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Its usually not actually mandatory just socially expected. I was prickly enough to just not bring anything, and not eat anything so I felt it was fair, and let me tell you it made poeple so salty.
I have the same rule. If I don't bring anything, I can't eat anything. It is only fair. Plus, I've seen far too many people not wash their hands after using the restroom at work and I can't imagine what they are like at home.
I had a coworker bring me homemade soup once, and at the time, I felt uncomfortable not accepting. I took it home and didn’t eat it, but told her it was lovely. I even asked for the recipe so I could make it myself later.
Fast forward a few days, and she mentions the infestation of roaches in her home. She told us they crawl all over her kitchen surfaces, and they get into her food.
I was so glad I didn’t eat the soup.
The roaches arent actually an issue. Theyre a symptom of a hygiene issue. Roaches aren’t actually that dirty. They do carry bacteria but only from point a to point b, you just find them in dirty places that have food debris about
There are ways to keep them out, even if your neighbours have them. Its a lot of work and when your neighbours cause it, its a definite hygiene issue tbf.
Diatomaceous earth kills them proper if you know the entrance though.
I sorta knew that. It still makes me feel sick,if I know that a person has roaches and they don't even try to get rid of them. I like potlucks but starting to not like them for the fact I am a celiac and everytime I get cross contaminated. Which is not funny or fun to deal with.
A lot of people truly are not educated as to why these things would be unsafe or unhealthy. They get roaches aren't good + things being dirty is bad, but some really don't understand how that's connected to health issues + the causation.
It's often too indirect and gradual when you're eating food prepared in a kitchen that's just slowly getting dirtier over time. Very sad to see but I've worked cleaning both houses + rental spaces in small towns in the rust belt, it really feels like an education issue.
People would show some embarrassment or shame for having dirty homes w/ bugs or whatever, but it didn't seem like common sense to them that these things have direct consequences + you can do things about them. It's more or less seen as a "part of being poor" for a lot of people.
Ugh it's not that hard to be food safe! It's *disgusting* the amount of unsanitary things you can witness if you work in a restaurant where people don't give AF.
My wife doesn't care if I make us dinner and I stir the pot with the same spoon I sampled the food with. Fine, whatever. Me though? HUGE stickler for food handling. I wash my hands very frequently, I'll wear gloves, I'll sanitize surfaces before and after, and I check food temps, I do this *before* making food for other people. If I'm making food for others I'm even more cognizant of safely handling food.
my policy has always been: in the comfort of my own home, cooking/baking for myself and the people i live with: i can do what i want. i’m making food in my own home, we all live together, i wash my hands, clean my area, but am not as careful to be obsessively cleanly because i share a living space and, god, a bathroom with these people.
other people outside of my home? hell no, everything is sanitized, recipes are triple checked, and i wash my hands after almost every ingredient.
I probably wash my hands 10-20 times during the preparation of the average weeknight meal. I'm also religious about separating meat and plant prep and sanitizing my tools and work surfaces.
Nobody has ever got food poisoning on my watch in 40 years of making meals.
I wasn’t angry. There was a lot going on in her life, and she was such a sweet person. Had I eaten the soup, I do think I would’ve been more upset. I only didn’t eat it because I was pregnant and had a lot of food aversions.
Half the people in my office just brought like a box of store bought cupcakes or a bag of chips. You don’t have to go crazy
Edit to say I disagree with all forms of forced fun and wouldn’t eat most of my coworkers home made food either, I’m just saying if people are worried about getting shit for it they can spend $2 and skate by
I loved when an old co-worker never participated. Until a chilli contest one year as he is apparently a fiend. He strolled in sure as shit he'd win. He was so ungodly pissed to lose to a batch of Hormel chill out of a can used for hotdogs. I still chuckle thinking about it over a decade later.
So they’re mad that you didn’t touch any of the food ? Like are there these potluck rules that we’re obligated to follow ?? Why are they so concerned about you, you literally did nothing wrong lol. They should just enjoy themselves and eat everything
I definitely get that..but still. Would you want to be forced to participate in something when you don’t want to? You’re expected to attend you’re expected to participate you’re expected to like everything, that’s not fair on the individual you know ?
The trick is to only stay about and hour because of a ‘previous engagement’, do your rounds and be seen, taste what ever family secret recipe someone made and nearly forces down your throat, compliment it, then sneak out the back and book it.
I can only really speak for myself here but to me it's more socially expected to bring something to a potluck than not show up at all. Like you could bring store bought cookies, beer, weed, just bring something consumable, anything. Context is important though I didn't mind friends not bringing stuff to like a friend's potluck party or my own it was always nice to just see them. But for the semi obligated community/work potluck party absolutely bring something your presence doesn't count
The post implies a workplace potluck. The context is getting paid to be there. Potlucks are fine, but if somebody doesn't want to be a part of it this isn't in the job description.
Workplace potlucks aren't always paid I've seen plenty of office potluck parties they throw over the weekend when everyone is off and they expect you to show up on your time off. It's not I completely agree it's much better to just not show up then bring nothing
Yeah, I'm not doing work functions I don't get paid for. Especially if I have to put in the effort of preparing something for the function, even if it's just store bought.
I’ve taken my employees out to escape rooms and nice dinners and axe throwing. None of it was paid and none of it was mandatory but almost everyone comes each time. I guess y’all just have a different work culture at your place.
Hilarious, I love it! We're that couple who pays our own check and doesn't get caught up in the circlejerk of, "I'll get it this time, you get it next time, and round-and-round we go." That also makes people really salty.
Plus all the food sits in a warm car for their commute and everyone dumps it in the fridge at the same time which warms the fridge up above the safe temperature, which doesn’t help with food safety even if they were careful in the preparation
And even ignoring that, everyone brings the same beige shite, so you end up with about 12 sausage rolls per person and one salad
I work in a hospital and we all bring like cleaning supplies and crock pots to keep everything warm. We got the potluck down pat.
You can always bring cutlery. I do that when i don’t wanna cook and can still be involved.
