Dear Colleague, Your Tuna Sandwich Reeks

Published on Monday, July 19, 2010, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

An article in the Baltimore Sun examines the complications that can arise when workers bring their lunch to work and eat at the office, such as food left in the fridge so long it starts to sprout, fish reheated in the microwave that leaves a pungent odor, and the unholy stink of burnt popcorn. And some people have a real panic attack when they see pumped bottles of breast milk in the communal fridge.

Packed lunches tend to be cheaper, healthier, and quicker than running out for a bite. But as anyone who works in a cube farm can avow, you've got to be sensitive to the fact that you're eating in a business environment (according to our etiquette columnist, what you eat for lunch could even affect your career advancement). Those hard-boiled eggs that seem like such a delightful healthy snack to you are making your neighbors want to retch. So with that in mind, here's my list of foods that should not be eaten or reheated at the office:

1. Cooked fish, canned fish, or food with fish sauce: tastes great. Stinks to high heaven, and the smell lingers. Eat your tuna sandwich on a park bench. Sushi is just barely OK if it's very fresh, but don't eat it at your desk, slopping soy sauce everywhere. Go to the kitchen for God's sake, you're grossing everyone out.

2. Food that gives you heartburn: chili, Indian food, big dripping bacon cheeseburgers with a side of poutine. If it's savory, rich, fatty, and spicy, those smell molecules are going to hang on long after the last bite has disappeared into your mouth. Tomorrow morning, your co-workers will come in, smell your lunch from yesterday, and hate you.

3. Food that smells like farts: no Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, or hard-boiled eggs.

4. Food with vinegar on it: Pickles are so stinky they could wake up the comatose. Your hot-and-sour soup looks great, but the smell makes my stomach turn from across the office.

5. Food that drips all over the place: pizza, spurting sandwiches, spaghetti; all better eaten somewhere other than over your keyboard.

6. Food you have to eat noisily: Slurping is not considered rude at a ramen joint. We cannot say the same for your desk.

7. Anything you have to eat in a sensual manner: Save the chocolate-covered strawberries and frozen bananas for your hot dates. We're getting fouled out watching you flick your tongue like a porn star.

8. Microwave popcorn: I don't care if they sell it in the vending machines, and I don't care if it's the healthiest choice you can find. Even when it's not burnt, the chemical-laden micro-stuff smells exactly like an infant's dirty diaper (ask any parent), and when it is burnt, the smell can singe the hairs off the inside of your nose.

Any ones I missed?

Image source: Flickr member Phil Sexton under Creative Commons

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POST A COMMENT |23 Comments

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  • My secondary job is stage performance and during one rehearsal, the director's grand-daughter brought the most nauseating, re-heated stir-fry with garlic, onions, cabbage, bean sprouts, and broccoli. It was so pungeant, that I had to tactfully place my freshly washed and dried hair in my face in order to protect my nose from the stench.

  • Seems to me that EnronHubbard and mchunt have absolutely no respect for other people and also lack basic common courtesy. Sorry, but I have smelled some of the most God awful lunch food people have brought in and it's enough to make me puke on my desk. It's rude and disgusting to eat food that is pungent at work for all to smell. If you want people to mind their own business then I'm sure you...+READ

    Seems to me that EnronHubbard and mchunt have absolutely no respect for other people and also lack basic common courtesy. Sorry, but I have smelled some of the most God awful lunch food people have brought in and it's enough to make me puke on my desk. It's rude and disgusting to eat food that is pungent at work for all to smell. If you want people to mind their own business then I'm sure you have no problem with your cube neighbor having horrible B.O. right?? Yah, that's what I thought. Stop being hypocritical and have some common courtesy. This country seriously lacks it, and it's enough to make me want to scream.-COLLAPSE

  • Guarantee you Ms. Slaton is the kind of woman who would freak out if a co-worker told her what she can and can't eat, and god forbid a MALE co-worker tell her what to eat. If her male co-worker asked her not to eat sensual food (one of her rules), she would demand he be fired for sexual harassment. How about you mind your own damn business and stop trying to sound like you are the coolest one in...+READ

    Guarantee you Ms. Slaton is the kind of woman who would freak out if a co-worker told her what she can and can't eat, and god forbid a MALE co-worker tell her what to eat. If her male co-worker asked her not to eat sensual food (one of her rules), she would demand he be fired for sexual harassment. How about you mind your own damn business and stop trying to sound like you are the coolest one in the room because you eat cool food at work.-COLLAPSE

  • hahaha I enjoyed too much the article... and I totaly agree that we have to behave well when living with others at work, at school, any not-MY-private-space...

    We should not bother others in order to claim for any respect...

  • It's no one else's damn business what you eat. People need to grow up and stop looking for every reason they get to complain about what they're co-workers are doing. It's a job, and other people who there have different tastes and ideas. Instead of enforcing this idea that it is not okay to inadvertently offend your co-workers, we should be forcing the co-workers to be more accepting and not care...+READ

    It's no one else's damn business what you eat. People need to grow up and stop looking for every reason they get to complain about what they're co-workers are doing. It's a job, and other people who there have different tastes and ideas. Instead of enforcing this idea that it is not okay to inadvertently offend your co-workers, we should be forcing the co-workers to be more accepting and not care whether what you're eating is 'gross' or 'smells like farts'.
    What's next? Are we going to disallow the eating of meat because it offends vegetarians in the workplace?
    Grow up, America.-COLLAPSE

  • cheetos! They stink and leaves people with orange paste on their face and fingers.

