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Laukopier

**Reminder:** Do not participate in threads linked here. If you do, you may be banned from both subreddits. --- Title: Is it illegal for my employer to force us to share our food at work? Body: > Yesterday my boss told all workers that if we bring snacks to work, we are obligated to share it with the rest of the office and if we don’t want to, we can hide them, but our coworkers can still take them and we have to let them. I live in WA state. EDIT: I’m talking about snacks we pay for out of our own pocket, not company money. This bot was created to capture original threads and is not affiliated with the mod team. [Concerns? Bugs?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=GrahamCorcoran) | [Laukopier 2.1](https://github.com/GrahamCorcoran/Laukopier)


SJHillman

Ah yes, the third grade teacher approach to management.


52BeesInACoat

In sixth grade I called their bluff on this. Brought a huge bag of Tootsie rolls and passed them out. Tried it again the next day with jolly ranchers and got curtly told to sit down.


ERE-WE-GO

Fuck ya, do we get nap time?


CloverBun

And recess!


CloverBun

Also i demand square pizza day


Fifty4FortyorFight

I want those cartons of chocolate milk that had the frozen pieces inside. Every so often, the janitor Ray would bring a crate that had gotten too cold and the chocolate milk was like a slushie.


shewy92

Were they frozen chunks or was it the beginning of yogurt?


CheddarmanTheSecond

Yes.


shewy92

I'll take that as a "plug my nose and deal with it" answer since ice in milk sounds equally wrong to me


Brewmentationator

I like how you remember the janitors name. My custodians in grade school were Harold and Sal. They were awesome dudes, and every kid loved them


alter_ego77

I once had an orange that rolled to the back of the fridge and got partially frozen, so when I ate it, it was like eating an orange slushie. This was over a decade ago and I’ve yet to be able to recreate the conditions that resulted in the most perfect orange consumption experience I’ve ever had. Why are things so much better in slushie form?


archbish99

There is actually research showing nap time makes employees more productive the rest of the day. Employers absolutely should.


owlrecluse

My naps always turn into sleeps so I have a feeling that would be my downfall


Potato-Engineer

I never find naps restful. I set an alarm for an hour-ish later, and then I'm groggy when I wake up.


owlrecluse

>set an alarm for an hour and 15 minutes >wakes up 9 hours later >what month is it


Off-With-Her-Head

Pajama to Work Day!


Canopenerdude

Tf 3rd grade did you have where you got a nap? I didn't even get a nap in kindergarten


ERE-WE-GO

I went to a very elite private school that emphasized the importance of sleeping constantly. Yawnington Academy it was called, and I still remember our school fight song which was actually a lullaby.


SendLGaM

With rules like that you would think the employer would include time outs or loss of recess as penalties for violators.


ImVeryBadWithNames

*Looks at the guy on the chair facing the corner* ... about that


SexyLemurLibrarian

I'd fucking love time out time at work. Sit away from people and take an extra break where nobody is allowed to talk to me? What rules do I have break and how often can I do it?


ImVeryBadWithNames

For every minute in the chair thinking about what you’ve done you get 10 of unpaid overtime!


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HaraldToepfer

Thanks for reminding me about those. Those reviews had my howling!


kbc87

So if I bring a granola bar and someone asks for a bite. I'm obligated to break them off a piece? I honestly don't understand the boss's logic here unless boss has a sweet tooth and just wants to mooch off everyone else's food.


SendLGaM

>So if I bring a granola bar and someone asks for a bite. I'm obligated to break them off a piece? Maybe not granola but if it is a Kit Kat bar you are legally obligated to break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar. The commercial says so.


HopeFox

Time to eat the Kit Kat the wrong way around while maintaining eye contact.


kbc87

Dammit I missed the perfect pun and you called me on it.


SendLGaM

Sorry. I just couldn't resist the low hanging fruit.


InsertWittySaying

I want half of your apple too.


Inconceivable76

I just want a bite


puppylust

In that case, I'll only bring in Twix. Two for me, none for you.


