A strange thing happens when you bring food to work.
People, civilized, nicely dressed, well-paid people, turn into ravenous wolves
that have apparently not eaten in days.
Don't believe me? Bring any kind of leftover to work,
put it on the table in the break room and then stand back to watch the crumbs
fly. I've seen half-eaten boxes of cereal brought in and then quickly emptied;
uneaten sandwiches and pasta from lunch meetings are gone faster than the blink
of an eye and dessert is devoured almost simultaneously. For a group of people
who remain largely inactive, office employees sure do like to eat a lot.
For someone like me who has enough of her grandmother
in her not to see good food go to waste, I have found it a satisfying, though
oft disturbing, environment. It’s a great way to get rid of extra holiday candy
or peanut brittle or loaf bread, for that matter.
A recent study showed that providing lunches for
employees boast loyalty. It can also cause employees to bite the hand that
feeds them so to speak. For example, my former office had a donut day. The
first day they were hot and from Krispy Kreme, and we all ate and appreciated
them. By the second time, however, we were criticizing the fact that they weren't hot, and by the third, we bemoaned the fact that they were no longer
from Krispy Kreme. By the fourth time, we were completely disgusted, “What the
heck is this? “ Why can’t we have bacon and eggs?” “Who chose these flavors?
Pink icing with sprinkles? We aren't kids!” we said, bitterly.
I guess our complaining
worked. We no longer get donut day.
My sister has had a similar
experience at her office. She works in Alaska, so her boss is kind enough to
bring them lunch almost daily, so they don’t have to get out in the cold –
until he went on a diet, that is. Her office was no longer filled with the
aroma of freshly baked bread, pizza and cookies for dessert.
“He’s got to get off this %$*
diet,” my sister and her coworkers complained. “I don’t care if he losing
weight for his health, we need some food up in here!”
So much for loyalty. The
stomach wants what the stomach wants, even in the workplace.
