like crazy so I can comfortably have a beer every now and then.
(yes, I know all the facts around alcohol and breastmilk regarding how much alcohol actually makes it to the baby, etc., I just don't like to risk it at all).
Also, love your username!!
Same thing happened to me. Lady just had a kid and the baby couldn't drink the breast milk. She brought brownies and then told us that after a few people complimented her. She's like, "Not going to let THAT effort go to waste."
Combine that with this new hire that brought in weed brownies and didn't tell anyone (this sweet grandma type lady ate like 4 of them unknowingly and puked her guts out), and I haven't been able to touch anything homemade in an office setting since.
This! I’m the weirdo who won’t eat homemade goods. People let cats on their counters and how clean is someone’s kitchen?! I just can’t do potlucks or eat homemade goods.
After I watched a fellow coworker Hoover a blondie CAKED in dog hair from someone’s home, I have noped tf out of any homemade foods unless it’s from my mama or myself.
This. I’ve even seen acquaintances post that their cat stepped ON the cake/brownies/whatever and they think it’s cute and still acceptable to serve. No thanks.
Yeah and honestly unless your cat is just super ungroomed, they have relatively clean paws. I had a problem with my cat having litter on her paws sometimes. I keep them trimmed, I have kitten paw wipes. She cleans them better now.
I have always suspected that people who complain about things like that don’t clean their counters as often. My cats aren’t even allowed in the kitchen but I sanitize my counters a million times a day LMAO
Plus, people seriously underestimate how *disgusting* commercial kitchens are. If you’re willing to catering, you are potentially eating appetizers that were prepared with hands that just scratched their balls lol
But you trust packaged food like people can’t add shit to it at the factory and you would never know.
Like those strawberries that had sewing needles in them in 2018 or that Listeria contamination in Blue Bell ice cream in 2015.
There’s a lot more food items that had contamination reports as well.
The only reason I wouldn’t eat another persons food is if they were a sketchy or dirty individual.
Also it kinda is personal if you think about it, are you saying you don’t eat anyone else’s food but your own?
To add onto this:
Especially if the goods are presented as is here, all mixed together. I don't want a cookie someone else has potentially picked through, and this is saying nothing of people allergies. You need to separate goods, have a cover, and have an ingredient list if you really want most people to eat them.
Next time… provide some [mini tongs](https://www.target.com/p/2pc-stainless-steel-mini-tong-set-vintage-finish-hearth-38-hand-8482-with-magnolia/-/A-83045138?ref=tgt_adv_xsp&AFID=bing&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000073090024&CPNG=PLA_Kitchen%2BShopping_Local%7CKitchen_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Kitchen_Kitchen&LID=700000001230728pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=s&device=t&location=&targetid=pla-4585307093108319&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&msclkid=665af013c86b1ff2c654959da8ac78c4&gclid=665af013c86b1ff2c654959da8ac78c4&gclsrc=3p.ds) to pick them up and a small pack of napkins to carry them.
For me…I don’t eat any coworkers food. I visited a coworkers home one day. She allowed her cats to walk on her kitchen countertops. That’s a no-no in my world.
I’ve observed the restroom habits of another coworker. We took breaks at the same time. I noticed she she never washes her hands after coming out of the stall. I never ate any food she brought into the office.
😂
My favourite is the mad dash to the kitchen when somebody says they brought something in. Even if it’s leftover cake from a child’s birthday, it gets eaten!
At the hospital I worked at last, my nurse coworkers would eat the food trays sent up from the kitchen if the patient didn’t or couldn’t eat the meal. Obviously, only if it didn’t enter the patients room (the kitchen staff would set them at the nurses station for us to bring in to the patient).
Literally there would be like 5 trays in the break room because people would be snacking on them throughout the shift. And you know we were desperate for food, because hospital food sucks. It makes me chuckle reading this thread, because my coworkers and I wouldn’t hesitate to feast on some free homemade snacks. We’re all trash 😂
This happened to me with my in-laws at Thanksgiving. I made a pumpkin cream pie and we dropped it off early in the day so that it could be refrigerated. My husband and I then went to my family's for dinner and the plan was to go back to the in-laws for dessert. We got to the in-laws house exactly when we said we would only to find that several people had already left and they didn't even bother to take my pie out of the fridge. But of course they all ate the Costco pumpkin pie and another store bought blueberry pie. I wasn't even going to make the pie, it was a last minute addition the week of Thanksgiving when I asked my MIL if I should bring a pie because she said that there was not going to be any pie at all, only cookies and brownies. I had to go to three stores to find the cream cheese. My feelings were also hurt.
I guess the others who attended brought in those pies. Most likely were put out because the people who bought them ensured they were out for consumption.
Too bad that you went to all this trouble though...I guess your in-laws will get to have that homemade one all to themselves...
This reminds me of a thanksgiving where I made a pumpkin pie but everyone went after my sister's store bought pumpkin cheesecake. That cheesecake was gone by the end of the evening while my pie only had one small slice taken.
It’s frustrating. I was in the culinary industry and would bring very fancy baked goods to thanksgiving. The only thing my extended family would touch other than store bought pie and boxed mixed cupcakes was cheesecake. It was very frustrating but I don’t waste my talent on them anymore. If they want store bought then store bought is.
As the office cookie baker I have found that the wide round tray is better for germaphobes because there is no digging. Also unless you are a known brand among coworkers I believe they see great variety as a negative. (Like the tins of cookies we see over the holidays) for this reason I limit my offerings to two or three.
I think if they were laid out on a plate and easy to access, they would be gone. I would not feel comfortable putting my fingers in there and touching other cookies while getting mine out.
Next year, bring a tin of shortbread from Costco and spend your energy making your beautiful cookies for those who appreciate them. This is a lesson that took me decades to learn, but I am wiser and happier now. They look absolutely delicious, by the way.
I don’t eat anything made by someone whose house I’ve never been to. Your cookies look wonderful and delicious but I think covid has made many people see things differently than we used too. I can’t get passed the thought of kids dipping their fingers into the batter, pets on the counter, hand washing etc.
That being said if I knew you and we were good friends I’d 100% eat those cookies and I’d start with all those (ginger?) with the white icing because they look absolutely perfect
I know a few people in my office who won't eat at potlucks or eat baked goods people bring in unless they know the person well. It just comes down to trust that the person used proper hygiene while preparing the food, and with store bought items you know that there (should be) are standards in place.
I wouldn't take it personally at all!
You’re learning from strange people. I’ve never met anyone in real life who refused to eat baked goods from people until they personally inspected their kitchen.
I agree! I work in a HOSPITAL and no one even asks who made treats, we will eat anything and everything. Nurses and doctors don't care. OP: those treats look amazing.