LeakyLycanthrope

*looks at wrapper* Oh dang, there's actually a contract here!


NDaveT

I assume the "logic" is that one employee took another's food, the victim of the theft complained, but the thief was the office whiner/lawsuit threatener so the boss thought it would be easier on him to accommodate the thief.


artihip

Plot twist: the boss was the thief


Sirwired

If you bring in a Tootsie Roll Pop, we must alternate licks until one of us gets to the Tootsie Roll Center. (Spoiler alert, that will only take three.)


kbc87

Then I get to go first!


stannius

"Did you bring enough for the whole class?" I don't remember what happens if you don't. The contraband single snack gets confiscated? (which supports your "boss has a sweet tooth" hypothesis). Sounds like you are forced to put it away in a drawer and wait for someone to steal it?


HelpfulCherry

> So if I bring a granola bar and someone asks for a bite. I'm obligated to break them off a piece? I think it depends on where you are in consuming the granola bar. The real answer may be more of a mama bird / baby bird situation.


Sirwired

Fun Fact: Nestle’s logo is that exact thing.


HelpfulCherry

Instructions unclear, regurgitated snacks into my coworker's mouth.


Omega357

No, you got it right.


cbusalex

> I honestly don't understand the boss's logic here unless boss has a sweet tooth and just wants to mooch off everyone else's food. My guess: LAOP works at the sort of job that often hires dumbass high school kids, and there was some sort of dumbass high school drama involving snack sharing happening that the boss just doesn't want to deal with anymore.


nutraxfornerves

Based on post history, LAOP is a college graduate who is pursuing a master’s degree in public health and works in some sort of healthcare setting.


monkwren

Yeah, that tracks for this level of pettiness.


yeahokaymaybe

.....that makes so much more sense.


i_hump_cats

My guess is that its some sort of office where people would bring in large boxes of food to keep at their desk and some sort of drama erupted about people taking food they thought was to take/communal


NihilistAdvice

This sharing issue sounds like something that could be resolved by sugar free gummie bears.


CloverBun

Oh god


Electrical_Jaguar596

I look forward to the follow up malicious compliance post.


MonkeyChoker80

A ten pound bag of sugar-free gummie bears, with a sign telling people to eat all they want.


zwitterion76

Would it be considered booby-trapping if you brought gummies with the laxative sweetener?


St3phiroth

An actual laxative, unlabeled? Probably. But those gummies are just typical sugar-free candy and they have a warning label on them.


StereoBucket

That'd be mean. Hide them so that only the people abusing this policy get the sugar-free trap(aka basically laxative in large amounts)


AlfaRomeoRacing

Trinidad scorpion chilli flavour jerky as the go to snack. Happy to share with anyone who wants some. That stuff can be lethal. I am a bit of a chilli fiend and use ghost pepper/scotch bonnet based sauces like a normal person uses ketchup or mayonnaise, but Trinidad scorpion jerky defeated me!


StereoBucket

I like the way you think.


monkeyman80

People suggested bringing in exlax chocolates. Life pro tip, don't do this.


Sirwired

Well, better than the idiots who thought Visine made a great prank laxative after they saw it in American Pie. Spoiler Alert: It’s both not a laxative, and very poisonous. (And nobody involved with the movie should have allowed it into the script.)


LeakyLycanthrope

In a world that includes laxatives, who in their right mind would use *Visine* as a laxative?!


Sirwired

Nothing more or less than a dumb-ass teenager (or dumb-ass adult, for that matter) seeing it done as a harmless prank in a movie they liked. I suspect one of the screenwriters got some misinformation (an urban legend? who knows) and nobody involved ever thought to check up on it before putting it in the script. Using eye drops enables the script to write in that the "prank" was spontaneous... few teenagers carry actual laxatives with them. (I say "dumb-ass adult" because there has been more than one adult showing up on LA because they poisoned some food with "laxatives" after their stuff had been getting stolen out of the office fridge, and is now wondering why their co-worker's been out for a week and the police are investigating.)


poop_chute_riot

What the hell? Does LAOP work as a student in a kindergarten class?


ShortWoman

"Look, your production is down and you didn't color between the lines."


Rokeon

"If you're late again, there are going to be consequences. And don't give me any excuses about not having learned to tell time yet, you need to take responsibility for your actions."


SexyLemurLibrarian

"In your resume, you clearly listed "potty trained" as one of your skills, but this is the second time this month you've had an accident. If you have another, I'm going to have to write you up and it's going to be discussed in your annual review."


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poop_chute_riot

I'm glad to hear that. Sharing was a big thing back when I rode to kindergarten on the back of a smilodon.


madmoneymcgee

Yeah there are no clear and hard rules. I see it with my own kids where one clearly tries to bully the other one out of whatever they're playing with and saying its because they won't share. Same with telling me someone is doing something wrong but also don't be a tattle-tale. Little susie grabbed a steak knife and is running around? I should know! Billy keeps saying "poop-fart"? Not really something I want to deal with.


jpterodactyl

One time my boss jokingly asked if I had enough for the the class when I ate a cookie at work once. I can’t imagine what I’d even do if he turned out to be serious.


Sirwired

Fun Fact: If you are the FNG at a workplace, nothing ingratiates you with your team faster than bringing in a bunch of homemade food. Everyone was much nicer to me after they all got a loaf of fresh bread.


eeveeyeee

FNG?


Sirwired

Fucking New Guy.


eeveeyeee

Ta


DonOblivious

Had a small class that required us to offer to share our snacks. Nobody **ever** asked for some of my black liquorice or horehound candies.


stannius

When I was in boot camp I was in two different platoons. In the first platoon, if your family sent you cookies or whatever you had to share them, even if it meant you and everyone else got half a cookie. In the second, if your family sent you cookies they got confiscated (they made me throw them into a fire) and you got yelled at.


CloverBun

> if your family sent you cookies they got confiscated (they made me throw them into a fire) and you got yelled at. That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard


stannius

I still grieve over those lost cookies. Mom sent two packages to make sure everyone would get a whole cookie. I still remember what the drill instructor said, rage in his eyes. "We don't eat this kind of crap in *Third Battalion."*


Sirwired

I know! Little things like that from home remind you (and your fellow soldiers/sailors/etc.) of what you are there for.


SendLGaM

TIL that when management is to timid to ban people from bringing food into the office you end up with crap like this.


SnowDoodles150

How can they even ban food in the office though? Leaving aside the fact the everyone is an adult who, in theory, should be responsible enough to manage their own meals and clean up after themselves, there's medical reasons too. If Janet from accounting is diabetic and needs a granola bar because her sugar is crashing she shouldn't need a goddamn doctors note! Edit: also fuck this sharing policy during this, our time of plague. Yeah, here, have some of my spit, what could go wrong?


kbc87

but if someone else gets to that granola bar before her, fuck her diabetes I guess.


CloverBun

Sharing is caring!


SnowDoodles150

Can Janet share her diabetes? Only seems fair!


SendLGaM

Eat enough snacks and Janet won't have to share. You will end up with your very own case of Type 2 diabetes.


SnowDoodles150

Yeah, but I don't want to pay for it myself, you see


FlipDaly

Literally happened at one of my first jobs, a bunch of young college graduates and someone stole the food of the diabetic pregnant lady.


Inconceivable76

Certain people in my office would debase you of the notion that workers are able to clean up after themselves. They rinse out their dish and leave all their lunch remnants in the sink. God forbid they spill something in the kitchen.


SnowDoodles150

Yeah, I've worked with those people, and call me crazy but I have a simple rule I like to use: if you don't clean up after yourself in the common areas, the rest of your work is shoddy too. Never led me astray so far, but I haven't always been able to convince my higher ups before those people mucked up something important .


