I have a friend who joyously and shamelessly eats the corners off rectangular cakes (because the corners have the most icing), then moves in on the sides, leaving the remainder of the cake crust-less and with icing on top only.
I was horrified to discover this violation in the natural order of things. It is exactly like sucking the jelly out of a donut and returning it to the box. (“Well, someone might want the hollowed-out shell of my treat…”)
I would not eat abandoned muffin stumps.
The solution in offices I’ve worked in is that the muffin is cut in half vertically by the provider of the muffins (bosses, meeting chairs, catering staff etc), before serving. Either that or find a muffin-buddy.
This years model , yes I was suggesting a muffin like never seen before until…Ethilrist proved me wrong. Yet these muffins do still have stumps, just growth deficient ones. Stumpy stumps if you will. Thats just sick.
Is it possible that the same person who left a fragment is returning to eat the fragment, bit by bit? Just out of curiousity. It’s still a little weird, IMO. I’d take the whole thing, then if I had anything leftover, offer it to someone else who might be hungry, who either knows me and that I’m not full of cooties, or someone who is just grateful enough to know the source of the leftovers and has no problem eating it. I wouldn’t eat an anonymous stump. Its past is veiled in mystery!
All I can think of if your co-workers are not icked out by other leftovers - is there a possibility that a knife was used? Using proper utensils often seems more sanitary to some, making it okay. That cruller has a nice clean cut? It’s good to eat. If the cruller was ripped up or had an obvious bite taken from it, not so much.
If they’re not using knives, well, someone is eating the leftovers. That doesn’t mean everyone is. Some will find it disgusting and be vocal about it, as you already know.
Personally, I don’t eat anyone’s leftovers unless I know who had it, if I am reasonably sure they are clean people, and if they offer it to me. Other than that, I take my own portion and keep quiet about other people’s leftovers. I offer my leftovers to someone who may want it. If no one wants it, I wrap it up and save it for a later meal. I try not to take food items if I don’t like the whole thing, and opt for something I enjoy fully and leave the half-likable thing for someone who likes the whole thing. But that’s just me.
I find it amazing that a muffin stump post has made it to page two…Okay, not really. This is SDMB after all.
I don’t have a problem with taking only what I’d eat and leave the rest of something for someone else. Who am I to say that no one else would want the pasta after I’d picked out the crab from the pasta crab salad? Or the olives after I’ve picked out the pepperoni from the pasta salad? Or the crust after I’ve sloughed off the cheese and mushrooms?
Well there is. If you cut down the tree and leave the stump buried under a few inches of soil, in 15-20 years the next owner of the home will have a sink hole as the trunk rots. But he won’t know it is a trunk rotting out, so he will assume that gremlins are eating the soil from their secret lair under the ground. The fear of gremlins coming out of the hole will slowly drive him insane. That’s just not right. Dig the stump out.
Why, leaving a stump for the next guy is as bad as leaving the bottom of a muffin on a plate. Of course, I’d be jittery to start with if in the company of barbarians who brought muffins instead of danish.