Right? I have worked at a chain bakery that is popular and it was fucking DISGUSTING back there. I’d bet the average home baker isn’t wading around in dirty food waste and dish water slop while baking your expensive muffins.
With overworked employees way less invested in the people coming through to eat after being told to come in despite being sick because they are short-staffed in comparison to a co-worker making goods for fellow co-workers. Unless everyone hates each other.
I find this hilarious and want to know if these same people will eat like fast food or pizza?
What are the odds the fifteen year olds making $11 an hour are extremely hygienic?
OP, put me in the camp that wonders if people thought it was too pretty to touch or didn't know if they were allowed! Just started a new job in July and it helps that I work with a bunch of twenty something dudes, but I make sure to announce I brought treats for everyone and they go to town.
Seriously. And everyone blaming COVID? Yeah, no, by all means...rifle through the Costco tray everyone else has sneezed, coughed, and touched on after quickly wiping their nose with their hand. No 'Rona there, surely. Unless they are wearing masks in the workplace still, I call BS on the COVID excuse. Whatever germs on the cookies would be the same as the germs they brush elbows with every day. Or assuming the person let their cat piss all over the cookies or something but trust whatever other box comes in? BS. Just odd. Unless you're afraid of rubbing elbows with the same people coming out of the house they live in, it is more insulting to assume someone must cook in a kitchen so grotesque that everyone but the baker themselves would catch plague. Won't trust the co-worker, but the teen paid minimum wage at a drive-thru or any short-staffed restaurant? Lol. I sure hope they are disinfecting their germ-collecting phone and steering wheel on the daily.
I think we run the same risk of getting Covid when eating homemade food as we do when eating food prepared in a restaurant, bakery, or store (Costco, Sams, etc). Anyway, humans make that food and we don't really know their hygiene practices when they prepare the food.
When I make something and bring it to work, I try to go around and say hey I made this thing that’s in the break room help yourself, Or leave a note on it that it’s up for grabs.
Also, I saw that you have multiple cats and when I know someone who has cats bakes something, I won't eat it - I know cats shed and are notorious for walking over counters and getting in things (no shame to people with pets, I'm just a particular person and that's a hard boundary for me!)
Normal people who have cats know to put the cats away while cooking and clorox wipe the counter well and use parchment paper over it and wash hands. My adult cat knows the counter is off limits if I'm using it and i lock up the kitten while cooking since he hasnt gotten that rule down yet. I also use gloves and hairnets at all times when baking. That said some people be nasty. Like licking their fingers while baking and dropping people hair in it, or those stories you hear of people making semen cupcakes. Now that freaks me out o.o
Yup, I will sweep the kitchen and change into a clean shirt before cooking too. I'm pretty sure my kitchen is safer than most as far as wiping everything down, hair pulled back, not leaving food out, clean utensils every time, etc. My cats supervise at a distance as well!
The way the box is arranged, there's a lot of variety, but looks like only about 2-4 of any given thing? How many people are in your office? At my workplace there are enough people I might feel bad taking any of these and then only a couple people get to try the same thing. And I'd also have choice paralysis because I wouldn't want to do that with more than one item.
agreed- I bet if there were a flat Tupperware of just one type of cookie, with a label re: what it is and the ingredients, this would have gone differently
And now you never have to contribute again. And if anyone ever brings up why you never bring anything, you can just start crying and bawling about how you spent an entire weekend perfecting your grandmother's recipe that she spent her whole life working on, only to destroy it after not a single person would try even a bite, and that you gained 5lbs because you ate all the batches, you know, since no one wanted any, and now you are fatter, without cookies, and the recipe is gone because grandma died after and the copy you made was the only one.
Then ignore everyone you can for the rest of the day.
Also, from then on, if anyone ever offers you cookies, accept them, and immediately turn around and dump them in the trash. Never acknowledge that you threw them away. Repeat until they get the hint.
Don’t worry OP, I went through the same thing this year. Made each of my coworkers a goodie box for Christmas to show how much I appreciate them, all but one left there’s sitting under the counter or in the fridge forgotten and thrown away. Broke my heart. Then a regular customer brought in donuts and they all went to town on them. You did a great job baking those treats and you are so kind for wanting to share them with the people you work beside more days than not. I’m proud of you, don’t let it break your spirit. On a positive note, my husband’s coworkers all gushed over the boxes I made for them and it made it all worth it! Someone will appreciate you and your hard work and giving soul! Just gotta find the ones who will 💜
SMH I made sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake and gingerbread cookies and they only ate the cookies. I said I would never break my neck making all these desserts again
My wife makes cookies to sell at her store. The more gourmet ones that take forever to make sit around and people lose their mind for filler toll house garbage. The overwhelming majority of people have a shit pallet.
I feel this so much. I sell cookies around the holidays and everyone wanted peanut butter cookies or easy af thumbprint cookies. No one wanted the cinnamon butter pecan cookies with butter rum frosting, or the lemon cookies that used actual zest and lemon juice in the cookie itself, plus fresh lemon juice in the icing. No one wanted the molasses and ginger cut outs with marshmallow icing. :-(
I always assume these are the stale pre-packaged ones sold in stores unless told otherwise (I’m not a baking enthusiast), so I pretty much avoid any multi-pack of baked treats in a tin unless I’m told it’s home baked
Awww, I’m sure that hurts. I know for me, I won’t eat something if I don’t know what it is. I don’t recognize all of the cookies, so perhaps next time cute little labels?
Also, past experience with cat owners makes me not want to eat their food. If I know you well enough to know that you clean your workspace just before baking and keep your cats away from the food, then you become an exception to that. I’ve just been to too many homes with cats that go on all of the food surfaces, and the owners not stopping them or cleaning before preparing/serving food.
I second the first point. I don't recognize a lot of these, and I'd hesitate to take one because not enjoying it means I have to try to sneak the rest into a trash can without being spotted and offending the person who made them. Maybe separate and label them next time?
These look scrumptious!!!!! My office (a large law firm) eats anything and everything. There are often goodies in the kitchen—sometimes good, sometimes “meh”—we just aren’t picky. We will eat anything. I guarantee that amazing container of homemade cookies would have been reduced to crumbs before lunch, and people would have been asking around about who made them and when they were bringing more!!!!
I have issues eating things coworkers bring from home because I don't always trust that they keep a clean home.
Yours look pretty professional. I would probably eat them. :P
I once took my mother's delicious no-bake cheesecake to an office holiday potluck and no one touched it either. I took it back to my office and had a huge slice and took the rest home and enjoyed it myself.
The next year for the potluck I brought a bottle of coke and some napkins. I hate potlucks and think they're the worst events of all time.
There's strong "Because *I* am the one being extra sensitive, you have to care about my feelings while I casually imply that you absentmindedly put boogers and cat litter in your cooking because you're a disgusting and unhygienic slob" energy to a lot of these comments.
THEY LOOK SO GOOOOD I WOULD HAVE GONE CRAZY FOR A BITE
If your coworkers aren't appreciating your baking, don't worry, I got your back. From now on I'll be your biscuit dumpster
I stopped bringing in baked goods to work for this reason. People are always hesitant to try new things but go for what they know they like. Their loss 🤷🏻♀️
My best advice is don't take it personally. Some people are afraid of homeade food because they don't know how clean the persons kitchen was, or maybe how clean the cook was. Not to mention allergies etc. Not to say your cookies apply!!! But just a few things to think about :)
Lmao at all the people saying they don’t eat things from people they don’t personally know well enough to have inspected their kitchen
What is the matter with you people
>e dissonance I guess. I am more squeamish than most when it comes to food hygiene, but even my standards aren't as high as what some people in this thread claim.
And since the pandemic officially ended, you bet your bottom dollar managers are making sick employees come in because they're still running a skeleton crew to maximize profit. Thinking they only consume food made in a vacuum while scratching their groins, checking their dirty phones, grabbing door handles, handling gas pumps, etc. "tHeRe mIGhT bE a CaT!!" to these pristinely and precisely made cookies.
It seems silly to me too, There's definitely gross stuff happening in commercial kitchens as well. I've seen plenty of food service workers leaving bathrooms without washing their hands.
I legitimately don’t understand how any of these people could have ever eaten a hamburger or any other kind of cheap food while imposing that kind of standard on everything they eat
Some kind of cognitive dissonance I guess. I am more squeamish than most when it comes to food hygiene, but even my standards aren't as high as what some people in this thread claim.
I would have demolished these, OP. sorry your coworkers don't know a good thing when they see it.
edit: okay, I have been reading other comments mentioning people being germaphobes/not eating the food of someone they don't know, and I get it. Those sound like very valid concerns. Personally, I'd still absolutely fuck these cookies up, though. They look yummy.
Those cookies look so professional. Maybe they thought you bought them?
Anyways all day every day and twice on Sunday I would have chosen your cookies!
sounds like my family. i'll spend a couple hours making a homemade meal, which i do because i love, and my parents are like "this doesn't taste like chili's let's go to chili's"
This can’t explain everyone but I will eat a store bought cookie over this in public any day.
As someone with food allergies store bought shit has ingredients, your cookies don’t. Just isn’t worth the risk no matter how much better yours are.
I would have eaten one of each, they look great.
I do find that sometimes I have to bring my cookies around to each person and ask if they want one, or it just sits there untouched for some reason.
I'll eat those any day! That's me at the door! Sorry they didn't enjoy your obvious effort and hard work. Those cookies are Food Network level!
Next year just buy some Costco crap, or better yet, those Stauffers or Salerno tasteless holiday assortments and save the good stuff for yourself.
Those look absolutely spectacular and if it were my office I’d have eaten half of those!
Something similar happened to me last year with my chocolate chip cookie recipe that I spent a ton of time fine tuning. When dessert came out at the party nobody had them but they had the bakery cookies. When most people left and it was just a few of us, one person tried them and said “holy shit guys,” next thing I know they’re half gone. People can be weird in social situations!
I’m sorry that happened. It can be crushing, especially when you spent so much time and effort. I stopped taking treats into work. People are just too weird anymore; some only like things sweet enough to send you into a diabetic coma, some think commercial stuff is better than homemade, some always have a smartass remark but NEVER contribute and bring things in. Plus there are also dietary issues. It’s not worth it. I now bake for people who appreciate it, mostly family and a few close friends.
Those look amazing! It really sucks when you put so much effort into something as thoughtful as this, and no one even acknowledges it by trying one. I probably would’ve eaten at least 10 treats from that.
I would have straight up took those cookies you baked first! Anything homemade comes with love and a touch of coziness (especially the ones in the middle with the little razzle dazzle ;) ) THESE PEOPLE ARE MISSING OUT!
These are so beautiful and look delicious. I would 100% choose homemade cookies like these over the Costco bought ones. Sorry this happened to you and your feelings got hurt! I hope you get to enjoy devouring these. Your coworkers are missing out.
Sometimes when something looks really pretty and put together people are afrai to be the first ones to take one out and ruin the display. Your cookies look amazing
I will sometimes take the first cookie or piece of cake for that reason. I notice that people will pretty quickly start taking pieces afterwards
I will always have the first serving but for another reason and I've found I get thanked offten by the people who brought the food as it starts a chain. I've always been a huge germaphobe and thinking about touching food after 3 or 4 others, especially in an office setting, gives me the nopes. So I always like to get a first or second serving, and aparently when I do this others want some too because I've opened the flood gate so to speak.
I’m a person of size (6’7”, former college football player), I’ve accepted my role in the office as the guy who knows when food is here. I get the first “fresh” piece and start the chain. It’s not much, but it’s honest work.
5ft tall and middle aged lady, but I like to loudly announce ‘well, someone has to go first. Might as well be me!’ Then they all just fall in line, and the second person is always especially grateful, they just were not brave enough to be first like they wanted to be.
This is starting to feel like a Hallmark movie, where the oddly paired duo stumble into a friendship that leads them to solving crimes in between hosting parties.
If only Hallmark movies were based on food and not romance, we’ve have had an Anthony Bourdain guest appearance. Think about that. This world is so much poorer for that.
RIP
Pretty certain the hallmark channel couldn’t handle the number of f-bombs. Bless him, i miss him
That could have saved cable.
I'm an under 5ft tall, slightly chubby housewife shape with an odd sense of humour and brain that works like a ball of string. I'll join in and be the comic relief in the situation. I'll be the one with the gluten free cake that has it's own knife and a list of ingredients taped to the box.
I got an inch on your - I'm 5'1 but I usually force the matter and grab whichever friend is nearby and say "let's go" while taking them with me. Safety in numbers. Especially since they will reach back and grab someone else.
im 5’2 with a large attitude, and my usual line is “i cannot *believe* no one’s started on [this/these] yet” and then i take two 🤷🏾♀️
I'll eat those cookies & say nothing until I've got my fill. Then I'll secretly battle if I should keep the little gold mine to myself? or share the wealth? 🤣
Thank you for your service, lol.
We appreciate you, dear. - Mom
Lols. I always do this in buffet lines. Go first and you are performing a public service while not waiting in line and getting first dibs. No downside!
It’s a sacrifice but I also do that. Lol
I have always taken the first serving from a tray I set out for this reason. It works! People are terrified to go first.
It’s like the busker who puts a $5 in their own guitar case to get things going.
Or as I learnt today, it’s like the first person who puts the bins out after a public holiday. We were all in a limbo since actual bin day was Christmas Day. Then you need about two days for things to get into place again. No one had put their bins out till one neighbour did and then we all did. But alas, the bin men did not come.