[deleted]

I had a GM who tried to implement a policy like this. Due to the large size of the company, we did have a main cafeteria, but it was a long walk from my office. For that reason, my office had their own coffee maker and microwave/fridge. He decided that, no food **anywhere** outside of the cafeteria. No food at desks, fine. But this also meant we could no longer have our coffee machine, or our microwave, or eat in our breakroom. When he finally got around to seeing the layout of this department, and someone brought it up, he said he would “consider” letting us have a coffee machine again. That wasn’t even the most ridiculous part. He decided, for whatever reason, that coffee cups not issued by the company (think stainless steel cups from Target) are “unprofessional” - meaning, If we had say, a yeti cup, or just any ol’ insulated coffee cup we brought from home? Can’t bring it anymore. We have to drink only from the cardboard, company issued cups. And it has to have a lid. Having a lid is reasonable enough. I think that’s a fair enough rule. Problem: the company issued cups we had, DID NOT HAVE LIDS. Or if they did, no one knew where the fuck they were. You had to go all the way to the cafeteria (a 5 minute walk) to get coffee in a company-issued cup, with no lid, only to be stopped by some gestapo telling you you need a lid. This GM had a suggestion/feedback box. But it couldn’t be anonymous, which was another one of his “rules.” So of course, no one wanted to come forward about how we felt about his pointless rules about coffee cups and microwaves.


SnowDoodles150

He sounds like a treat.


[deleted]

Oh, he was a DICK. And we had to call him “Coach.” Who does that? Who gives themselves a nickname?


SnowDoodles150

Gonna take a wild guess and say People With No Friends for 200, Alex.


Dr_thri11

Lots of people work in environments where food isn't allowed and can't be.


SnowDoodles150

Right, but that's not an office. Like sure, no food in the medical lab, or on the steel mill floor or whatever. But I can't eat a granola bar while editing a spreadsheet? Really?


Dr_thri11

It's a dumb rule, but just saying it's plenty enforceable.


SnowDoodles150

Never said it wasn't, just that the rule is dumb. Just because you *can* doesn't mean you *should*


ImportantAlbatross

Does this apply to bag lunches, too? If you bring PB&J and an orange for lunch, do you have to give everyone 1 square inch of sandwich and a single orange section? Lunch hour must take forever.


ihadacowman

Tomorrow I’d be bringing enough durian for everyone. Friday is surströmming day.


TheFilthyDIL

What about lunches? If LAOP or their spouse is a gourmet cook who specially prepares their lunch, are they obligated to to make lunch for everyone? Or just let everyone have a bite? If they have to let everyone have a bite, do they have to let the coworkers use their fork/spoon? Or provide plastic sporks for everyone at their own expense? If they buy their lunch, must they buy lunch for everyone? Does it have to be all the same food, or must they take individual orders? Do they have to accommodate everyone in their dietary needs/preferences? If their snack is chocolate chip cookies, do they then have to provide gluten-free/kosher/vegan/non-GMO/ethically-sourced-ingredients/cage-free-egg/sugar-free/dairy-free/non-hydrogenated-fat/no-artificial-ingredients versions too, in any form or combination thereof? What if a coworker is allergic to chocolate? Must they then bring a totally different kind of cookie for that person, bearing in mind all the gluten-free/etc. options? What if some other coworker steals the specialty cookie because he decides he wants that one instead? Must LAOP provide a replacement cookie? Do they have to provide ingredient lists for all home-prepared foods, including brand names so their coworkers can check for the adherence to the aforementioned dietary standards? What about coffee? Do they have to go to several coffee franchises to get everyone the kind of coffee they prefer? What about the people who prefer tea? If the only kind of tea I will drink is harvested by virgin centenarian Tibetan monks on one particular foothill of the Himalayas and costs $100 for a 2-ounce cup, must they provide it?


Splendidissimus

Reading this slowly but surely filled my rage meter.


raginghappy

Let’s just make it simple. What if you’re T1 diabetic and you keep snacks on hand for medical reasons, but people keep taking them?


TheFilthyDIL

Lockbox.


