Quantcast
 

Do You Make Judgments About Co-Workers' Food Choices?

Wed, 07/23/2008 - 1:00pm by SavvySugar
1,167 Views - 63 comments

The majority of you admitted to judging co-workers by the way they dress and after reading a recent article in the Guardian called "How to . . . eat at your desk," I'm wondering if your judgments stop at outward appearances. The article's author is of the opinion that "the food you consume, rather like the clothes you wear, says a lot about you."

He says anything with the following characteristics is off-limits when eating at our desks: smelly food like burgers and kebabs, kiddy foods like sugary cereal, and noisy food like ripe fruit. And because eating is generally messy, he recommends simply stepping away from our desks for lunch.

Source

on Yahoo!

Related Savvy Stories

Related Network Stories


 
 
 

63 Comments Add a Comment

  • Evalicious's picture
    Evalicious
    1

    I have a little sister who works at a big law firm, she's 22 and still in college and she gets frustrated because there is a coworker there who judges everything she wears. I feel for her b/c she's never really been into the whole what your wearing thing. It has made her extremely self conscious. I can't imagine anyone judging someone for what they eat, that's horrible!

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    2

    YES. I get asbolutely disgusted by the majority of my coworkers who go get fast food every day and grab junk food from the snack bar. It's a really gross way to live and it tells me they don't care about their health and appearance the way they should. We're in the MILITARY. Grab some veggies, fatties!

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Jude C's picture
    Jude C
    3

    I wouldn't say "judge," but smelly foods and noisy foods are annoying.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • heineken67's picture
    heineken67
    4

    I try not to, since I'm guilty of having dessert (and only dessert) for lunch on really stressful days.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bellaressa's picture
    bellaressa
    5

    No, I have better things to pay attention to. Now if something smells and looks good --I may inquire but uusally, I warm or grab and go.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    6

    the only thing that bothers me is the smell of cooked onions and peppers. I can even handle heavy curry. Although I will admit, when I see someone with a greasy 5 Guys fry bag i always think to myself 1. i am jealous cause I want some and can't have any and 2. they are unhealthy lol.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • absolutromantic's picture
    absolutromantic
    7

    I don't judge my coworkers for having loud or smelly foods, but I totally judge them for getting unhealthy foods, especially if they tell me they're trying to eat healthy. So many of my coworkers complain about that and then eat junk food, drink soda, or even get silly extras ("ohhh I want to lose weight so I'll get a salad... and load it with cheese and dressing"). To me, that just indicates that they are a) not dedicated to their goals and b) kind of stupid.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • juliefischer's picture
    juliefischer
    8

    It seems I am the one that gets judged. I always eat healthy and co-workers order out EVERY day. I hate eating with them, my food seems to be a popular topic of conversation and it really irritates me. I know they're probably just jealous they don't have the self control that I do. Still, it makes me self conscious.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Cebca's picture
    Cebca
    9

    juliefischer, i totally know what you mean. Luckily at my office right now everyone eats really healthily so when I come in with a pile of veggies everyone goes "mmmmmmm" not "is that ALL youre eating? are you on a diet? lets pick apart your lunch" but ive definitely been there and not only is it annoying but it makes it so much harder to eat healthily and exercise self-control!

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • jessy777's picture
    jessy777
    10

    I get judged a lot for my eating. Since I struggled greatly with my weight and worked hard to control it, I don't partake of sugary, fatty foods like my co-workers. I also am a vegetarian so they find it weird when I don't eat something unless I know what is in it. I know how it feels so I try not to judge but I admit it is hard when a person walks in with "super sized" fast food and a coke. I just think "gross".

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • em113's picture
    em113
    12

    "grab some veggies, fatties!"

    Really? Could you be anymore rude and obnoxious? I'm human like everyone else, which means I'll think maybe she shouldn't be eating that from time to time. But clearly you take it to an extreme. I find myself feeling thankful that I have more self-control than to pig-out on fast food, but I don't ever view my peers as disgusting, or look down on them from some pedestal because of their choices. Give me a break.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    13

    I COULD be more rude, actually! It IS digusting, it IS a lack of self control, and they ARE fatties (I repeat- in the military!!). They need a reality check, so I tell it like it is... it's pathetic.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bleached's picture
    bleached
    14

    I don't care... as long as they clean up after themselves. Pet peeve: disgusting microwaves...

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • hithatsmybike's picture
    hithatsmybike
    15

    I don't care so much what my coworkers eat (at the restaurant I work at, the food is great, so that's what most of us indulge in -- at the chemistry lab, I maintain a diet similar to that of my coworkers: coffee!), but I'm sooooo judgemental to strangers in the supermarket.

    Every time I go grocery shopping, I peek in the carts of passerby's and judging them on their purchases. Whenever I see a fat person with bags of chip or candy or pop, I can't help but think, "Well, no mystery how you got so obese!".

    And when I'm serving tables, and some grotesquely 300lb person orders a 5th pepsi from me, it takes all the self restraint I have not to question, "SERIOUSLY?!".

