And when I say “every day”–I mean every fuckin’ day.
For months at a time, I’ll eat the same thing for lunch. My current lunch menu is a piece of fruit (apple, pear, or peach–depending on which is cheapest) and a package of peanut butter sandwich crackers.
I realize that this is a small meal, especialy compared to what my colleagues eat. And I understand that it is kind of lazy and boring to eat the same thing every day. But you know what? It works for me. I never have to waste time and energy thinking about food options. And it’s substantial enough to keep me going for the rest of the day without making me feel heavy and bloated and sleepy afterwards. But even if it wasn’t filling, so what? That’s what vending machines are for, right? And sometimes I do snack on a little something. Eating a small lunch allows me those occasional splurges, like when someone brings in cookies.
But without fail, I can’t go fifteen minutes sitting in the breakroom without someone saying something like “Is that all you’re going to eat?” And what’s worse is that it is always the same people day after day. You’d think that eventually they’d remember what I told them the last time. And you’d also think they’d realize it ain’t none of their business! I know they just want to be friendly or whatever, but I really wish they’d talk about something else. It’s enough to make me want to avoid the breakroom (but then I’d have to hear about that).
I can’t be the only one who gets singled out like this, right? And if you’re one of those people who ask “Is that all you’re gonna eat?”, can you please explain what’s motivating you? Is it just innocent curiousity? Or do you think there’s some insecurity at the heart of the question?
That’s extremely obnoxious, and you have my sympathy. Everyone’s lunch is their own business. I eat at my desk, and haven’t had any snide comments in quite a while.
Not much you can do, except if someone says “that all you gonna eat?”, don’t smile, look them directly in the eye, and say “yes”, and then turn away and resume eating. At the very least that should dissuade that person from asking you again.
Or point at their lunch and ask “are you going to eat all that?” with the implication that they are eating too much food and you are disgusted by it. Probably not a good idea, but it’s what I’d be tempted to do.
For me, lunch is often a bright spot in an otherwise dreary and unexciting work day, so I look forward to deciding what sounds good, and going to get it. I don’t quite understand the “bachelor chow” mentality that looks at food and eating as one big chore to get out of the way.
But if your chosen lunch is what makes you happy, then it’s none of anyone else’s business, even if you eat it every single work day for decades.
However, I suspect if I did eat in the breakroom, I’d get the usual crop of nosey buttholes who’d say “Taco Bell? That’s twice this week!” to which I’d probably be pretty aggravated.
I don’t eat lunch. Not ever. I just work right through the day without stopping to eat. Even when lunch is brought in because we have an all day meeting. I will just go for a walk or catch up on some email in my office while everyone enjoys theirs.
And people just can’t get their head around the fact that I don’t eat lunch. It’s as if I’ve just told them I’m from Mars.
Why would anyone possibly give a damn about what someone eats (or doesn’t eat) for lunch?
The way I see it, I’ve got two other meals of the day to mix things up. Though I usually keep myself to a simple breakfast too, because I don’t have a huge appetite in the morning and I just want something quick and easy. But I don’t eat “bachelor chow” for dinner. Dinner is my highlight of the day.
And I look forward to lunch. I savor my fruit. I savor my crackers. It’s a perfect blend of sweet and savory, healthy and not-so-healthy.
The concept of bringing a bagged lunch is such a foreign concept to some people that I have my lunch pointed out fairly regularly by clients simply for being brought from home.
For a while there it WAS a mystery to me how all these towns had multitudes upon multitudes of restaurants that stayed in business. I finally realized after all this haranguing about my lunch that a majority of office people eat out almost every single day, and may also eat out for dinner.
Eventually, if it’s the same people, I just come straight out and say, “Why do you keep bothering me about this?” and if they actually have the gall to offer an explanation I move on to “It’s rude to keep bringing this up.” It’s actually stopped after that.
When I bring my lunch it’s either leftovers from the night before, or a sandwich and a salad. I often get “are you on a diet”? or “is that all you have”? This is crazy because it’s a normal amount of food. Often the people who have the most to say are out of shape and overweight. They don’t seem to see the correlation between a healthy lunch and not being overweight.
I like a variety, too, but unfortunately for medical reasons my food choices are more limited than most peoples’. It’s easier for me to play variations on a theme. (sandwich, chips, fruit, maybe one other item). Sometimes, a person doesn’t care that much what they eat, sometimes there’s a medical issue. I have a lot of people think I’m weird for bringing my own beverage as well, but I prefer my home-brewed tea and it’s got about 1/4 the sugar of the store-bought variety.
Occasionally, when I eat on the road, my food choices have to be weird to accommodate my food allergies. In one instance, the only things I could find to eat for lunch were chocolate pudding, watermelon, and french fries. Had a nosy manager go apeshit over that. Sorry, I’ll eat weird if it keeps me from having a quick trip with flashing lights to the nearest ER.
Needless to say, I have little patience with nosy busy-bodies snarking about my eating habits.
^ This.
I’ve eaten the exact breakfast nearly every day for about 45 years. There’s a certain comfort in such a habit, and I don’t have to think about what I’m eating first thing in the morning.
I don’t know - it’s puzzled me for years, too. I mean, sure, someone has fudge or a really yummy smelly thing in the microwave a little curiosity make sense, but I’ll never figure out why people get so damned worked up about what other people are or are not eating.
My spouse was like that before I met him - he ate out for every single meal. Maybe once in awhile he’d bring a pizza home or burritos as take out, but he didn’t really cook for himself. It’s not that he couldn’t, I mean, he could make a very basic meal if he needed to, it’s just that he had no interest in cooking. He was more than happy to pay someone else to do it for him.
Me, with my issues, I sort of had to learn how to cook, so mostly he eats my cooking now.* But he didn’t think it weird that I enjoyed cooking, and I didn’t think it weird he didn’t - we just have different interests. I wish more people were like that.
Once in awhile he goes out with friends and eats the stuff I don’t make because I’m allergic to it, or even makes a batch himself at home. Which, from my point of view, it totally OK. I occasionally go for things he just doesn’t care for. It’s all good.
One of the reasons I am so grateful that I live close enough to go home for lunch. On the few (and I mean few) occasions I have stayed at the office for lunch I was seriously appalled at the staring at my food and comments such as “What is that? Did you make it? What’s in it”? On and on and on. Hell no !!