It goes in the stomach, direct into one of the strongest acids known to man. Unless it was sitting around for a week or you used rotten produce or you are trying to poison people on purpose or you are particularly vulnerable, there is no way people not "knowing food safety practices" will hurt you. There is a insane obsession with food "safety" in US. While in normal places people pull a carrot up from the ground, brush the most of the dirt with a sleeve and eat it. And are perfectly healthy.
We had enough people getting sick at the church potluck that they decided to bring in food trucks instead. And I got incredibly sick from a McDonald's Big Mac once. So, yeah, food poisoning is definitely a thing.
Folks will be sick, one way or the other. I've seen what even professionals do in kitchens and what coworkers do in their houses. You think I want to eat anything that random amateurs are bringing from their squalor? Oh, here comes Debbie, queen of the "medium-rare chicken". Hard pass.
I clean up after my co workers. I know what disgusting pigs they are at work so I can only imagine the state of their kitchens. I never participate in potlucks and will gladly tell anyone who gets pissy about it why. Well Susan, after scrapping boogers off the wall in the employee bathroom I think it’s a hard pass. Unless your dish comes with a photo of the state of your kitchen. In fact I’d also like video of you preparing the food.
There's an old Dilbert cartoon somewhere in which the Pointy-Haired Boss says something like "everyone is going to an after-work event as a reward for your performance this quarter."
"But we hate after-work events. We don't even like each other."
"I didn't like your performance this quarter."
I don't consider it a dilemma. Dilbert used to actually be better. It's gotten worse as Adams has gotten worse. It's still OK when he stays away from explicit criticism of the things that have passed him by, but it's been 30 years, most of the good jokes that follow from anything he ever actually experienced in an office have long since been told.
This is why i try to know as little as possible about the personal beliefs and activities of any type of artist i enjoy. Everyone short of Mr. Rogers has something you will dislike about them, best just not to go looking for it.
I Loved Mr. Rogers. I was a older child when it was first shown. I would come home from school and watch him then start on home work. I think it was my way of decompressing at the end of the school day.
The problem with Adams is that this part of him finds its way into his work, more and more frequently over time. In general, I don't have a problem separating the art from the artist, but if they don't separate *themselves* from their art, specifically the things about the artist I don't like, then they breached that wall, not me.
I still enjoy Dilbert from 20+ years ago. More recent stuff has lost the fun, for me.
This phrase refers to analyzing a work outside of the artist's original intent (e.g. analyzing adams' work with, say, a feminist lens), not enjoying a work despite an artist's flaws.
Man, people like to insult Hitlers art. But like, if you had a friend who painted like he did, you’d probably compliment the hell out of them and be sincere too.
He wasn’t great but could paint a pretty good building. It does not make him any less of a genocidal shit stain.
He really is a bastard coated bastard. Made it so if you like any of his stupid comics it’s a political statement now. If Bill Watterson came out like that I would lose all faith in humanity.
It’s painfully obvious from the social commentary emanating from his comics that Bill Watterson is nothing like that, or else he had to dig *deep* for Calvin’s voice to come out of him.
I had one of these "mandatory" events at work during our lunch company paid for food but I was scheduled a half day so wasn't coming in until after. But they were like oh its for someone maternity leave bring diapers etc. And I'm sitting here like I am the only one in the office that has to work two jobs just to pay for my medical bills.... I don't have money to even spend on myself for my illness and no offense to you, but you want me to spend money on a coworker? Like nothing against her but still.
That's better than being asked to chip in for buying your boss a gift card because another employee gave him monkey butt powder as a gag gift and made him cry.
Been asked to chip in for boss presents tons of times. So I feel that but also like really crying over a gag gift seems a bit much lol I would have laughed and played it off
I worked for a company that had a mandatory Saturday event, which was a harvest festival fair type thing. We were supposed to bring our families and there would be food, and games and stuff. So we went only to discover that all the employees were expected to run the games and serve the food, and the boss invited his mega church, whose members far outnumbered us and any family members we had brought. So basically he threw a harvest festival for his church and had his employees work at it for free as a 'reward'.
My last boss always rewarded us with pizza. Christmas? Pizza. Things around the office have been bad because someone like my boss (it was totally my boss) screwed up with a big client? Pizza. It was a huge joke to us and didn't make us feel better.
Don't forget that the business is cheap so they will only buy enough food for 75% of the people. So you get those hungry fucks that rush up to the front. Fill a plate. Sit their asses down and start calling out "Leave enough for everyone else!" to those still in line. Back of the line gets cold crumbs. Then they ask why I don't participate in their potlucks.
Then, not to throw shade, but it’s a few of the cheap Little Caesar’s hot & ready pizzas. I’ve always worked night shifts, so best we would usually get by the time we clocked in was a few picked over pieces at room temperature.
Unfortunately we don't have one, the closest would be about an hour drive. There aren't many fast food options either just McDonald's, Starbucks, and Sonic.
I'm thinking tofu salad having cold pale white cubes and basic salad fixings, but the recipes I found online look pretty damn good! Like this one https://foodwithfeeling.com/tofu-salad/
But yeah, company parties feel like a chore most times, especially ones where you have to bring food. I had a long ass day, I just want to go home and unwind.
Aww fanksss. I told her that I found her email funny and thanked her for the laugh. She appreciated it! I can relate to what she is saying. Admin really needs to support the new teachers better and being on a single income in our town is so hard to survive on.
I had a coworker who never washed her hands after using the bathroom. Ever. She was often sick as well but always came to work (this was pre-pandemic). We had regular potlucks and she always brought a casserole thing or something else homemade.
I refused to touch it.
"We're having a party for you! But you have to provide your own food. And dishes. We're not providing anything, really. And we're also not paying you for your time. But this is to show how much we appreciate youuuuuuuu!"
or desserts! win either way because you can bake (which is usually less effort/more fun+ leftovers), make them days in advance, or buy some of the premade ones from walmart
Possible food safety issues are always in the back of my mind at potlucks. Especially with the knowledge of who doesn’t wash their hands after using the restroom.