    I'm with foxie, seeing unhealthy people make further unhealthy choices excites no sympathy in me whatsoever! Hope they enjoy their side of heart disease with that =p

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • MandeeLei's picture
    MandeeLei
    16

    I find it really pathetic if you actually judge someone because of that. Why does it even matter??? Why not try getting to actually know a person instead of making judgments based on what they wear and eat. This sounds like freaking high school.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • MandeeLei's picture
    MandeeLei
    17

    Ok and just to comment on the comment above me - no one asked for your sympathy. It's sad there is a choice of only disgust or sympathy.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cubadog's picture
    cubadog
    18

    The only time I get annoyed is when people complain about being fat and than settle down with unhealthy takeout.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    19

    Um, who said I don't know their personalities? They're my coworkers. I know them very well. Some of them are friends... friends with bad self restraint, but still friends. But this whole topic is about eating habits, and what's gross is gross.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    20

    Question: I am fat, and on a diet, but once in a while I allow myself some junk food so I don't go crazy from all the carrots...how do you know your coworker with that junk food isn't doing just that?

    I only go out for lunch once or twice a month, but sometimes I make an unhealthy chioce...i thought that myabe people judged me, but now i know I should be embarassed...and now i feel worse about myself than ever. And if I am eating healthy, i suppose people are saying "it's about time?"

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Le Luxe's picture
    Le Luxe
    21

    I like to try and figure out what kind of eaters people are by their food choices. No other reason except that I am nosy. Sticking out tongue

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    22

    Well I know it isn't an occasional thing because a) they eat junk every single day I work with them and b) they're fat.
    If you need to take a break from carrots by eating fast/junk food, you're doing the "healthy" food thing wrong.
    Eating healthy doesn't mean starving yourself or eating celery and salad all the time. If you were doing it correctly, you'd be satisfied and happy. Taste buds and cravings adjust if you eat healthy, natural foods so that soon, it will make you sick to even think about crappy, over processed foods. Tis a beautiful thing.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    23

    foxie,

    i do eat a healthy balanced diet (now, but I have a lot of weight to lose), and while I am trying to get out of my bad habits by starting good ones, sometimes a girl just wants a big juicy steak, a greasy cheese burger with some fries, or pizza. I don't think my taste for those 3 things will EVER go away, nor do i want it to.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • TidalWave's picture
    TidalWave
    24

    cravinsugar: 5 guys' fries are the only fries i let myself eat! they are SOOO good and they are made with real potatoes and the seasoning is SOOO good and omg i want some Smiling

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    25

    haha Tidalwave! I know! Last week at a meeting a lady came with a 5 Guys soda cup...I have been jonesing for a little bacon cheeseburger and some fries ever since! I am waiting though until Next month...when i get paid and can afford to go out lmao lmao...plus by then i should be a few pounds lighter!

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Whiplash's picture
    Whiplash
    26

    Wow. I am AMAZED at how judgmental some people are about other people's food. Are they forcing you to eat it? Then who cares? I personally have much more important things to worry about at work than what people eat.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • chatondeneige's picture
    chatondeneige
    27

    Holy cow, am I glad I don't work with foxie!! I get annoyed with my coworkers when they eat really smelly things, since smells make me sick to my stomach, but other than that IT'S THEIR OWN BUSINESS, NOT MINE.

    As for "your cravings adjust," I call bullsheet. I eat healthily, I work out decently, I'm at a super healthy weight for myself. But frankly, today, I couldn't survive without eating that miniature (~1"*.5"*.25") dark chocolate hershey's candy. I didn't know that meant that I was doing the whole "healthy foods" thing wrong if I have an occasional craving! Thank goodness I have wise people like foxie to let me (and cravinsugar) know how wrong we must be! Sticking out tongue

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bigestivediscuit's picture
    bigestivediscuit
    28

    I work in a large open plan office with hundreds of people on each floor ... so we have to be pretty considerate when eating at our desks. But we do snack a lot and have loads of cake days! Cake always smells lovely ... anyways back to the point, I do notice what my co-workers eat, but I don't judge them by what they eat! That would be weird ...

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    29

    Allow me to point out, that I said if you're taking breaks from eating CARROTS (or salad, celery, whatever) by eating junk food, you're doing it wrong. You should be eating healthy food that satisfies you enough that you don't feel the need to eat crap.
    Anyways, while you're whining that you can't train your tastebuds, here are some interesting sites you may want to look over... alternatively, you could actually try to look for this information yourself.
    http://www.weightladder.com/2008/07/16/retrain-those-taste-buds/
    http://www.livescience.com/health/061120_ap_taste_health.html

    Do you ever judge someone because they're loud in public? Rude? Have bad hygiene? Curse a lot? Dress too young/weird/skimpy? Anything? Because unless you're just the poster child for non-judgement, I'd think twice before pointing the finger at ME because I judge people based on their choices that they make for the world to see. Chances are, so do you.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • aistea311's picture
    aistea311
    30

    Luckily we dont have lunch in the office, but this woman who used to work in our office would get soup from the cafeteria every day and stink up the entire office. It was disgusting. I mean I cant really breathe through my nose, but the smell of the soup would make my nose flair up. I dont like when co-workers slurp or crunch, its so nasty.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • skigurl's picture
    skigurl
    31

    i'm totally with foxie!

