Most of the time I don’t eat any lunch, but I’ll sometimes have a bag of potato chips or some other bit of junk food for a snack later in the work day. I got a couple of comments when I started doing this a few years ago, but rarely anymore, and not from the same person. Wouldn’t make a difference to me anyway. In my workplace, the people who get more comments are the ones who either bring a big lunch, or seem to be constantly eating throughout the day. Usually, these comments occur behind their backs.
[QUOTE=The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy]
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in It’s a nice day, or You’re very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you all right? At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behavior. If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months’ consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favor of a new one. If they don’t keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.
[/QUOTE]
Sounds like your cow-orkers are just trying to keep their brains from working.
Her story was that that wasn’t a nutritious or “sensible” lunch. She also said she didn’t think I turned in all the receipts for the business trip, refused to sign off on what I had, confiscated all my paperwork, and refused to budge until I brought in “the rest of the documentation”. Because she was whack, I guess. She was a terrible manager.
I went to HR, calming explained I had done my part in reporting everything, turned in copies of all my documentation (of course I kept copies of everything! Whack Manger was shocked when she was told that, stating she hadn’t thought I was intelligent enough to do that!), and asked pretty please could I have my documented expenses reimbursed?
HR told Whack Manager that she was out of line, opening up the company to some sort of liability (not entirely clear on the letter of the law/rule she was violating) and saw to it that I was properly compensated. Also told Whack Manager my diet was none of her god-damned business, she was my manager, not my mother. (HR also had documentation of my allergy problem, so it wasn’t news to them, and their rep said that they were happy I was protecting my health. Probably because me having a medical emergency while on company business might have gotten expensive for them.)
Whack Manager was the only person I ever saw publicly demoted in Corporate America. That happened a few months later after Whack Manager made some of the most derogatory, blatantly racist statements I have ever heard in public towards a black employee who had to leave work early due to her child having a medical emergency. The n-word was not employed but “darkie”, “coon”, and “you people” (in a particularly sneering tone of voice) were among the featured slurs, all done openly and in front of witnesses. Said black employee sued the ass off the company. HR pulled all witness in for an “interview” and every one of them said yep, Whack Manager really said all that shit. Company settled out of court for A Lot Of Money. After which Whack Manager was demoted, then shuffled out the door about 2-3 months later. Good riddance. Really, I got off easy compared to some people. Still think they should have just fired her ass, but whatever. I didn’t have to deal with her any more after that.
And, BTW - it was a pretty tasty lunch 
I eat at my desk. and 2nd shift. So nobody is around to bother me about my lunch, or my job, or my sleeping, or 8hrs of straight doping. 2nd shift is where it’s at.
that would irritate the piss out of me. I guess that maybe the second time said person asked me “Is that all you’re going to eat?” I’d respond “how is that any of your business?”
I don’t know if it’s insecurity, so much as it is some people just have difficulty understanding that other people have different priorities. I’m sort of like you; when I’m at work I eat lunch at my desk. eating is “me time.” I don’t go to department lunches or picnics, nor do I go when we have suppliers/vendors offer lunch. A lot of other people see a meal as a social event. I don’t, but my solution is to just beg off and let them have their event. My biggest peeve is when I’m sitting there eating (by myself) and someone decides to come up and stand there talking to me. when that happens, I do what I saw an African Grey Parrot do some years ago when I walked up to it while it was eating. I freeze my position, focus my gaze onto the top of my desk, and stay that way until they stop talking and go away.
Not every day. But I’m vegan, so, yeah, I get comments about my “weird” food choices.
Every day when I come in, if it’s raining, Chatty Bob says “It’s sure raining today. Lots of rain out there.” If it’s sunny, he says “It’s sure nice out today. Nice weather.” Without fail. File under inane office chitchat.
If there’s one positive from all the young folks being engrossed in social media it’s that the coworkers in the breakroom are pretty much absorbed in their smart phones and spending a lot less time being chatty.
Which let’s me read my book in peace.