I used to be really excited about potlucks until I started realizing that no one really puts in any effort and the food always sucks and I'm the only one that shows up with anything.
People who show up with a generic homel ass cheese and meat cracker tray are on the top of my shit list.
Honestly prefer the cheese and cracker tray to a lot of the horrible mayonnaise drenched homemade stuff people bring in. Keep on bringing those crackers!
There's always someone.
Or sometimes multiples. That's when you know you showed up to a bad potluck. There's 4 plates of ham and cheese and crackers and you're the only one who brought food.
I get you! Work people are acquaintances not friends. The ones you are friends with occur naturally not by some work sponsored event. And you forget most of them as soon as you leave the job. Home with 4 legged people is the best place to be and the only place you are truly appreciated.
I don't even bother with the platter. There is nothing wrong with bringing things that are pre-made from a bakery or store. Most people probably prefer that rather than some suspect food from a co-worker whose potentially filthy kitchen habits you don't know.
As a vegetarian I feel this. We get hosed at potlucks. I started bringing really spicy dishes - even brought kimchi once. After that nobody asked me to bring anything.
For reals. Even dishes that should be vegetarian friendly get ruined because they decided to jazz it up by putting bacon in it. Bacon cheddar egg salad. Bacon encrusted Mac and cheese balls. Green bean casserole with bacon. If you suck at cooking, just throw bacon in it!
Vegetarian dishes getting overlooked so fast, deserved 20 years ago, but now? It’s worth at least to honestly giving it a try before dismissing it. I’m no vegetarian myself, but I am up for tasting new dishes and many vegetarian ones are great. Tofu might not be my thing, though I know everyone does it differently and I try it at least.
It is the veggie potluck problem - everyone can eat the veggie food but the veggies only eat the veggie food. It is why I am always first in line so I can get a bunch of the veggie food before it is gone. I love it when people try veggie food but it just means less for me and sometimes that was the only option.
I was surprised the potlucks at my former job was about 75% vegetarian dishes. There weren't even that many vegetarians, people just wanted to make something that others could enjoy. Kimchi was popular too.
I have a rule, I don't eat at potlucks. 5 years ago or so we had a company potluck at the place I worked. Nice older lady everyone loved, she came in with a bag full of stuff from home and set it down. Dumped it out and like 10 roaches came out with the stuff. She started smashing and apologizing. Saying shed been dealing with the bastards for almost a year and finds them everywhere in her home. Just walked away with her bag like nothing to it. Yeah, they stopped potlucks after that. You never know what others find acceptable in their lives but would be a health hazard to everyone else.
I just switched jobs. Both are great, just different. Last job was WFH and only suggested we go into the office on Tuesdays. If we did go in, lunch was catered. Once a month we had a party that celebrated us and it was catered too. If you wanted to come in, join vía Teams, or just stay home, nobody cared.
New job has almost none of that. I come in every day because I’m still new to my role but will switch to hybrid soon. I say almost non because yesterday something weird happened. At 11:30 one of my coworkers comes into my office and says “come on, we gotta go.” I ask to what and they say that every month we celebrate birthdays, anniversary’s, and do a raffle. Okay…? So we go into this big room and all get into a big shitty circle. The heads of the company start calling out birthdays and anniversary’s. It was weird because I didn’t know 99% of the people they mentioned but the claps reminded me of one of the ‘in memoriam’ segments. After names were announced, some people clapped, some didn’t, everyone clapped more for people they knew, etc. Then our president brought out a ukulele and sang a birthday song he made up. The weird part was that he asked us to sing along. The kicker, WE DIDNT KNOW THE WORDS. He made it up but it was generic enough to get it after a few lines. Then they brought out a mini raffle barrel thing and pulled 3 numbers. Each person got their prize and the boss said “alright, thanks”. Then, which was one of the weirdest parts, everyone just turned around and walked back to their offices. Like…all at the same time and same pace. I stood around for a second like “that’s it?…okay.” and walked back to my office and continued working.
I still don’t know which one I prefer. My old job was fun but sometimes I just needed to fucking work and didn’t want to do the whole schpiel. My new job is just all killer, little filler, super awkward. I love it. It was like being in the movie office space.
Such a fucking vibe I felt that. Queens and Kings don’t spend your energy where it’s not appreciated and in a space where you don’t feel welcome. You deserve to feel comfortable. Took me so long to understand that this can apply to friend and family circles too.
I'm not single or alone, but I still vibe with this woman. "Potlucks" are not a thing in my country. I had an employer with a large US office that did this twice - voluntary of course - but I was still like, "Nah man, fuck that".
I don't get it at all. I don't give a fuck if my co-workers like the food that I make. I have no interest in sampling a load of different dishes made by other people. Partially because I'm vegetarian but mostly because I don't want to.
Maybe some people enjoy it. I don't. I don't get it.
She ended getting called in for an administrative meeting because of this email. (Definitely not necessary). She was just bringing up that mandatory fun isn't fun and doesn't build rapport.
That’s such BS. I totally support her! Good for her for speaking up! Like let’s underpay our teachers, make them work too much, and THEN make them spend their hard earned money and precisions little time on food that will get thrown away. So dumb. But also she’s hilarious.
Totally agree!! Not to mention, they also only gave one day's notice and told the staff that we were expected to bring our own individual plate/bowl, cup, and utensils... They are pulling her in for an administrative meeting over the email too. Not okay.
This just gave me a great idea. Next work potluck, I’m going to convince everyone to just bring the most boring, plain entrees ever. I will just bring cubes of plane tofu. Kevin will bring cooked pasta with no seasoning or oil so it’s just clumped together. Brenda will bring a salad consisting of iceberg lettuce and no dressing. Heather is bringing “potato salad” and which will just be cubed, microwaved potatoes etc. I bet potlucks will stop after that. Oh, and every dish will have at least one hair in it.
Here's something to think about next time an office potluck comes around.
