# Dear work, potluck is not a 'treat' **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877 "2010-06-04T02:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/161 "2011-06-29T21:18:44Z")
I have no problem with people bitching, I DO have a problem with people not doing it, and then wondering why they were passed over or fired, in favor of the person who did. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/162 "2011-06-29T21:35:43Z")
I don’t think anyone wonders. I think they know exactly why, but they’d rather be principled and unpromoted than a sycophant making more money. So then they come here to bitch about bad managers who care more about who’s got their tongue up their ass than about who’s delivering quality work. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/163 "2011-06-29T21:51:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I don’t think anyone wonders. I think they know exactly why, but they’d rather be principled and unpromoted than a sycophant making more money. So then they come here to bitch about bad managers who care more about who’s got their tongue up their ass than about who’s delivering quality work. So: being and unemployed principled person is better than an employed sycophant? :dubious: In what possible universe is it better to be poor than rich? Principles and $3 will get you a cup of coffee. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/164 "2011-06-30T11:26:51Z")
I’ve often said that the worst day on the job is better than the best day while unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/165 "2011-06-30T12:26:36Z")
And tomorrow we have “Hot Dog Day”! Woo-hoo :rolleyes: There has already been a slew of emails asking for people to bring stuff. I am ignoring them. ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/166 "2011-06-30T12:31:06Z")
I will say this - I worked at one company where the division I was in was kind of sequestered in our own little section. We had a side entrance and depending on the day, I might go the whole day without running in to anyone from the rest of the building. It always amused me that the only time we were ever included in any of the company functions was when there was potluck - because they wanted us to bring stuff. When they had pizza days or birthday cakes or any of that stuff, we would only ever find out about it by accident or when they were done and didn’t feel like bringing the extras home. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/167 "2011-06-30T13:06:21Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > So: being and unemployed principled person is better than an employed sycophant? :dubious: In what possible universe is it better to be poor than rich? Principles and $3 will get you a cup of coffee. Why do you keep replying in non sequitur? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/168 "2011-06-30T15:41:23Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > They’re best when they are: > > 1.Optional > 2.Free > 3.Small Very well put. > [@etv78](#): > > In regard to the poster who complained about going to their boss’ party: You can’t take a few hours out of your weekend to schmooze with a boss? A boss who can keep you from needing a new job in the worst job market in 80 years? :dubious: Fuck that noise. I may not work for the creme de la creme of bosses, but at least mine knows that my job is based on, well, my ability to do my job. That seems so obvious to me that I don’t know how else to phrase such an elementary concept. (Also that my ability to maintain sanity is aided by having personal time to myself. You know, that whole work/family/life balance?) > [@etv78](#): > > To the poster whose boss wanted them to use vacation time to golf with them:how did your boss walk with such big brass ones? 😉 Not easily, I’d imagine. That’s some serious _cojones_ right there. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/169 "2011-06-30T15:54:19Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 1. Who brings a serving spoon or tongs for a bowl of potato chips or pretzels? I just attended an SF convention last weekend. One of the big things was the consuite, where food is offerred up to keep the attendees happy. The current consuite organizers have been doing the job for ~3 years, and one of their big improvements was (a) the people running the consuite using gloves to prepare the food, and (b) use of serving utensils including tongs for chips and pretzels and things. These two actions were specifically to reduce “con crud”, i.e. the wave of sickness that happens when you cluster several hundred strangers in a tight space and have them share food. > [@](#): > > 1. Actually, pre-cut fruit is itself disgusting. Bring whole fruit, dammit! And you people, when there’s whole fruit on the platter, take the whole damn thing, don’t try to cut it up! Nobody wants your discarded pieces! Which leads me to … > > 2. Damn you people who are cutting or tearing the food up into smaller pieces. Take the entire piece as served! If you don’t want the whole thing, just pitch it. Don’t put your disgusting leavings on the buffet! That sounds like a personal problem to me. Serving sizes should be small enough for people to take a sample of things. It is easier to load up a handful of small bits if you want more than to cut up a big piece when you only want a bite of that. As long as you aren’t picking it up, taking a bite, then putting the rest down, “discarded pieces” really just equals “cutting off a smaller sample”. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/170 "2011-06-30T16:41:51Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > That sounds like a personal problem to me. Serving sizes should be small enough for people to take a sample of things. It is easier to load up a handful of small bits if you want more than to cut up a big piece when you only want a bite of that. As long as you aren’t picking it up, taking a bite, then putting the rest down, “discarded pieces” really just equals “cutting off a smaller sample”. My co-worker takes his pocket knife and cuts donuts in half, leaving half a donut. Some people are brave enough to eat that half donut, but not I. I’ve seen him pull that pocket knife out and cut all kinds of things and I’ve stood downwind of this co-worker. Between those two data points is a complete desire to run when he has come into contact with any type of food that is intended to be ‘shared’. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/171 "2011-06-30T16:43:22Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > That sounds like a personal problem to me. Serving sizes should be small enough for people to take a sample of things. Regardless of what the ideal service size would be, people should take it as it comes rather than trying to reconfigure it. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/172 "2011-06-30T17:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I have no problem with people bitching, I DO have a problem with people not doing it, and then wondering why they were passed over or fired, in favor of the person who did Now if I were a shareholder, I would need some serious evidence that this pattern of recruitment and retention is likely to yield better profits than say…oh I don’t know… paying people by results, hiring people for their ability, mundane things like that. This is utterly unkown in the UK, obviously there are some folk who socialise, but I think it would probably be in contravention of employment law and also the EU rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and freedom of association. But on top of all of that, its just plain bad business practice, you want the best employees you can get for the money that you have to lay out, last thing you want it to retain losers who hold their post through this kind of ass kissing. Promotion of the less able on the basis of attendance of such functions works directly against company interests. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/173 "2011-06-30T19:23:51Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Why do you keep replying in non sequitur? How is what I said a non sequitur? The post you quoted is demonstrably true. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/174 "2011-06-30T19:28:56Z")
What, the part that said that people who go on the internet to bitch about their bad managers prefer to be poor? Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/175 "2011-06-30T20:16:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What, the part that said that people who go on the internet to bitch about their bad managers prefer to be poor? Or something else? Are you disagreeing that it’s better to be employed than not? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/176 "2011-06-30T20:18:28Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Are you disagreeing that it’s better to be employed than not? :dubious: What is wrong with you? What questions are you answering? Certainly not the ones being asked, just some questions you pull out of the air somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/177 "2011-06-30T20:23:31Z")
Here is the series of posts: > [@](#): > > In regard to the poster who complained about going to their boss’ party: You can’t take a few hours out of your weekend to schmooze with a boss? A boss who can keep you from needing a new job in the worst job market in 80 years? So you say, it behooves you to go to boss’ party and pretend to enjoy yourself. Yes, this is true. > [@](#): > > etv78: I think the point is that the entire model of getting ahead by kissing ass instead of being competent at the job you’re being paid to do is bullshit. > [@](#): > > But if kissing butt keeps you employed, it behooves you to pucker up. Same thing, right? > [@](#): > > I don’t think anyone wonders. I think they know exactly why, but they’d rather be principled and unpromoted than a sycophant making more money. So then they come here to bitch about bad managers who care more about who’s got their tongue up their ass than about who’s delivering quality work. Then, someone explains that sure, we’ll do it just enough to keep our jobs, but not enough to get promoted or go high up on the corporate ladder. > [@](#): > > So: being and unemployed principled person is better than an employed sycophant? In what possible universe is it better to be poor than rich? Principles and $3 will get you a cup of coffee. So you immediately start talking about unemployed persons. NON-SEQUITOR ONE. > [@](#): > > Why do you keep replying in non sequitur? > [@](#): > > How is what I said a non sequitur? The post you quoted is demonstrably true. But we weren’t talking about unemployed people! We were talking about people who are not 100% motivated. > [@](#): > > What, the part that said that people who go on the internet to bitch about their bad managers prefer to be poor? Or something else? > [@](#): > > Are you disagreeing that it’s better to be employed than not? And…non-sequitor 2. We are not talking about unemployed people! You are deliberately creating a little strawman in your head and responding to it and it’s more than a little annoying. And you have a habit of doing this in at least one other thread, where we also disagreed…though that time you did eventually stop and read what was actually being said. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/178 "2011-06-30T21:49:11Z")
\*\*Anaamika \*\*nailed it on the head. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, **etv78** , but it’s nobody in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/179 "2011-06-30T22:11:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Regardless of what the ideal service size would be, people should take it as it comes rather than trying to reconfigure it. Fair enough. Especially if resizing involves (a) touching the food to “brace” it or whatever, or (b) using something other than a clean utensil/utensil provided for the food. Pocket knives do not count. Now if it is a slice of pie that is in large slices, and you want to use the provided serving knife to split a piece, and you handle the pie by the pie plate, then that is not unreasonable. Similar situation when we go to lunch at a restaurant that insists on serving small loaves of bread for the table to share, and you want to be nice and share rather than reserve the loaf to yourself, but sharing involves grabbing the loaf so you can cut/tear it into pieces. Annoying. I’m always uncomfortable being the one doing the cutting, nevermind being the receiving end. I think I may start a practice of requesting my own loaf. They bring free refills on bread anyway, can’t see what that hurts. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/180 "2011-06-30T22:36:21Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > \*\*Anaamika \*\*nailed it on the head. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, **etv78** , but it’s nobody in this thread. I thought it was clear that I was talking to you and **Acsenray**. Sorry it wasn’t clear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877.md?page=10)