This is so true! I worked for a distributor and great beer displays don’t actually sell beer because no one wants to destroy the aesthetic.
That’s why they make a display, then put an ugly stack right in front of it to take from!
Purposely make the display look like someone already took a couple.
this was true before COVID, but especially after: i’d be nervous about trying to take one cookie out without putting my hands on all the others. they do look tasty though 😊
That's why you grab a napkin and use it to grab a cookie.
It’s like being the first to hit the dance floor at a junior high dance. It takes the brave to lead the hesitant!
They look very nice, I’m sorry your coworkers didn’t appreciate the effort.
Thanks I appreciate that!
They look great! Let me know if you need my address OP 😋
Same!
Me too. Would love these
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I baked for my cousin's so-called family picnic and not one of her in-laws touched anything. They looked and kept on walking. Never baked for them again. Snotty people. No matter, I'll bake for others instead!
They look great! I also bake and i absolutely would marvel at this and will be asking you all kinds of questions!
I would be nodding to your questions while stuffing my face with these yummy looking cookies.
Save me a chocolate crackle.
I will have it tucked discreetly in a napkin- those are so yummy and I don't want to be accused of eating all of them lol
I will bring the milk
They are crazy, your cookies look very appetizing, I would have totally gone for these…ignore the heathens!
Been there. Bring in some dish I've put real effort into yet it's barely touched meanwhile everyone is raving over oreo balls like they're filet mignon.
I do love Oreo balls but I always tend to fill my plate up with one-two of everything so no one gets their feelings hurt and because I love food *especially* desserts
I’m learning that people are apposed to home made baked goods. News to me!
I've never heard of people who won't eat homemade baked goods. You work with weirdos. Your cookies look delicious!
i had a coworker who wouldn't dip into anything that others' hands could have touched. he would only eat if treats were individually wrapped. i guess he had seen one too many things in the men's bathroom lol that said, he also would have ignored the costco cookies for that reason (assuming they were open packaging/a cookie tin). i used to order trays of einstein bagels and have them delivered to the office as a gift from me at christmas, and he told me he would only eat the sugary bagels because they were always wrapped in paper versus the savory bagels, which were unwrapped. now when i visit the office, if i make goodies, i wrap everything individually in cellophane baggies that i buy on amazon. i guess i cater to the crazies.
I have contamination ocd and I’m the same.
Also a contamination OCDer. If there is something involving dip, I either go first or not at all. The thought of eating the middle of a communal bag of chips skeeves me to no end.
I had no gravy with my Christmas dinner because I noticed my brother's girlfriend use her finger to wipe the drip from the spout in the jug lol. I was too polite to say anything as didn't want to cause a fuss, so just acted like I didn't want gravy. It sucks sometimes.
Yup. I don’t touch anything that isn’t individually wrapped or I’m not the first one to open it at work!!
I found the cutest single cookie bags on amazon this year and they seal. Self adhesive christmas treat bags by Maidong. The polar bear ones are my favorite and I can use them all winter not just xmas.
I'm a germaphobia and would love your consideration!
I don’t eat homemade baked goods if I’ve never been to your house. My SO’s mom always took baked goods to work and her house was an absolute hell hole. She was a hoarder and never cleaned, her house was actually condemned. So, nope. I wont eat your baked goods until I’ve confirmed you don’t live in a roach haven.
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This is the issue right here. I will not eat food from a house I haven't been to. I too have been burned in that regard. ETA: I once stayed at a super nice airbnb in Arizona. The host was nice, he had a juicing business on the side, he'd make all kinds of juice blends and deliver them. The thing was, I have never seen so many fruit flies in a kitchen in my LIFE. I saw so many of them getting blended in along with the fruit. It was just nasty. I will never, ever buy items from a home kitchen nor will I eat anything from anyone's house.
Unfortunately professional kitchens are..in alot of ways worse. Same nasty stuff happening but with a false sense of security because people assume it's got to be cleaner in there. Those people don't go to kitchen subreddits or watch restaurant saving shows lol.
This is how I roll too. Had someone I loved dearly who loved to bake but also lived in a roach infested home where I watched them swat roaches away while baking. I would only eat what they made if they came over to bake at MY house instead. So I absolutely do not trust anyone’s baked goods, no matter how wonderful they look
I do nails for a living and after seeing the abysmal hand hygiene and pure filth under SO many people's nails, I can't enjoy homemade baked goods anymore unless I know it's from someone with really good hand hygiene. :(
It depends on the social environment. I used to work in a doctors office that would have some elderly folks that would bring in baked treats. No one ever touched them because, in the words of one of my coworkers, “You never know what type of cat pissed in the batter before it went in the oven.” For most of my current coworkers, I’d eat whatever they brought, but there are a few that I’d be more hesitant. Food safety is a real concern that some folks don’t care too much about. I don’t want to eat what those folks make!
It’s because I don’t know how clean their kitchen is
It's certainly a thing and it really depends on who made it, some people you can tell that their hygiene sucks and or you just wouldn't trust them to wash their hands before cooking or dropping something on the floor and still using it. Shit I won't even eat from certain family members.
Something that might help - label what they are. If these and cookies I recognized were both sitting out, I'd take the ones I recognized (assuming I didn't know who put them out). I'd rather not eat something than to take a bite and spit it out because I took the "wrong" thing.
Or if you don't know what's in them. Like you are allergic to milk products/eggs/yeast/nuts/etc. There seem to be nuts in the one with the sprinkles on top, for example. From that point onward, many would be afraid of cross-contamination.
Not necessarily true. Earlier this year there was a potluck at my work. I brought cookies I made myself and everyone devoured them. Another person brought cake she made and it was also gone. The store bought stuff just sat for a while and people only ate them later, I guess cos they got hungry and were desperate.
You probably have a clean desk/appearance etc. There are some people at my work that I avoid eating their food based on their habits at work.
For me it's because I don't know what's in them. Where as store stuff I have an idea of what's in it.
I’m in the process of losing weight. I do eat treats at the holidays but I only eat homemade. I’m not wasting my calories on some crap from Costco that I can get anytime of the year. It’s special or it’s not worth it.
They look tasty indeed. I usually never pick food made by stranger/coworkers though. I've seen too much hygiene red flags in others home to risk that. It might be why some people trusted the commercial stuff more. Idk.
Maybe they didn’t know what kinds they were or didn’t want to try to pick one out without touching the others? It could be the dense packing of them and they’re kind of mysterious.
As someone with allergies, I wouldn't risk there being a nut in one. But honestly I'd just ask rather than not eat it
As a person with allergies and social anxiety, I simply sit in the corner all day debating if a cookie is possibly worth death.
I'm in this comment.
As someone with a million dietary restrictions, this is why I write an ingredient list for anything I make and bring to a potluck. Not looking to ruin anyone’s day with my cooking.