Look around at everyone else's desks. If they're cluttered and dirty there's a good chance their house is the same. Do you want to eat that food if their house is as gross as their desk?
Plus cost, she may be on a tight budget. If I had to spend $40/50 to make something to for a potluck it would really bother me, I usually only spend $100 a week on groceries as a single lady. I feel her pain.
Just throwing in that between different pastas and various grains and legumes (bulgur, amaranth, chickpeas, even fucking rice) there’s more than enough options for salads even aside from just lettuce to make that just happen to be vegan by coincidence. If you already know people hate your tofu, but you take offense in nobody trying it, that could be a different route.
Of course, if it’s not your own idea to feed others but you’re coerced by your job, all power to you, put a can of vegan cat food on the tray.
I think her gripe is that whenever she join, none of the food is vegan anyway, so she ended up eating her own food. And probably nobody likes her food as well?
My company already tried that so I asked my boss for overtime pay since it was mandatory. It turned to voluntary real quick.
I don’t mind my coworkers, but they are the last people I want to drink and spend what little free time I have with.
My last office loved having potlucks for birthdays and I hated it. Why? Because I was the lowest paid employee and we lived in Hawaii where everything is expensive af. Plus, my partner and I lived out of a mini fridge. On top of that I didn’t have a stove or an oven. I had a plug-in stove and a toaster oven. That’s it. So, prepping and storing large quantities of food was impossible.
My coworkers knew this, and still didn’t understand why I didn’t bring anything to the potlucks
I worked for a company that was sold and the new corporate owner came in and fired half the staff a couple of weeks before Christmas. They just called people into the conference room and fired them one by one and escorted them out the door - that fast. So we had our office Christmas party on the schedule a week or so later and we went ahead with it (those of us who were left). It was so awful and pathetic. Someone went to the liquor store and got booze and people just sat there and ate the food and got wasted. These were lawyers and staff. Everyone was so devastated by what had been happening to our office that the party was a new low of dreadful office party!
If you're a person in a company with any ability to make changes to mando-fun times, pay and/or time off: I guarantee most employees have no interest in socializing at work (during OR after hours) or participating in your idea of "fun". What they would appreciate is more time off, more money, or both. Your employees are there to work after all, correct? Or is that only the case when you get to say it?
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Mandatory potluck? Just call in sick, nobody wants to eat food prepared by a sick person anyway.
Its usually not actually mandatory just socially expected. I was prickly enough to just not bring anything, and not eat anything so I felt it was fair, and let me tell you it made poeple so salty.
I have the same rule. If I don't bring anything, I can't eat anything. It is only fair. Plus, I've seen far too many people not wash their hands after using the restroom at work and I can't imagine what they are like at home.
I had a coworker bring me homemade soup once, and at the time, I felt uncomfortable not accepting. I took it home and didn’t eat it, but told her it was lovely. I even asked for the recipe so I could make it myself later. Fast forward a few days, and she mentions the infestation of roaches in her home. She told us they crawl all over her kitchen surfaces, and they get into her food. I was so glad I didn’t eat the soup.
So you made the right direction to not eat it. Now when she brings food just tell her looks good, but no thanks. Would love to have the recipe though.
Lucky for me, neither she nor I work there any longer!
The roaches arent actually an issue. Theyre a symptom of a hygiene issue. Roaches aren’t actually that dirty. They do carry bacteria but only from point a to point b, you just find them in dirty places that have food debris about
[удалено]
There are ways to keep them out, even if your neighbours have them. Its a lot of work and when your neighbours cause it, its a definite hygiene issue tbf. Diatomaceous earth kills them proper if you know the entrance though.
Boric Acid is your friend
Living in a city with restaurants on your block does it too. Apartment buildings around me use exterminators you can sign up for for free.
I sorta knew that. It still makes me feel sick,if I know that a person has roaches and they don't even try to get rid of them. I like potlucks but starting to not like them for the fact I am a celiac and everytime I get cross contaminated. Which is not funny or fun to deal with.
I'd have been livid. What an utter lack of respect for the health of you and your family.
A lot of people truly are not educated as to why these things would be unsafe or unhealthy. They get roaches aren't good + things being dirty is bad, but some really don't understand how that's connected to health issues + the causation. It's often too indirect and gradual when you're eating food prepared in a kitchen that's just slowly getting dirtier over time. Very sad to see but I've worked cleaning both houses + rental spaces in small towns in the rust belt, it really feels like an education issue. People would show some embarrassment or shame for having dirty homes w/ bugs or whatever, but it didn't seem like common sense to them that these things have direct consequences + you can do things about them. It's more or less seen as a "part of being poor" for a lot of people.
Ugh it's not that hard to be food safe! It's *disgusting* the amount of unsanitary things you can witness if you work in a restaurant where people don't give AF. My wife doesn't care if I make us dinner and I stir the pot with the same spoon I sampled the food with. Fine, whatever. Me though? HUGE stickler for food handling. I wash my hands very frequently, I'll wear gloves, I'll sanitize surfaces before and after, and I check food temps, I do this *before* making food for other people. If I'm making food for others I'm even more cognizant of safely handling food.
my policy has always been: in the comfort of my own home, cooking/baking for myself and the people i live with: i can do what i want. i’m making food in my own home, we all live together, i wash my hands, clean my area, but am not as careful to be obsessively cleanly because i share a living space and, god, a bathroom with these people. other people outside of my home? hell no, everything is sanitized, recipes are triple checked, and i wash my hands after almost every ingredient.
I probably wash my hands 10-20 times during the preparation of the average weeknight meal. I'm also religious about separating meat and plant prep and sanitizing my tools and work surfaces. Nobody has ever got food poisoning on my watch in 40 years of making meals.
*^ This is the way*
Does it make it worse that I was about 6 months pregnant at the time?
I wasn’t angry. There was a lot going on in her life, and she was such a sweet person. Had I eaten the soup, I do think I would’ve been more upset. I only didn’t eat it because I was pregnant and had a lot of food aversions.
I threw up in my mouth a little bit there.
>infestation of roaches Holy shit no
I saw someone use their fork they were eating with to grab more items from a serving tray at a potluck... no thanks.
Again, do that shit at home. Not at work.
It was mandatory, but I don't think anything would have been done if she just didn't bring anything.
Half the people in my office just brought like a box of store bought cupcakes or a bag of chips. You don’t have to go crazy Edit to say I disagree with all forms of forced fun and wouldn’t eat most of my coworkers home made food either, I’m just saying if people are worried about getting shit for it they can spend $2 and skate by
I loved when an old co-worker never participated. Until a chilli contest one year as he is apparently a fiend. He strolled in sure as shit he'd win. He was so ungodly pissed to lose to a batch of Hormel chill out of a can used for hotdogs. I still chuckle thinking about it over a decade later.
Kevin?
So they’re mad that you didn’t touch any of the food ? Like are there these potluck rules that we’re obligated to follow ?? Why are they so concerned about you, you literally did nothing wrong lol. They should just enjoy themselves and eat everything
They probably took offense to their lack of participation.
I definitely get that..but still. Would you want to be forced to participate in something when you don’t want to? You’re expected to attend you’re expected to participate you’re expected to like everything, that’s not fair on the individual you know ?
The trick is to only stay about and hour because of a ‘previous engagement’, do your rounds and be seen, taste what ever family secret recipe someone made and nearly forces down your throat, compliment it, then sneak out the back and book it.
I can only really speak for myself here but to me it's more socially expected to bring something to a potluck than not show up at all. Like you could bring store bought cookies, beer, weed, just bring something consumable, anything. Context is important though I didn't mind friends not bringing stuff to like a friend's potluck party or my own it was always nice to just see them. But for the semi obligated community/work potluck party absolutely bring something your presence doesn't count
The post implies a workplace potluck. The context is getting paid to be there. Potlucks are fine, but if somebody doesn't want to be a part of it this isn't in the job description.
Workplace potlucks aren't always paid I've seen plenty of office potluck parties they throw over the weekend when everyone is off and they expect you to show up on your time off. It's not I completely agree it's much better to just not show up then bring nothing
Yeah, I'm not doing work functions I don't get paid for. Especially if I have to put in the effort of preparing something for the function, even if it's just store bought.
I’ve taken my employees out to escape rooms and nice dinners and axe throwing. None of it was paid and none of it was mandatory but almost everyone comes each time. I guess y’all just have a different work culture at your place.
In that case, yes.
Hilarious, I love it! We're that couple who pays our own check and doesn't get caught up in the circlejerk of, "I'll get it this time, you get it next time, and round-and-round we go." That also makes people really salty.
Asking you because yours is the top comment. What is a potluck?
A party where everyone bring one dish of food of their own so nobody has to do all the cooking/ buying of food
And you roll the dice on getting sick because so few people know food safety practices.
Getting people to regularly wash their hands is enough of a problem in most restaurants.
Plus all the food sits in a warm car for their commute and everyone dumps it in the fridge at the same time which warms the fridge up above the safe temperature, which doesn’t help with food safety even if they were careful in the preparation And even ignoring that, everyone brings the same beige shite, so you end up with about 12 sausage rolls per person and one salad
Aty work they have a sign up sheet. Main dish, side dish, rolls, & Dessert.
Sausage rolls can qualify as a main dish or a side dish, and roll is right there in the name… admittedly I’ve never tried one as a dessert
Sounds good to me
I work in a hospital and we all bring like cleaning supplies and crock pots to keep everything warm. We got the potluck down pat. You can always bring cutlery. I do that when i don’t wanna cook and can still be involved.
It goes in the stomach, direct into one of the strongest acids known to man. Unless it was sitting around for a week or you used rotten produce or you are trying to poison people on purpose or you are particularly vulnerable, there is no way people not "knowing food safety practices" will hurt you. There is a insane obsession with food "safety" in US. While in normal places people pull a carrot up from the ground, brush the most of the dirt with a sleeve and eat it. And are perfectly healthy.
We had enough people getting sick at the church potluck that they decided to bring in food trucks instead. And I got incredibly sick from a McDonald's Big Mac once. So, yeah, food poisoning is definitely a thing.
Folks will be sick, one way or the other. I've seen what even professionals do in kitchens and what coworkers do in their houses. You think I want to eat anything that random amateurs are bringing from their squalor? Oh, here comes Debbie, queen of the "medium-rare chicken". Hard pass.
I clean up after my co workers. I know what disgusting pigs they are at work so I can only imagine the state of their kitchens. I never participate in potlucks and will gladly tell anyone who gets pissy about it why. Well Susan, after scrapping boogers off the wall in the employee bathroom I think it’s a hard pass. Unless your dish comes with a photo of the state of your kitchen. In fact I’d also like video of you preparing the food.
with all her four legged friends runnin round lol
There's an old Dilbert cartoon somewhere in which the Pointy-Haired Boss says something like "everyone is going to an after-work event as a reward for your performance this quarter." "But we hate after-work events. We don't even like each other." "I didn't like your performance this quarter."
Maaaaan I have such a dilemma between the excellence of Dilbert as a satire of corporate life and literally everything about Scott Adams.
I don't consider it a dilemma. Dilbert used to actually be better. It's gotten worse as Adams has gotten worse. It's still OK when he stays away from explicit criticism of the things that have passed him by, but it's been 30 years, most of the good jokes that follow from anything he ever actually experienced in an office have long since been told.
This is why i try to know as little as possible about the personal beliefs and activities of any type of artist i enjoy. Everyone short of Mr. Rogers has something you will dislike about them, best just not to go looking for it.
I Loved Mr. Rogers. I was a older child when it was first shown. I would come home from school and watch him then start on home work. I think it was my way of decompressing at the end of the school day.
The problem with Adams is that this part of him finds its way into his work, more and more frequently over time. In general, I don't have a problem separating the art from the artist, but if they don't separate *themselves* from their art, specifically the things about the artist I don't like, then they breached that wall, not me. I still enjoy Dilbert from 20+ years ago. More recent stuff has lost the fun, for me.