    i work in an office with all girls, all good friends of mine, all trying to lose weight, all somewhat overweight....and of course, all they eat is chipwagon, wendy's, dairy queen, fried crap fried crap fried crap....they do it every day, and i DO judge them!

    last summer, when i finished school and started working there again, i used to eat with them and then one day i decided to join Weight Watchers. i lost 35lb, and they all are obsessed with how i look now, and how "skinny" i am, and want to look like me, etc. (it's not like i'm pick thin, but i'm thinner than them now)...and yet they still get junk every single day...and they JUSTIFY it somehow...

    true stories:
    a) getting a blizzard in the afternoon because they ate mcdonalds for lunch and so they're already being "bad" so they may as well be "really bad" by getting ice cream for dessert
    b) not going to the gym at lunch so she could get mcdonalds because her diet was starting the next day so she needs to "be bad while i can"

    yah, like thats a BAD ATTITUDE and i dont want to hear about how you want to lose weight when this is the way you act

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • dcfashionista's picture
    dcfashionista
    32

    We don't judge each others food choices. I love 5 guys and treat myself to a little hamburger with mayo, lettuce and ketchup. Speaking of which, I may get one today. I do skip the fries though.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    34

    Yeah, cravin. That's nice for people who are healthy. But my coworkers definitely are not, and from you've said neither are you.
    I posted a reply several hours ago with some links regarding retraining your taste buds... because it's a truth, not a theory. Whether it gets posted or not, who knows... but you could always look it up for yourself.
    ALSO in case it doesn't get posted, I'd like to point out that unless all of you are completely innocent of judging people based on their choices (which you aren't), you really shouldn't act like you're so different than me.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • chatondeneige's picture
    chatondeneige
    35

    foxie, why are you so intent on attacking cravinsugar? Cravings are NORMAL. You can't eliminate them all. And how dare you tell her whether she's healthy? You don't know her. You probably haven't seen her in your life. That's flat out hateful.

    I can't imagine being so terribly insecure that you have to judge people on the internet and decide that you're better than them because you're skinnier or (per your own definition) healthier. What a sad life that must be.

    My coworkers on diets eat like crap. (Pudding cups? Really? I didn't know anyone over the age of 10 ate those! It's kind of quaint) I don't judge them, but I do offer input when they're trying to make decisions. Yesterday, they were going to Wendy's. They asked me what the healthiest options were. Instead of fries, they all got either salads or the mandarin oranges, per my recommendation. One of them took the top half of the bread off her burger. The key in this is to try to help people, not to get a sense of satisfaction from being better than them.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    36

    foxie, not trying to say i am different from you, but when i do think to myself "does she need that" I also take into consideration other things, including my own body and how I would feel if someone thought that about me, and then i mentally scold myself for it. All you do is continue to look down your nose.

    On another note, i will say every morning someone walks by my office with their breakfast on their way to their own office...i don't know who it is, and i don't know WHAT they are eating, but it smells like body odor...and every morning, i suddenly freak out until i remember "it's not me, it's their food" lol. the first day i literally put my nose to my pits because it is so strong and fragrant...then i realized it was food, and every morning like clockwork...10am rolls around and here comes the stinky pitts food...

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    37

    I haven't said anything about her that she hasn't already said herself. I have no idea what she looks like or how in shape she is, but AS I SAID, I'm lead to believe she's unhealthy based on what she's written right here in this thread.
    Also, I've never said someone has to completely eliminate cravings. All I said is that if you need to take a break from CARROTS to eat JUNK food, it's wrong. You should be eating healthy food that doesn't leave you starving and running back to your old eating habits.
    You're really just looking for something to tick you off, and it's causing you to misquote me and try to make something out of nothing.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    38

    Thank you chatondeneige Smiling. In about a year, once all the weight I have to lose is gone, girls like foxie will want to hate me even more...because i am actually quite pretty in the face and well endowed, and I will be, to put it mildly, completely hot once I am at my goal weight Smiling, AND I will still be eating the occassional piece of pizza or burger, because you CAN still do that and be healthy!

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cravinsugar's picture
    cravinsugar
    39

    Do not start on chatondeneige foxie. to be honest, what you have been saying hasn't been matter of factly it has been with a sort of undertone that I thought I was reading into, but I am obvi not if someone is picking up on it. Of course, how can anyone expect you to see that what you are writing could be considered hurtful when you are always right and everyone else is always wrong? That must be a tiring job, knowing everything.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    40

    Cravin, I can see where it would come off like that, but this is a thread about food and eating habits. It's not like I'm talking about this in some thread on CasaSugar. I'm just staying on point.
    We get sweat smelling food in the office sometimes too, but it's not as bad as the butt stink food that occasionally rolls through. Those get me looking on the bottom on my boots for dog poop.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • foxie's picture
    foxie
    41

    It's so immature to revert into the You're-a-Bully mode just because I have an opinion. No one wants to hate you because you're overweight, that's such a stupid thing to assume. I think most people want a general, nation-wide slim down. We're rooting FOR you, not against you.

    23 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment