Having worked in various office environments for many years, I’ve observed how different workplace cultures deal with the practice of bringing treats in to share with coworkers. Most places I’ve worked at have observed birthdays. Some actually made a semi big deal about it and would provide a (usually store bought) cake for birthdays or major life events. More common, I find, is the practice of the person having the birthday bringing in their own treat to share with others that day. At my current workplace, though, it seems like a LOT of people bring in treats to share with the office for no special occasion at all. Like, oh look it’s Thursday and I just happened to bring in a tray of rice Krispy treats I made last night, or I just happened to stop by Dunkin Donuts this morning and got a box of donuts to share.
It’s part of the culture here at DOHMH in NYC. I’m not fond of the practice because most of what gets brought in are sugary bread things and that’s not very appealing to me. And it’s not convenient for me to reciprocate. I’m more at ease with the occasional potluck parties, where I’ll sign up to bring something and will opt to bring blazing hot bean dip and chips or barbecued chicken wings.
Yes, but not usually for birthdays. More often, somebody buys doughnuts for their class or a cake for an event, and then leaves the leftovers in the faculty lounge for anyone to take.
More oddly, there’s someone who occasionally brings in a big box of bags of dried beans, split peas, and that sort of thing and leaves it in the lounge. I would think it would be better to donate them to a food pantry or something, but they do seem to disappear eventually…
I’ve worked in sharing places – people occasionally bringing in treats for no particular reason.
I once brought in three boxes from the Dunkin’ near the subway station. Our branch had been setting up in a new location that day so there wasn’t really anything to do except wait for IT to connect all the equipment.
Fridays seem to be the epicenter for all the grandmas in the office to bring in their baked goods. By sheer coincidence, I see another Doper started a thread today about eating less and losing weight. How do I stop from eating so much? - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
This morning I was lamenting how I had to drill a notch to let out my belt around Christmas and discovered while getting dressed today I probably could stand to drill another notch but have run out of leather to do so. I am positive all the office treats are a major contributing factor. I have to learn how to say no to the brownies I pass by a half dozen times a day.
In the before times, sometimes people would do that. There was an office chat and usually they would announce the offering and the greedy hordes would descend. I did eventually learn to look at a box of Dunkin Donuts as no more than pending disappointment (they really are not that good anymore) and hold out for when a Russian colleague would visit and bring a bag of amazing chocolates. (We no longer have Russian colleagues).
In the earlier times before we were acquired by a monster corporation we had monthly birthday celebrations. The office manager would buy a cake or some other treat and post a list of who had a birthday that month. It was a bit weird, but I think it was a holdover from an even earlier time when there were just a few employees and the office celebrated individual birthdays.
The same applies to leftovers from a catered lunch meeting. It never ceases to amaze me how well-paid sophisticated executives will knock over old ladies to get a free donut.
Yes, that’s related to How do I stop from eating so much? - #27 by Moriarty as well. I grew up in a large and definitely-not-wealthy family, and we were always the first in line to take home any leftovers from group events with food. That was reasonable at the time, but I had to unlearn that habit with office food. I eventually realized, “Hey, I already had lunch. Why am I eating a second lunch just because there’s some cold leftover pizza from a meeting?” It took a while to convince myself that it was OK to not eat it just because it was free and available.
Maybe when I have a house full of teenagers it will make sense to bring that stuff home again.
In the Before Times, a woman who happened to have an office in our building kept a complete pantry of snack items. Usually bulk-purchased stuff in clear plastic containers, so you could see what was offered. Some of them were in actual candy jars she brought in for the purpose. I think the idea was to lure people in to chat. Yes, when she left for the day the door was locked (no, I did not check, but assumed it since most people with offices left the door open when they went home) Since I did not work with this person I never entered the pantry. This situation is different than a box of treats left out in the open for any passers-by to snag.
I am more if a potluck/special occasion guy when it came to bringing food to share at work. The home-made baklava was a hit and people still ask me about that several years later!
I used to sit next to a guy that keep an ongoing supply of mini candy bars and other treats in a bowl on an empty round table right between him and me, People from other departments would swing by to grab some free candy and to chat with him. Me being diabetic and the type of person that doesn’t want random people coming by my desk to chit chat did not appreciate that at all. Finally he took a permanate work from home position during Covid so it stopped.
Issue was, he knew I went into the hospital for DKA caused by high blood sugar but never made the connection with him having a candy dish under my nose all day and my medical condition. Now that he is gone I’ve gotten treatment, exercise and put on insulin, so now my blood sugar can go low and I could use that candy dish every once in a while due to low blood sugar. Damn world is out to get me I swear.
My all time personal favorite is when coworkers bring in excess produce they grew in their gardens. You know, too many tomatoes to can, or cucumbers, or zucchini.
When I worked at my old hospital, we had a contract pharmacist that nobody liked. On her last day, our assistant director brought in a quarter sheet cake, as was tradition, and because that woman was in the room with the cake, NOBODY was indulging even though we knew it was a delicious cake.
I was off that day but certainly heard about it later.
The school where I worked always had treats around. Most of the office staff baked, and we’d bring in a batch of the latest thing now and again, we had a fairly convivial staff and we often had potlucks, and parents would frequently bring treats in for us. Some members of the staff just brought treats to be nice - every year, there was someone who’d bring doughnuts in on Fridays. The office had a cake once a month to celebrate that month’s birthdays, and the principal had breakfast burritos brought in for monthly staff meetings.
I thought that one of the benefits of retirement would be that I would eat fewer snacks and it would be easier to maintain a healthy weight. Oddly enough, that hasn’t panned out.
Thinking about my last workplace, generally no, except for someone bringing in donuts for a morning meeting. For long meetings that run over lunchtime, the meeting organizer will order in sandwiches and drinks, but that’s rather different. I do remember at least one occasion where someone organized a “bring in your favourite foods” event for the department. It was lots of fun – there were some really good cooks in the crowd, and a good variety of interesting ethnic foods were on offer. My contribution was literally a big cheese board with a variety of gourmet cheeses.
All this snack food… No wonder there is an obesity problem.
At all the places my wife (I just asked her) and I worked over the years, cakes on birthdays were the usual offering. It was expected that these cakes would be homemade but accepted that not everyone could do that.
We always have treats in the office - usually biscuits, cake and chocolate. It’s all in a cupboard that’s open and accessible to anyone who comes into the office, and it’s available to everyone. People bring stuff in just because they want to, or because we’re in a very busy and stressful period of work, or because they’ve been on holiday somewhere and brought back something unusual, or if it’s an occasion.
The treats cupboard is there if you want it, nobody forces anyone to eat anything from it, and equally nobody’s expected to bring stuff in. I think it’s a nice thing to do. I am on secondment in this particular office, I brought an assortment of cakes in on my first day as a “hello” gift to my new team.
Yes
People bring cake on Birthdays, sometimes just randomly bring doughnuts, and anyone who travels overseas brings back regional treats - a habit we picked up from our Japanese colleagues, where it’s a big thing. The y always bring the most amazing sweets when they visit.