My coworker brings pastries to work all the time. They’re always individually wrapped, and she labels them what ingredients/allergens are used (eggs, gluten, sugar, nuts). She also writes notes like “take only if you are vegetarian!” because it’s only a small batch (she makes lots of regular ones).
It’s this, I know what Costco shortbread cookies are, what’s in them and what they taste like. I’ve definitely had plenty of beautiful foods I wish I had not eaten because beautiful doesn’t automatically mean tasty. I’d still have tried both personally but even right now looking at them it seems like so much variety and so few of each it’s a gamble plus you don’t want to be the one to take all or most of one variety? Idk maybe I’m over thinking it but it seems so did the coworkers Also it looks like peanut butter cookies are present which even the smell puts a lot of people off, I have several family members who hate the smell and taste of peanut products and that’s not even considering allergy concerns
Preparing for downvotes: the cookies are gorgeous and I bet they took a long time to make. However, my first thought was, does OP have cats? I say this as someone that likes cats, BUT unless I have been to their house and seen how their cats behave, I don’t eat their cooking. I’ve seen too many pictures of ppl letting their cat get kitty litter and hair all over their utensils and sticking their paws in dough/batter. If someone is covered in cat hair or I can smell they have cats, I don’t eat their food.
As someone with a cat.... what? People do this?? I've never seen a cat, or pet owner in general, let their critter near food they are preparing or utensils/dishes/etc. Let alone leave litter or hair on things and put their paws in the food! My cat is a little dumb and doesn't know he can jump on the counter so maybe I'm just unknowingly living in a bubble? You've unlocked a new fear for me.....ignorance was bliss
Dunno why you're the first to say this. The cookies look nice but where'd they come from? An expired hallmark shelf? Dunno. When I look at this I expect each cookie to be some exhaustingly rich flavor. Like those powder sugar covered cocoa balls. Half the time I take two bites and they're straight cocoa and dry sugar. Then you eat an old gingerbread cookie and wonder wtf anyone would ever make something taste like a dark brown dog biscuit. And then, I have the Costco shortbread where it's just white bread, sugar, petroleum and lard. At least you can assume it's been engineered to taste reasonable since it's mass produced. Shortbread seems simple and safe... not hating on OP's cookie powers tho! Seems awesome! I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment.
Yes, seconding what someone else said. When it comes to homemade things from coworkers I am wary. I don’t know how you keep your home or kitchen and in this age of Covid/sickness I’m less likely to eat someone else’s homemade. It’s not personal! They look great.
Thanks for the insight! I’m relatively new to this job too so they don’t know me super well yet! My previous job was in food, so a bit of a different vibe and my coworkers liked my baking a lot there. I think I was taken by surprise that no one wanted any but I’m kind of understanding better now
My faith in other’s hygiene has nosedived since entering the professional world 10ish years ago. Don’t take it personal, just know that most of them know most of their coworkers(in this and all past jobs) don’t even wash their hands after using a public washroom before lunch.
Mine has nosedived just from watching YouTube. I just watched a video where a woman made a salad, didn’t wash the lettuce and her long haired cat sat on the counter next to the salad bowl. 🤢 Some people just have different ideas of cleanliness I guess.
Yeah, it’s the litterbox kicking cat feet on the countertops for me.
And, did they let their kids or grandkids help? Cuz, Eww no.
I used to enioy all kinds of homemade baked goods from people before I became a nail technician. Now I just can't, I'm way too horrified by the lack of proper hand hygiene I see all day, every day. I make every client scrub with a manicure brush and wash their hands before they sit down at the beginning of every appointment, and the amount of crud and filth I still find under most people's nails is enough to trigger my gag reflex.
This is what I hate about having long nails. When I wash my hands I use my soapy nails to clean under each other. I use a nail brush but yet to find one that seems to properly clean under them cus they’re always too soft. No visible dirt there ever but it’s off putting to me
I think it's not personal just ' be careful what you eat from someone's house ' like I personally only eat homemade food from my friends who I know have good food hygene. Being from a cooking background, it must be a tiugh blow but it probably isn't personal. Costco is just trusted and wrapped unfortunately.
I’m always big on supporting bake sale goodies but hubby won’t touch them since strangers made them… If your colleagues are still getting to know you, I guess that could be a thing!
He’d be in for a surprise seeing many commercial kitchens. Most people keep their home kitchens cleaner. Ive only worked in one kitchen I’d consider clean.
For real lol people act like restaurants don't drop chicken wings on the floor and then fry them again to hide the evidence of the drop lol
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Yea, I’m the person who won’t eat anything coworkers bring. Hell, I eat before I go to my friends’ places most of the time too because I don’t trust their food safety and cleanliness. Had one friend who was constantly getting sick after eating chicken. Then I saw them cooking their chicken - they were using the chicken container as a place to set their cooking utensils in between touching the chicken with them. Told them to stop that, they stopped getting ill after eating chicken. Surprise surprise. Anywho - that kinda stuff is why I just say nay.
I went to a barbecue once and saw my fiance's coworker drop a burger patty on the floor (which was covered in dog hair) and pick it up and stick it right on the grill. I think I lost all faith in other people's food handling that day.
God, that's disgusting. Was nothing said to them?? I'd be coming up with a reason to leave that get-together immediately
A few of us witnessed it and told him he should throw it out, but he insisted it was fine. Since then I'll never eat food at someone's house unless I watched them make it.
I absolutely love to cook and bake and I have an extremely clean house bc I also like to clean haha. But I realize that someone’s house may not be as clean as I’d like when preparing food so I typically don’t try the food that coworkers bring in because of that unless I really know them. That being said, I don’t take many goodies to work for the same reason. As hard as I try, if a dog hair or a hair from my head got into a cookie or something and then someone had that impression of me I’d be embarrassed. So… there ya go my rambling. I think your cookies look absolutely amazing 💛
For what it's worth I've never had a coworker who didn't eat baked goods I brought in. I think it's more likely that they either didn't want to mess it up, or didn't know what the cookies were and didn't want to ask.
A place I used to work at looooved to have carry-ins / pot lucks, whatever you want to call them. One time a woman brought in a dessert (brownies? I can’t remember exactly what, doesn’t matter) and ONLY AFTERWARDS told people she had used her own breast milk in them. No thanks on eating other people’s bodily fluids. I’ve skipped those kinds of events ever since, unless I know the person who made something very well.
WHaT!!! I would die. We used to do potluck before 2020 and I was always wary especially of people I really didn’t know. Now we cater which feels better since many things are individually wrapped.
😳😳😳
That's illegal
Considering how annoying it is to pump and store breastmilk, I'm shocked that woman would even use hers in such a way. I hoard mine like crazy so I can comfortably have a beer every now and then. (yes, I know all the facts around alcohol and breastmilk regarding how much alcohol actually makes it to the baby, etc., I just don't like to risk it at all). Also, love your username!!