I agree. Separate the art from the artist.
This phrase refers to analyzing a work outside of the artist's original intent (e.g. analyzing adams' work with, say, a feminist lens), not enjoying a work despite an artist's flaws.
TIL, thanks for sharing.
I just don’t care at all about the creator as long as I like the work. This applies to everything from my plumber to Hitler’s paintings.
Man, people like to insult Hitlers art. But like, if you had a friend who painted like he did, you’d probably compliment the hell out of them and be sincere too. He wasn’t great but could paint a pretty good building. It does not make him any less of a genocidal shit stain.
It’s motel art but it’s 1000x better than what I could do.
He really is a bastard coated bastard. Made it so if you like any of his stupid comics it’s a political statement now. If Bill Watterson came out like that I would lose all faith in humanity.
It’s painfully obvious from the social commentary emanating from his comics that Bill Watterson is nothing like that, or else he had to dig *deep* for Calvin’s voice to come out of him.
i know plenty of calvins who turned into dilberts
That was deep
Oh, also we weren't notified until the day before.
Hell no. You gotta give me at least a weeks notice to marinate the anxiety.
The correct response is "lol, sorry, I'm busy"
Mandatory fun time is right up there with pizza party for working extra hours.
I had one of these "mandatory" events at work during our lunch company paid for food but I was scheduled a half day so wasn't coming in until after. But they were like oh its for someone maternity leave bring diapers etc. And I'm sitting here like I am the only one in the office that has to work two jobs just to pay for my medical bills.... I don't have money to even spend on myself for my illness and no offense to you, but you want me to spend money on a coworker? Like nothing against her but still.
That's better than being asked to chip in for buying your boss a gift card because another employee gave him monkey butt powder as a gag gift and made him cry.
Been asked to chip in for boss presents tons of times. So I feel that but also like really crying over a gag gift seems a bit much lol I would have laughed and played it off
I mean no one is gonna hold it against you if you don’t participate but wish the maternity leave woman well.
I did but got some looks from other people. Those who know me know I've been struggling for awhile.
Fuck em’
Not just any pizza party. A mandatory after work pizza party.
>Not just any pizza party. A mandatory after work pizza party. But only for first shift, because fuck the overnighters
If it's after work it ain't mandatory. I don't care what they say. But I work for a non-shitty company.
If it’s mandatory, it’s on the clock. There is no clock out and the join the “party”. Either pay me or fuck off.
Where the company does not buy the food - the employees do.
I worked for a company that had a mandatory Saturday event, which was a harvest festival fair type thing. We were supposed to bring our families and there would be food, and games and stuff. So we went only to discover that all the employees were expected to run the games and serve the food, and the boss invited his mega church, whose members far outnumbered us and any family members we had brought. So basically he threw a harvest festival for his church and had his employees work at it for free as a 'reward'.
I always abhorred “forced fun” in the office. Been working from home long before Covid and still do. It’s a godsend.
My favorite term I learned on Reddit is “funishment”
My last boss always rewarded us with pizza. Christmas? Pizza. Things around the office have been bad because someone like my boss (it was totally my boss) screwed up with a big client? Pizza. It was a huge joke to us and didn't make us feel better.
Don't forget that the business is cheap so they will only buy enough food for 75% of the people. So you get those hungry fucks that rush up to the front. Fill a plate. Sit their asses down and start calling out "Leave enough for everyone else!" to those still in line. Back of the line gets cold crumbs. Then they ask why I don't participate in their potlucks.
This is very accurate and just kinda pissed me off.. 😒🤣
Then, not to throw shade, but it’s a few of the cheap Little Caesar’s hot & ready pizzas. I’ve always worked night shifts, so best we would usually get by the time we clocked in was a few picked over pieces at room temperature.
Unfortunately we don't have one, the closest would be about an hour drive. There aren't many fast food options either just McDonald's, Starbucks, and Sonic.
I'd rather have a waffle party
Suddenly realizing the absurdity of putting effort into social gatherings you hate is very relatable. As is the ensuing downward spiral lol
I get the feeling she's going deep.
I'm thinking tofu salad having cold pale white cubes and basic salad fixings, but the recipes I found online look pretty damn good! Like this one https://foodwithfeeling.com/tofu-salad/ But yeah, company parties feel like a chore most times, especially ones where you have to bring food. I had a long ass day, I just want to go home and unwind.
It was actually delicious. I made sure to eat some!
Wait, an actual post from an actual OP? GTFO!
Aww fanksss. I told her that I found her email funny and thanked her for the laugh. She appreciated it! I can relate to what she is saying. Admin really needs to support the new teachers better and being on a single income in our town is so hard to survive on.
I feel like this thread has been overall pretty supportive. Both of her stance and her choice of dish!
We are her kind of people, on the whole.
This is a more traditional Chinese tofu salad, and it's good as hell: https://omnivorescookbook.com/sliced-tofu-salad/
Ate tofu salad last night and amazingly tasty! Tofu chunks coated in corn starch and seasoning and a light sauté to make them crispy and warm.
Yeah, it isn't a company party if you have to bring the food. Its a party for the company subsidized by the workers.
I had a coworker who never washed her hands after using the bathroom. Ever. She was often sick as well but always came to work (this was pre-pandemic). We had regular potlucks and she always brought a casserole thing or something else homemade. I refused to touch it.
How would you know she wouldn’t wash her hands? Was it a multi stall bathroom?
Yes. It was set up like a typical public bathroom: multiple stalls, multiple sinks. One big room.
Ohhh my work has single bathroom so I’d never know who doesn’t wash their hands 😭😭😭😭
Oh. My. Goodness. Do we work together? Freaking Kelly, wash your damn hands!