Now if they guy who likes to watch movies with fight scenes full of smacking, juicy, thudding, slapping sounds would just turn down the frickin’ volume… (Yes, he’s using earbuds. I think the sound leaks out of his nose or something.)
The only time “what are you eating?” is a polite statement is where preceded or followed by some variant of “looks tasty!”
I have a weird thing about people commenting on my food, good or bad. It makes me CRAZY! I suspect it’s because my dad does it and he is super skinny and I am super fat. He doesn’t ever seem to judge what I am eating but he always *notices *it. And comments on it. I had a roommate for a short while and he did this too - “MMmm, whatcha makin’?” and it nearly drove me to tears.
Anyway, I sympathize with you and am glad I work from home. I also have a super basic breakfast and lunch and feel the same way you do about food. Meh food. I would probably be in tears by the second week of this lunchtime interrogation.
At work we get a 15 minute break after the first couple hours. Some folks grab a candy bar or some coffee; every day I have a small bag of nuts as a sort of snack. I like the taste, it really does help my energy level and its something I can easily carry in my pocket avoiding a trip to the break-room or my car. One of my coworkers gives me some crap about being nuts enough without them but for the most part he’s just attempting humor and falling somewhat short. Everyone else seems more tickled about it and curious about some of the flavors (peanuts flavored with dill) that I manage to find.
You have to turn this sort of thing on the questioner and make them the butt of their own question. Anything that makes it seem like they are bothering you is likely to result in more of the same.
I’d smile and say “Are you going to ask me that *every *day? You know what they say Einstein said about the definition of insanity, right?” Turn their question into the joke.
I’m the same way. I don;t even go anywhere near the break room.
People are funny. I’ve had comments about not eating lunch, and my reply is always, “I’ll eat something when I get home. I’m just not hungry right now.” Then I shrug and take a walk around the building.
Tell them you can’t eat more than that until your stomach cancer goes into remission.
I eat what I want to at break. If anyone makes any comments, I tell them “Look, I don’t discuss anyone’s food habits. What you eat is nobody’s business but your own.”
One new co-worker loves me because she can eat her bag of chips and water and I’ve never said “Is that all your having?”
I eat at the same fast food place three days a week. It’s within walking distance of work, so that’s usually why. And I get the same two or three things. And when I run into co-workers in the elevator, they have to comment on where I’m going. It’s annoying. Yes, I know it’s not healthy, but it’s my business. Besides, they don’t comment on the health, they comment on the repetitiveness. Fortunately, I don’t run into them all that often. I would be ready to strangle someone if I had to put up with that every single day.
I once worked with a woman who seemed unusually cheerful and happy (I know, right? Who ever heard of such a thing?) One of her secrets, I think, was that she was able to live in almost entirely drama-free universe.
So in a situation like the OP, I’m pretty sure she’d simply ask her interrogator, “Could you stop asking me that? Thanks” in as non-judgmental a tone as possible, and then change the subject.
Even obnoxious people seem to like her.
Huh, I always just filed these type comments under “small talk”, like “How are you doing?”. Damn few people really want to know how you’re doing, or how much you’re eating. It’s just something obvious to say. Don’t want people to ask you how you’re doing? Tell them about your crappy day and family life. In great detail. Don’t want them to ask you about food quantities? Tell them about your sensitive colon and how you get those greasy, loose stools that smell like distilled sulfur if you eat more (or less) than what is in front of you. Describe the accompanying intestinal cramping and the color that looks like something out of a Walt Disney nightmare. Ask if they want to see pictures.
They will either leave you alone forever after or become your best friend/stalker.
Obviously I’m talking about the “damn few” who do since they make the same comment every day.
When there are a million different “small talk” topics out there, there really isn’t any excuse to ask the same pointed question every day. Unless you’re a mindless robot.
The person who bugs me the most about my small lunches just dropped a box of Girl Scout cookies on my desk. Is she just being sweet? Maybe. Probably. But there’s a part of me that think she’d like nothing more than to see me gorge myself, just to help her feel about her own dieting habits.
Yeah, on second thought “is that all you’re going to eat” is mildly judgy the first time, and repeated instances would start to feel vaguely passive-aggressive.