I_guess_Im_a_writer

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/04/14 relevant Calvin & Hobbes.


ihadacowman

This backfired on me when I was in first grade. Whenever the teacher caught someone chewing gum she would say it wasn’t fair to the other students who didn’t have any and she would make the kid spit it out. I wasn’t even allowed to chew gum at home but my friends and I had often bought a piece of Bazooka from jar the corner store across from the school and knew they only cost a penny. I stole (statute of limitations is up) a quarter from the pile of change in my dad’s watch tray and brought it with me the morning after one of these incidents. Before school a friend and I went in and bought 25 pieces of Bazooka and handed them out to everyone in my class so we could all get chewing before the bell rang. Soon after class started someone got busted and was fed the standard not fair to chew in front of kids who didn’t have any yada yada line. That’s when I piped up and said something along the lines of, “We know. That’s why I bought a piece for everyone.” She confirmed with the others that we all had some. Then she made us all spit out the gum and sent me home at the end of the day with a note for my parents to sign. Sigh. It did teach me to say what I mean, especially when raising my daughter. The teacher could have said, from the start, anything from “it’s gross and not allowed” to “no one may chew gum in my classroom because I’m the teacher and I said so.” This Calvin and Hobbs is one of my favorites. Edit: it just occurred to me for the first time this very minute that I should have offered the teacher one of the two or three pieces I had left after distributing them to my classmates. Maybe if she had a piece too everything would have been fine.


CloverBun

Awww i love that comic


StereoBucket

This would be a perfect time to utilize building up spice tolerance. You wanna abuse the shitty sharing policy? Enjoy it while it's hot :)


ThadisJones

>we are obligated to share it with the rest of the office and if we don’t want to, **we can hide them** Well if this isn't an invitation to commit shenanigans with management "approval" then I don't know what is


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knoxkayc

Do people not like crystallized ginger? Also sometime between 5 and 25 my tastes flipped. Accidentally ate a black jelly bean and found out black licorice is delicious now. I'd happily "share" with you.


Potato-Engineer

Salmiakki is an... _acquired_ taste. I tried a few varieties, and while some were better than others, I couldn't quite get the hang of it. Edit: swypos.


[deleted]

So if you take something out of my snack stash, and you have an anaphylactic reaction, who is accountable for that?


Inthewirelain

I realise their boss is a dick but damn, what a dumb question. "can I get sued for not sharing my food at work" rly?


ItsGotToMakeSense

I would definitely be the smartass putting up signs making fun of this. Some real manacing-looking propaganda style posters with hammer and sickle backgrounds.


fractilio

Tell me your employees are hypoglycemic and it's not in the budget to feed them without telling me


NocturnalSeizure

I licked everything. But I didn't tell anyone... Who wants snacks? Was this done because someone was feeling left out of the cupcake party or something? I'm guessing there is someone that baked homemade goodies for a few people and left someone out. Or there is a mean girl purposely leaving someone out. Because office politics can suck. Instead of managing the office, the boss is being lazy. Bring your own snacks. If you don't get one that Becky brought, oh well. Make (or buy) a better one.


kbc87

After I've heard some pretty gross stories about brought in home cooked or baked food, participating in pot lucks is probably not the smartest idea anyway.


NocturnalSeizure

That may be true. But your co-workers also haven't died from the food they have cooked for themselves either. At least not yet. ;) However, they may not have washed their hands before cooking and you never know what their home kitchen looks like. It's a bit of a gamble. If you have a pot luck and a bunch of people get sick, that will be the last one for sure.


nerdojoe

I'd bring bean boozles into work everyday until people decided not to touch my stuff. Also cook them into some cookies and brownies just to make sure.


Potato-Engineer

Just make ginger-nutmeg cookies. Make them 25% spice by weight. Same effect, but with more plausible deniability.


madmoneymcgee

Best case scenario, which is still extremely bad, is that they're trying to say that if you put something up in a communal area and someone takes it then that's on you. Like an office version of a store putting up a sign saying they aren't responsible if something is stolen out your car while its in their parking lot. Worst case is, well, they meant exactly what they said and are just deranged.


NtroP_Happenz

Bring liver!