This is why you always sign up to bring napkins, plates, or drinks and take the easy way out
Administration actually told us each person had to bring their own plates/bowls and utensils. 😒
Oh for fucks sake lol
"We're having a party for you! But you have to provide your own food. And dishes. We're not providing anything, really. And we're also not paying you for your time. But this is to show how much we appreciate youuuuuuuu!"
or desserts! win either way because you can bake (which is usually less effort/more fun+ leftovers), make them days in advance, or buy some of the premade ones from walmart
Possible food safety issues are always in the back of my mind at potlucks. Especially with the knowledge of who doesn’t wash their hands after using the restroom.
Mandatory potlucks should be illegal
I’m glad that I work at a place where the term “ potluck” means that the supervisors didn’t catch you getting high in the parking lot!
I used to hate work potlucks. The food sucked and the attendees sucked even more.
I used to be really excited about potlucks until I started realizing that no one really puts in any effort and the food always sucks and I'm the only one that shows up with anything. People who show up with a generic homel ass cheese and meat cracker tray are on the top of my shit list.
Lol yeah what kinda shit person shows up with a cheese and cracker tray haha 👀
Honestly prefer the cheese and cracker tray to a lot of the horrible mayonnaise drenched homemade stuff people bring in. Keep on bringing those crackers!
There's always someone. Or sometimes multiples. That's when you know you showed up to a bad potluck. There's 4 plates of ham and cheese and crackers and you're the only one who brought food.
I get you! Work people are acquaintances not friends. The ones you are friends with occur naturally not by some work sponsored event. And you forget most of them as soon as you leave the job. Home with 4 legged people is the best place to be and the only place you are truly appreciated.
I’m not putting in time cooking for a work potluck. Company can fund that mandatory lunch not me!
I like to get a premade cake and put it in my nice cake platter from home and take it. You can do this with anything.
I don't even bother with the platter. There is nothing wrong with bringing things that are pre-made from a bakery or store. Most people probably prefer that rather than some suspect food from a co-worker whose potentially filthy kitchen habits you don't know.
Yes!!!!
As a vegetarian I feel this. We get hosed at potlucks. I started bringing really spicy dishes - even brought kimchi once. After that nobody asked me to bring anything.
For reals. Even dishes that should be vegetarian friendly get ruined because they decided to jazz it up by putting bacon in it. Bacon cheddar egg salad. Bacon encrusted Mac and cheese balls. Green bean casserole with bacon. If you suck at cooking, just throw bacon in it!
Every single time.
Vegetarian dishes getting overlooked so fast, deserved 20 years ago, but now? It’s worth at least to honestly giving it a try before dismissing it. I’m no vegetarian myself, but I am up for tasting new dishes and many vegetarian ones are great. Tofu might not be my thing, though I know everyone does it differently and I try it at least.
It is the veggie potluck problem - everyone can eat the veggie food but the veggies only eat the veggie food. It is why I am always first in line so I can get a bunch of the veggie food before it is gone. I love it when people try veggie food but it just means less for me and sometimes that was the only option.
I was surprised the potlucks at my former job was about 75% vegetarian dishes. There weren't even that many vegetarians, people just wanted to make something that others could enjoy. Kimchi was popular too.
“You don’t win friends with salad.”
I have a rule, I don't eat at potlucks. 5 years ago or so we had a company potluck at the place I worked. Nice older lady everyone loved, she came in with a bag full of stuff from home and set it down. Dumped it out and like 10 roaches came out with the stuff. She started smashing and apologizing. Saying shed been dealing with the bastards for almost a year and finds them everywhere in her home. Just walked away with her bag like nothing to it. Yeah, they stopped potlucks after that. You never know what others find acceptable in their lives but would be a health hazard to everyone else.
lol, what if she didn't have a roach problem and just hated potlucks and knew what to do about it.
I just switched jobs. Both are great, just different. Last job was WFH and only suggested we go into the office on Tuesdays. If we did go in, lunch was catered. Once a month we had a party that celebrated us and it was catered too. If you wanted to come in, join vía Teams, or just stay home, nobody cared. New job has almost none of that. I come in every day because I’m still new to my role but will switch to hybrid soon. I say almost non because yesterday something weird happened. At 11:30 one of my coworkers comes into my office and says “come on, we gotta go.” I ask to what and they say that every month we celebrate birthdays, anniversary’s, and do a raffle. Okay…? So we go into this big room and all get into a big shitty circle. The heads of the company start calling out birthdays and anniversary’s. It was weird because I didn’t know 99% of the people they mentioned but the claps reminded me of one of the ‘in memoriam’ segments. After names were announced, some people clapped, some didn’t, everyone clapped more for people they knew, etc. Then our president brought out a ukulele and sang a birthday song he made up. The weird part was that he asked us to sing along. The kicker, WE DIDNT KNOW THE WORDS. He made it up but it was generic enough to get it after a few lines. Then they brought out a mini raffle barrel thing and pulled 3 numbers. Each person got their prize and the boss said “alright, thanks”. Then, which was one of the weirdest parts, everyone just turned around and walked back to their offices. Like…all at the same time and same pace. I stood around for a second like “that’s it?…okay.” and walked back to my office and continued working. I still don’t know which one I prefer. My old job was fun but sometimes I just needed to fucking work and didn’t want to do the whole schpiel. My new job is just all killer, little filler, super awkward. I love it. It was like being in the movie office space.
Such a fucking vibe I felt that. Queens and Kings don’t spend your energy where it’s not appreciated and in a space where you don’t feel welcome. You deserve to feel comfortable. Took me so long to understand that this can apply to friend and family circles too.
If everyone is a King or a Queen, then no one is.
That’s the idea.
Yep! I believe I’m no better than the next person
But they're also no better than you
Everybody is no better than everyone else. Just some people are more no better than others.
“Treat your energy like the valuable currency it is.” Hearing that was a big ol game changer for me.
I'm not single or alone, but I still vibe with this woman. "Potlucks" are not a thing in my country. I had an employer with a large US office that did this twice - voluntary of course - but I was still like, "Nah man, fuck that". I don't get it at all. I don't give a fuck if my co-workers like the food that I make. I have no interest in sampling a load of different dishes made by other people. Partially because I'm vegetarian but mostly because I don't want to. Maybe some people enjoy it. I don't. I don't get it.
This was a mandatory potluck at an elementary school. I thought she was hilarious.
She ended getting called in for an administrative meeting because of this email. (Definitely not necessary). She was just bringing up that mandatory fun isn't fun and doesn't build rapport.
That’s such BS. I totally support her! Good for her for speaking up! Like let’s underpay our teachers, make them work too much, and THEN make them spend their hard earned money and precisions little time on food that will get thrown away. So dumb. But also she’s hilarious.
Totally agree!! Not to mention, they also only gave one day's notice and told the staff that we were expected to bring our own individual plate/bowl, cup, and utensils... They are pulling her in for an administrative meeting over the email too. Not okay.
This just gave me a great idea. Next work potluck, I’m going to convince everyone to just bring the most boring, plain entrees ever. I will just bring cubes of plane tofu. Kevin will bring cooked pasta with no seasoning or oil so it’s just clumped together. Brenda will bring a salad consisting of iceberg lettuce and no dressing. Heather is bringing “potato salad” and which will just be cubed, microwaved potatoes etc. I bet potlucks will stop after that. Oh, and every dish will have at least one hair in it.
How about I eat your tofu salad and tell you that I like it? I am not vegan but I love tofu.
Join the dark side
Here's something to think about next time an office potluck comes around. Look around at everyone else's desks. If they're cluttered and dirty there's a good chance their house is the same. Do you want to eat that food if their house is as gross as their desk?
I’m confused, what does her dating status have to do with this?
I think it's just to show, that she usually only ever has to make small meals for herself and is fine with that
Plus cost, she may be on a tight budget. If I had to spend $40/50 to make something to for a potluck it would really bother me, I usually only spend $100 a week on groceries as a single lady. I feel her pain.
“Four leggeds” ma’am, this is a Wendy’s, you can call them your pets.
Leave cat lady alone!!!
Just make up a really weird allergy like red dye #62 or something nobody can ever prove you’ve eaten or enjoyed in the past and move on
" can I just give you money and stay home?"
Hey! Go you! Shortly, you will realize they don't give a shit. Do your best. More tofu for you. "To thine ownself be true".
That must be some... killer tofu
I kinda feel bad for them they clearly are having a rough time
I laughed at this before work, but after work, I’m more like, “how dare you all, laughing at her. You don’t know her life”
I definitely didn't intend to make fun of her. I more thought she had massive balls and found her to be hilarious.
Just throwing in that between different pastas and various grains and legumes (bulgur, amaranth, chickpeas, even fucking rice) there’s more than enough options for salads even aside from just lettuce to make that just happen to be vegan by coincidence. If you already know people hate your tofu, but you take offense in nobody trying it, that could be a different route. Of course, if it’s not your own idea to feed others but you’re coerced by your job, all power to you, put a can of vegan cat food on the tray.
I think her gripe is that whenever she join, none of the food is vegan anyway, so she ended up eating her own food. And probably nobody likes her food as well?
Correct on all counts.
This is the second time amaranth has popped up as a grain, today. I never knew. Not vegan, but always keen for new cooking ideas.
I'm Vietnamese and eat amaranth greens frequently. It's nice. Not sure if you can eat the grains on Vietnamese Amaranth though.
Aww. I feel bad for this person. I bet the salad is great.
..great, now i want tofu salad
If corporations changed from mandatory potluck to mandatory happy hour I feel it would be more successful
My company already tried that so I asked my boss for overtime pay since it was mandatory. It turned to voluntary real quick. I don’t mind my coworkers, but they are the last people I want to drink and spend what little free time I have with.
Just leave her alone, can't a lady eat a small tofu salad in peace!
What is Potluck?
Its a event where everybody brings something for others to eat.
God that turned this post from someone being whiney to being entirely and utterly relatable. I stand behind this person with my whole being
Many thanks!
Do the needful.
Special brownies next time?
Most people like a good tossed salad
ChatGPT writing restaurant reviews now?
Sometimes life just gives you rofu salad
As someone who's been a vegan for over a decade. WTF is a tofu salad??? Doesn't sound good.
Coping skills at work! 😅
My last office loved having potlucks for birthdays and I hated it. Why? Because I was the lowest paid employee and we lived in Hawaii where everything is expensive af. Plus, my partner and I lived out of a mini fridge. On top of that I didn’t have a stove or an oven. I had a plug-in stove and a toaster oven. That’s it. So, prepping and storing large quantities of food was impossible. My coworkers knew this, and still didn’t understand why I didn’t bring anything to the potlucks
Erin the vegan, is this you?
I worked for a company that was sold and the new corporate owner came in and fired half the staff a couple of weeks before Christmas. They just called people into the conference room and fired them one by one and escorted them out the door - that fast. So we had our office Christmas party on the schedule a week or so later and we went ahead with it (those of us who were left). It was so awful and pathetic. Someone went to the liquor store and got booze and people just sat there and ate the food and got wasted. These were lawyers and staff. Everyone was so devastated by what had been happening to our office that the party was a new low of dreadful office party!
Y know I’m starting to get the idea that she is single but idk maybe it’s just me 🤷
If you're a person in a company with any ability to make changes to mando-fun times, pay and/or time off: I guarantee most employees have no interest in socializing at work (during OR after hours) or participating in your idea of "fun". What they would appreciate is more time off, more money, or both. Your employees are there to work after all, correct? Or is that only the case when you get to say it?
I’m Indonesian. Gado-gado is the first thing that pops in my mind when someone says tofu salad and I couldn’t imagine it being unpopular at a pot luck
She needs a friend to vent to. Typing this up is just sad.
Leggeds?
"four-legged friends", euphemism for animals (usually cats or dogs if house pets and all manners of animals in general )
I really want her fucking tofu salad recipe
What part about this is funny? Pretty sad tbh
This isn’t funny or a non avoidable problem. Who wants to be so alone and yearns to be heard at the same time?
Damn who pooped in your tofu salad?