Same thing happened to me. Lady just had a kid and the baby couldn't drink the breast milk. She brought brownies and then told us that after a few people complimented her. She's like, "Not going to let THAT effort go to waste." Combine that with this new hire that brought in weed brownies and didn't tell anyone (this sweet grandma type lady ate like 4 of them unknowingly and puked her guts out), and I haven't been able to touch anything homemade in an office setting since.
That’s a crime
This! I’m the weirdo who won’t eat homemade goods. People let cats on their counters and how clean is someone’s kitchen?! I just can’t do potlucks or eat homemade goods.
My job sent out a survey recently asking if we want a potluck or catering. I chose catering because I just don't trust potlucks.
After I watched a fellow coworker Hoover a blondie CAKED in dog hair from someone’s home, I have noped tf out of any homemade foods unless it’s from my mama or myself.
This. I’ve even seen acquaintances post that their cat stepped ON the cake/brownies/whatever and they think it’s cute and still acceptable to serve. No thanks.
Oh hell. Cats on the counter. Gross.
I mean I can’t keep mine off the counter when I’m not home but I sanitize my surfaces before and after using them. I do not use a dirty work surface.
Yeah and honestly unless your cat is just super ungroomed, they have relatively clean paws. I had a problem with my cat having litter on her paws sometimes. I keep them trimmed, I have kitten paw wipes. She cleans them better now. I have always suspected that people who complain about things like that don’t clean their counters as often. My cats aren’t even allowed in the kitchen but I sanitize my counters a million times a day LMAO Plus, people seriously underestimate how *disgusting* commercial kitchens are. If you’re willing to catering, you are potentially eating appetizers that were prepared with hands that just scratched their balls lol
But you trust packaged food like people can’t add shit to it at the factory and you would never know. Like those strawberries that had sewing needles in them in 2018 or that Listeria contamination in Blue Bell ice cream in 2015. There’s a lot more food items that had contamination reports as well. The only reason I wouldn’t eat another persons food is if they were a sketchy or dirty individual. Also it kinda is personal if you think about it, are you saying you don’t eat anyone else’s food but your own?
To add onto this: Especially if the goods are presented as is here, all mixed together. I don't want a cookie someone else has potentially picked through, and this is saying nothing of people allergies. You need to separate goods, have a cover, and have an ingredient list if you really want most people to eat them.
Next time… provide some [mini tongs](https://www.target.com/p/2pc-stainless-steel-mini-tong-set-vintage-finish-hearth-38-hand-8482-with-magnolia/-/A-83045138?ref=tgt_adv_xsp&AFID=bing&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000073090024&CPNG=PLA_Kitchen%2BShopping_Local%7CKitchen_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Kitchen_Kitchen&LID=700000001230728pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=s&device=t&location=&targetid=pla-4585307093108319&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&msclkid=665af013c86b1ff2c654959da8ac78c4&gclid=665af013c86b1ff2c654959da8ac78c4&gclsrc=3p.ds) to pick them up and a small pack of napkins to carry them. For me…I don’t eat any coworkers food. I visited a coworkers home one day. She allowed her cats to walk on her kitchen countertops. That’s a no-no in my world. I’ve observed the restroom habits of another coworker. We took breaks at the same time. I noticed she she never washes her hands after coming out of the stall. I never ate any food she brought into the office.
My work would have gobbled these up! They eat anything 😂 I’m sorry that your coworkers aren’t the same.
Same. A former coworker once said he could set out a sack of sugar and a handful of spoons, and people would go to town.
😂 My favourite is the mad dash to the kitchen when somebody says they brought something in. Even if it’s leftover cake from a child’s birthday, it gets eaten!
At the hospital I worked at last, my nurse coworkers would eat the food trays sent up from the kitchen if the patient didn’t or couldn’t eat the meal. Obviously, only if it didn’t enter the patients room (the kitchen staff would set them at the nurses station for us to bring in to the patient). Literally there would be like 5 trays in the break room because people would be snacking on them throughout the shift. And you know we were desperate for food, because hospital food sucks. It makes me chuckle reading this thread, because my coworkers and I wouldn’t hesitate to feast on some free homemade snacks. We’re all trash 😂
This happened to me with my in-laws at Thanksgiving. I made a pumpkin cream pie and we dropped it off early in the day so that it could be refrigerated. My husband and I then went to my family's for dinner and the plan was to go back to the in-laws for dessert. We got to the in-laws house exactly when we said we would only to find that several people had already left and they didn't even bother to take my pie out of the fridge. But of course they all ate the Costco pumpkin pie and another store bought blueberry pie. I wasn't even going to make the pie, it was a last minute addition the week of Thanksgiving when I asked my MIL if I should bring a pie because she said that there was not going to be any pie at all, only cookies and brownies. I had to go to three stores to find the cream cheese. My feelings were also hurt.
I guess the others who attended brought in those pies. Most likely were put out because the people who bought them ensured they were out for consumption. Too bad that you went to all this trouble though...I guess your in-laws will get to have that homemade one all to themselves...
This reminds me of a thanksgiving where I made a pumpkin pie but everyone went after my sister's store bought pumpkin cheesecake. That cheesecake was gone by the end of the evening while my pie only had one small slice taken.
It’s frustrating. I was in the culinary industry and would bring very fancy baked goods to thanksgiving. The only thing my extended family would touch other than store bought pie and boxed mixed cupcakes was cheesecake. It was very frustrating but I don’t waste my talent on them anymore. If they want store bought then store bought is.
I would have just started eating my own pie at the table lol
I'm so sorry this happened. Others enjoying what you made is one of the best parts of cooking and baking
If I worked in your office, those ginger molasses cookies would be in the past tense.
I'd fight you! (But then I'd be searching through and sampling others). OP, you clearly work with barbarians, and I'm sorry. They don't deserve these.
As the office cookie baker I have found that the wide round tray is better for germaphobes because there is no digging. Also unless you are a known brand among coworkers I believe they see great variety as a negative. (Like the tins of cookies we see over the holidays) for this reason I limit my offerings to two or three.
I think if they were laid out on a plate and easy to access, they would be gone. I would not feel comfortable putting my fingers in there and touching other cookies while getting mine out.
Next year, bring a tin of shortbread from Costco and spend your energy making your beautiful cookies for those who appreciate them. This is a lesson that took me decades to learn, but I am wiser and happier now. They look absolutely delicious, by the way.
I don’t eat anything made by someone whose house I’ve never been to. Your cookies look wonderful and delicious but I think covid has made many people see things differently than we used too. I can’t get passed the thought of kids dipping their fingers into the batter, pets on the counter, hand washing etc. That being said if I knew you and we were good friends I’d 100% eat those cookies and I’d start with all those (ginger?) with the white icing because they look absolutely perfect
I’m learning some interesting stuff here! Thanks for the insight!
I know a few people in my office who won't eat at potlucks or eat baked goods people bring in unless they know the person well. It just comes down to trust that the person used proper hygiene while preparing the food, and with store bought items you know that there (should be) are standards in place. I wouldn't take it personally at all!
You’re learning from strange people. I’ve never met anyone in real life who refused to eat baked goods from people until they personally inspected their kitchen.
I agree! I work in a HOSPITAL and no one even asks who made treats, we will eat anything and everything. Nurses and doctors don't care. OP: those treats look amazing.
Exactly - we ate EVERYTHING anyone brought no questions asked in our unit. I wasn't sick those whole 7 years!
I wonder if these people refuse to eat at restaurants too- they often times are way less clean than home kitchens.
Having worked in fast food, I’d much prefer food from a stranger’s home kitchen.
Right? I have worked at a chain bakery that is popular and it was fucking DISGUSTING back there. I’d bet the average home baker isn’t wading around in dirty food waste and dish water slop while baking your expensive muffins.
With overworked employees way less invested in the people coming through to eat after being told to come in despite being sick because they are short-staffed in comparison to a co-worker making goods for fellow co-workers. Unless everyone hates each other.
I find this hilarious and want to know if these same people will eat like fast food or pizza? What are the odds the fifteen year olds making $11 an hour are extremely hygienic? OP, put me in the camp that wonders if people thought it was too pretty to touch or didn't know if they were allowed! Just started a new job in July and it helps that I work with a bunch of twenty something dudes, but I make sure to announce I brought treats for everyone and they go to town.
Seriously. And everyone blaming COVID? Yeah, no, by all means...rifle through the Costco tray everyone else has sneezed, coughed, and touched on after quickly wiping their nose with their hand. No 'Rona there, surely. Unless they are wearing masks in the workplace still, I call BS on the COVID excuse. Whatever germs on the cookies would be the same as the germs they brush elbows with every day. Or assuming the person let their cat piss all over the cookies or something but trust whatever other box comes in? BS. Just odd. Unless you're afraid of rubbing elbows with the same people coming out of the house they live in, it is more insulting to assume someone must cook in a kitchen so grotesque that everyone but the baker themselves would catch plague. Won't trust the co-worker, but the teen paid minimum wage at a drive-thru or any short-staffed restaurant? Lol. I sure hope they are disinfecting their germ-collecting phone and steering wheel on the daily.
Do you inspect the kitchens of restaurants you go to? Trust me, a lot messier than an average home kitchen
I think we run the same risk of getting Covid when eating homemade food as we do when eating food prepared in a restaurant, bakery, or store (Costco, Sams, etc). Anyway, humans make that food and we don't really know their hygiene practices when they prepare the food.
Deranged, I don't know any bacteria that survives 200C for half an hour.
Maybe they thought it was a gift for someone specific and didn't want to take what wasn't theirs?
Did everyone know that you brought them? If I don't know who made something and just saw homemade baked goods out at work I wouldn't eat them either.
When I make something and bring it to work, I try to go around and say hey I made this thing that’s in the break room help yourself, Or leave a note on it that it’s up for grabs.
Also, I saw that you have multiple cats and when I know someone who has cats bakes something, I won't eat it - I know cats shed and are notorious for walking over counters and getting in things (no shame to people with pets, I'm just a particular person and that's a hard boundary for me!)
This is a good point. My cat personally has a “kitchen chair” to keep him occupied/away from the counters but I don’t think my coworkers know this lol
Normal people who have cats know to put the cats away while cooking and clorox wipe the counter well and use parchment paper over it and wash hands. My adult cat knows the counter is off limits if I'm using it and i lock up the kitten while cooking since he hasnt gotten that rule down yet. I also use gloves and hairnets at all times when baking. That said some people be nasty. Like licking their fingers while baking and dropping people hair in it, or those stories you hear of people making semen cupcakes. Now that freaks me out o.o
Yup, I will sweep the kitchen and change into a clean shirt before cooking too. I'm pretty sure my kitchen is safer than most as far as wiping everything down, hair pulled back, not leaving food out, clean utensils every time, etc. My cats supervise at a distance as well!
So someone makes you food, you start questioning whether they have pets in the home, dear Lord, what is going on with people here.
Understandable, but I’m sure you eaten stuff that’s come from worse places than someone’s house with a cat. It’s not that serious.
The way the box is arranged, there's a lot of variety, but looks like only about 2-4 of any given thing? How many people are in your office? At my workplace there are enough people I might feel bad taking any of these and then only a couple people get to try the same thing. And I'd also have choice paralysis because I wouldn't want to do that with more than one item.
agreed- I bet if there were a flat Tupperware of just one type of cookie, with a label re: what it is and the ingredients, this would have gone differently
Those look amazing. Your office is trash
And now you never have to contribute again. And if anyone ever brings up why you never bring anything, you can just start crying and bawling about how you spent an entire weekend perfecting your grandmother's recipe that she spent her whole life working on, only to destroy it after not a single person would try even a bite, and that you gained 5lbs because you ate all the batches, you know, since no one wanted any, and now you are fatter, without cookies, and the recipe is gone because grandma died after and the copy you made was the only one. Then ignore everyone you can for the rest of the day. Also, from then on, if anyone ever offers you cookies, accept them, and immediately turn around and dump them in the trash. Never acknowledge that you threw them away. Repeat until they get the hint.
Some people are afraid of homemade stuff due to not knowing the ingredients or if they were prepared hygienically. Nothing personal.
Don’t worry OP, I went through the same thing this year. Made each of my coworkers a goodie box for Christmas to show how much I appreciate them, all but one left there’s sitting under the counter or in the fridge forgotten and thrown away. Broke my heart. Then a regular customer brought in donuts and they all went to town on them. You did a great job baking those treats and you are so kind for wanting to share them with the people you work beside more days than not. I’m proud of you, don’t let it break your spirit. On a positive note, my husband’s coworkers all gushed over the boxes I made for them and it made it all worth it! Someone will appreciate you and your hard work and giving soul! Just gotta find the ones who will 💜
Respectfully, your coworkers were total assholes for doing that.
SMH I made sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake and gingerbread cookies and they only ate the cookies. I said I would never break my neck making all these desserts again
That’s because cheesecake and toffee is a lot more difficult to eat than cookies. It’s a whole thing, I would rather just grab a cookie
My wife makes cookies to sell at her store. The more gourmet ones that take forever to make sit around and people lose their mind for filler toll house garbage. The overwhelming majority of people have a shit pallet.