  • OH LORD, imagine this: I work in an office, a small office, the size of a master bedroom. and my BOSS eats exactly that, popcorn and cooked vegetables. AAAAHHHH!! She's a veggie, so that's all she eats, it stinks soooo much, especially since she puts the A/C at 80 degrees!! That's right it is 80 degrees in that room, you know how hot it is to be in an office at 80 degrees, stinking of food and...+READ

    OH LORD, imagine this: I work in an office, a small office, the size of a master bedroom. and my BOSS eats exactly that, popcorn and cooked vegetables. AAAAHHHH!! She's a veggie, so that's all she eats, it stinks soooo much, especially since she puts the A/C at 80 degrees!! That's right it is 80 degrees in that room, you know how hot it is to be in an office at 80 degrees, stinking of food and the smell of her horrible sweat?? She SWEATS really bad, and everytime she passes by me I smell her horrible odor. All I can do is bring a little fan with me that keeps me cool, but the drawback? it spreads the odor of her food all over the place. GOD I need another job.-COLLAPSE

  • Seriously -

    I think that microwave popcorn and its attendant odor permeates an entire floor and should be used under a chem lab hood or in a negatively pressurized room.

    However, the great thing about food is its smell and unless you want to eat tofu, rice chips, beef jerky, yoghurt or other non-odoriferous foods, you are limiting your brown bag.

    A little sensitivity and though goes a...+READ

    Seriously -

    I think that microwave popcorn and its attendant odor permeates an entire floor and should be used under a chem lab hood or in a negatively pressurized room.

    However, the great thing about food is its smell and unless you want to eat tofu, rice chips, beef jerky, yoghurt or other non-odoriferous foods, you are limiting your brown bag.

    A little sensitivity and though goes a long way with your cow-orkers.

    Another random thought - what about the smells in the company cafeteria??? Maybe that should be on another thread....

    Peace, love & Jerry Garcia [either one is OK with me].-COLLAPSE

  • I love the smell of Kimchi in the morning.....

    The smell of leaded gasoline [pre-MBTE] also made me hungry.

    Go figg-ure.

  • I like your list and the reasoning behind it.

    Now please, write another list of eight top healthful and delicious meals to eat at work that are easy on coworkers.

    I'd love to see the list, and I feel certain that others would too.

    Thank you!

    Joanna Poppinnk, MFT
    Los Angeles psychotherapist
    http://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.com
    author: Healing Your Hungry Heart

  • heh...my workplace doesn't even have a damn kitchen or eating area of any sort, so we're stuck with each other.

    Popcorn offends some people, but I'm ok with it. I think the worst thing ever is fish, but luckily, nobody has tried nuking a fish in the kitchen.

  • My group is pretty tolerant. The "Jamaican jerked chicken in rice" did drive a couple from the lunchroom though.

  • Don't watch. No offense but there are people who might find your face or body off-putting or vomit-inducing. I know that might be hard to believe as you may or may not have a high sense of self-esteem. Not that I'm saying you are disgusting looking, or smelling... my point is we all should tolerate each other within reason. If someone is bothered by breast milk, that's their problem. The benefits...+READ

    Don't watch. No offense but there are people who might find your face or body off-putting or vomit-inducing. I know that might be hard to believe as you may or may not have a high sense of self-esteem. Not that I'm saying you are disgusting looking, or smelling... my point is we all should tolerate each other within reason. If someone is bothered by breast milk, that's their problem. The benefits of breast milk to children, society far outweighs individual squeamishness. There are white people who are squeamish about black people. Your list just makes you seem petty, tiresome, high maintenance and acidic.-COLLAPSE

  • I think you should all learn to suck it up. While we should all be as courtious to eachother as possible in the work environment, that is a two way street, Based on the article, and the comments added, most people would not be able to bring ANY food to work based on the criteria listed. Raw veggies for everyone! I think if the smells are lingering overlong, try speaking to building management...+READ

    I think you should all learn to suck it up. While we should all be as courtious to eachother as possible in the work environment, that is a two way street, Based on the article, and the comments added, most people would not be able to bring ANY food to work based on the criteria listed. Raw veggies for everyone! I think if the smells are lingering overlong, try speaking to building management about the ventalation in the room, there is obviously something wrong if the smell is still there after two days. Also, there are such a thing as air deodorant.-COLLAPSE

  • McDonald's is the worst. Or anything with cumin.

  • Um..till this recession is over, expect many people to brown bag leftovers.
    Agree with JohnE - popcorn is the worst offender.

  • Durian. OK, I've never experienced Durian in the workplace, but if it's banned in hotel rooms throughout SE Asia, it must be pretty nasty stuff.

  • I deemed myself fridge clean out director at my old job. People would bring things in and just leave them to become science experiments! Is that acceptable in your home? Scary.
    I used to work with someone that nuked a lean cuisine every.single.day. and the office we work in is tiny. The smell wasn't always awful, but it was incredibly strong. ick.

  • Microwave popcorn should occupy slots 1-7 on this list.

  • Had the same problem in our office before. Nobody wants to clean the microwave oven. lol. So all the oil, sauces, and food spills were left for weeks. After some time, the bad smell creates bad taste on food being heated. So it is always best to clean-up, even if it is not your kitchen. Also, have to be kind to other kitchen users.

  • Oops, so you noticed!

  • Your own Helena covered this some time ago, FWIW.

  • Much as I love it, Chinese takeout lingers and lingers and lingers long after it's been eaten. Have it for dinner at home, please.

    I most heartily concur on the subject of microwave popcorn. YEESH! It reeks from across the office. Don't. Just. Don't.