Every now and then there will be a catered meeting in the office, and there will be leftover breakfast-type foods behind. Bagels, lemon cake, pastries.
And muffins.
These all go into the break room where anyone who wants one can have one. I have been know, on occasion, to make off with just a muffin top, leaving the stump behind. And I’m not the only one who does it. Hey, it’s the best part.
But a few times I went into the break room while a few of my coworkers went in. They would see a decapitated muffin and shriek “Oh my god! That’s horrible! Who would do such a thing? Why can’t they just eat the whole muffin? That’s disgusting!” They were not joking. They were truly mortified. I ended up agreeing with them, as if they found out it was me, they’d have lynched me on the spot.
So I submit this for debate: Is it moral to leave the stumps behind?
You probably should have taken the whole muffin and threw away the stump.
Who do you think should eat the leftover stump or who wants to look at it?
Kind of like going up to a table with slices of cake, licking the frosting off one, and putting it back on the table.
No. Take the whole thing and throw the stump away if you don’t want it. Who do you think is going to eat the stump anyway after your filthy hands have been all over it? :eek: Yuck. shudder
I can’t see any good reason to leave the stump. Yopu’re basically just leaving your garbage for someone else to clean up. It’s not like anyone else wants to eat it.
You’re probably right, although every now and then I’ve taken the stump that someone else has left behind. And once or twice people have taken my stump.
Now, now, he’s not talking etiquette, he’s talking about morality. So, let’s see:
You’re not wasting food, but leaving some for other people which, you have mentioned take the stumps from time to time. So, you’re not wasting good food.
Plus, you’re sharing.
You’re also exercising self-control and not engaging in gluttony by taking & eating more than your fair share, or more than you need.
Since we, as thoughtful members of the SDMB, presume you’re washing your hands before handling food, yours or otherwise, the sanitation issue really doesn’t count, does it? Besides, it’s not like he’s pulling the top off, which requires hand-to-muffin contact, then dropping the top back in the box so he can eat the stump. The muffins have those paper things around the stumps.
I think you’re exhibiting several desirable moral values, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
If I might make a request, make a little sign out of a piece of paper that says, “Twisted off top, bottom not touched” and leave it with the stump. I would be interested if you can unlearn people of their irrational fears or if cooties is incurable.
I always take the top when one is available. Stumps are for times of desperation.
I don’t consider leaving some for others to be immoral or unsanitary, but perhaps because so many people have an ick factor over it, I should just go ahead and waste the stump. It’s an office politics thing.
I’m really surprised how much ick factor there is.
You are going to have to start maintaining seperate lists. In my office, we commonly get “muffin tops” for breakfast meetings. You only have 4,316 reasons not to work here!
Re the OP: I don’t see why you are leaving the stump, either. It’s just trash, and you should discard it. However, it’s certainly nothing to get worked up about. If they saw an empty styrofoam coffee cup on the table would they have a similar reaction? Seems silly to me.
Hold on a second–What if I had used a knife and I cut it in half from the top down? Essentially leaving half a top and half a stump behind? Would the half I left there be considered trash? What if I took one slice of birthday cake? Would the rest of the cake I left behind be considered trash as well?