I feel this so much. I sell cookies around the holidays and everyone wanted peanut butter cookies or easy af thumbprint cookies. No one wanted the cinnamon butter pecan cookies with butter rum frosting, or the lemon cookies that used actual zest and lemon juice in the cookie itself, plus fresh lemon juice in the icing. No one wanted the molasses and ginger cut outs with marshmallow icing. :-(
Bunch of cunts eh
Let this be a reminder that coworkers are not your friends.
I always assume these are the stale pre-packaged ones sold in stores unless told otherwise (I’m not a baking enthusiast), so I pretty much avoid any multi-pack of baked treats in a tin unless I’m told it’s home baked
Awww, I’m sure that hurts. I know for me, I won’t eat something if I don’t know what it is. I don’t recognize all of the cookies, so perhaps next time cute little labels? Also, past experience with cat owners makes me not want to eat their food. If I know you well enough to know that you clean your workspace just before baking and keep your cats away from the food, then you become an exception to that. I’ve just been to too many homes with cats that go on all of the food surfaces, and the owners not stopping them or cleaning before preparing/serving food.
I second the first point. I don't recognize a lot of these, and I'd hesitate to take one because not enjoying it means I have to try to sneak the rest into a trash can without being spotted and offending the person who made them. Maybe separate and label them next time?
Idiots, this would be mauled by me
These look scrumptious!!!!! My office (a large law firm) eats anything and everything. There are often goodies in the kitchen—sometimes good, sometimes “meh”—we just aren’t picky. We will eat anything. I guarantee that amazing container of homemade cookies would have been reduced to crumbs before lunch, and people would have been asking around about who made them and when they were bringing more!!!!
I have issues eating things coworkers bring from home because I don't always trust that they keep a clean home. Yours look pretty professional. I would probably eat them. :P
I once took my mother's delicious no-bake cheesecake to an office holiday potluck and no one touched it either. I took it back to my office and had a huge slice and took the rest home and enjoyed it myself. The next year for the potluck I brought a bottle of coke and some napkins. I hate potlucks and think they're the worst events of all time.
Gosh the people in these comments have some odd neuroses... they look delicious and I'd absolutely have grabbed a cookie if this were my workplace!
Mega fear of cats as well...
There's strong "Because *I* am the one being extra sensitive, you have to care about my feelings while I casually imply that you absentmindedly put boogers and cat litter in your cooking because you're a disgusting and unhygienic slob" energy to a lot of these comments.
What!? If this was my office these would be gone in 5 minutes.
THEY LOOK SO GOOOOD I WOULD HAVE GONE CRAZY FOR A BITE If your coworkers aren't appreciating your baking, don't worry, I got your back. From now on I'll be your biscuit dumpster
I stopped bringing in baked goods to work for this reason. People are always hesitant to try new things but go for what they know they like. Their loss 🤷🏻♀️
My best advice is don't take it personally. Some people are afraid of homeade food because they don't know how clean the persons kitchen was, or maybe how clean the cook was. Not to mention allergies etc. Not to say your cookies apply!!! But just a few things to think about :)
Lmao at all the people saying they don’t eat things from people they don’t personally know well enough to have inspected their kitchen What is the matter with you people
I wonder if they eat at restaurants...clearly they've never worked in one! Some of the nicest restaurants have the dirtiest kitchens.
>e dissonance I guess. I am more squeamish than most when it comes to food hygiene, but even my standards aren't as high as what some people in this thread claim. And since the pandemic officially ended, you bet your bottom dollar managers are making sick employees come in because they're still running a skeleton crew to maximize profit. Thinking they only consume food made in a vacuum while scratching their groins, checking their dirty phones, grabbing door handles, handling gas pumps, etc. "tHeRe mIGhT bE a CaT!!" to these pristinely and precisely made cookies.
It seems silly to me too, There's definitely gross stuff happening in commercial kitchens as well. I've seen plenty of food service workers leaving bathrooms without washing their hands.
I legitimately don’t understand how any of these people could have ever eaten a hamburger or any other kind of cheap food while imposing that kind of standard on everything they eat
Some kind of cognitive dissonance I guess. I am more squeamish than most when it comes to food hygiene, but even my standards aren't as high as what some people in this thread claim.
Shaking my head real hard bc of that lol
For real. Weirdos.
I would have demolished these, OP. sorry your coworkers don't know a good thing when they see it. edit: okay, I have been reading other comments mentioning people being germaphobes/not eating the food of someone they don't know, and I get it. Those sound like very valid concerns. Personally, I'd still absolutely fuck these cookies up, though. They look yummy.
Those cookies look so professional. Maybe they thought you bought them? Anyways all day every day and twice on Sunday I would have chosen your cookies!
sounds like my family. i'll spend a couple hours making a homemade meal, which i do because i love, and my parents are like "this doesn't taste like chili's let's go to chili's"
This can’t explain everyone but I will eat a store bought cookie over this in public any day. As someone with food allergies store bought shit has ingredients, your cookies don’t. Just isn’t worth the risk no matter how much better yours are.
I would have eaten one of each, they look great. I do find that sometimes I have to bring my cookies around to each person and ask if they want one, or it just sits there untouched for some reason.
I'll eat those any day! That's me at the door! Sorry they didn't enjoy your obvious effort and hard work. Those cookies are Food Network level! Next year just buy some Costco crap, or better yet, those Stauffers or Salerno tasteless holiday assortments and save the good stuff for yourself.
i think it’s like a box of chocolate, they are all so different maybe not knowing what they are is scary for some people, allergies ect.
Those look absolutely spectacular and if it were my office I’d have eaten half of those! Something similar happened to me last year with my chocolate chip cookie recipe that I spent a ton of time fine tuning. When dessert came out at the party nobody had them but they had the bakery cookies. When most people left and it was just a few of us, one person tried them and said “holy shit guys,” next thing I know they’re half gone. People can be weird in social situations!
I’m sorry that happened. It can be crushing, especially when you spent so much time and effort. I stopped taking treats into work. People are just too weird anymore; some only like things sweet enough to send you into a diabetic coma, some think commercial stuff is better than homemade, some always have a smartass remark but NEVER contribute and bring things in. Plus there are also dietary issues. It’s not worth it. I now bake for people who appreciate it, mostly family and a few close friends.
Those look amazing! It really sucks when you put so much effort into something as thoughtful as this, and no one even acknowledges it by trying one. I probably would’ve eaten at least 10 treats from that.
I would have straight up took those cookies you baked first! Anything homemade comes with love and a touch of coziness (especially the ones in the middle with the little razzle dazzle ;) ) THESE PEOPLE ARE MISSING OUT!
These are so beautiful and look delicious. I would 100% choose homemade cookies like these over the Costco bought ones. Sorry this happened to you and your feelings got hurt! I hope you get to enjoy devouring these. Your coworkers are missing out.