As some of y’all may have noticed over the years, I like to cook; frequently I will make a dish and bring it in to the office to share. This morning I brought a few dozen double-chocolate-chip cookies in. I placed them at the department admin’s desk (with a bottle of hand sanitizer beside the container) with a note that they were available to everyone, but one to a customer, please, until at least 3 p.m.
I just walked by the admin’s desk. She thanked me for the cookies, reported that they were already all gone, and added that she’d she’d taken it upon herself to toss a couple. Two people, it seemed, had taken a cookie, eaten half, and then REPLACED THE UNEATEN COOKIE IN THE CONTAINER.
How gross is that, on a scale of 0 to 10 (where zero is “not gross at all” and 10 is “oh my god that guy is french-kissing an armadillo”). Please explain your answer.
That’s at least an 8, and I say that as someone who used to routinely pick maggots out of festering wounds. Breaking a cookie in half and putting the unwanted half back in is fine. (Please do clean your hands first, though.) Putting your mouth on something and then putting that thing among food someone else is going to eat…that is so beyond not fine.
I can’t quite tell from the OP if the person broke the cookie in half and put it back … or ATE IT WITH THEIR MOUTH and then put it back.
The first is not especially gross, exactly, but I’m going to give it a 3 for being sloppy. It’s like please try not to make a huge production out of only eating half a cookie.
If they were taking bites from it, and put it back, the answer is 10 or whatever is the boiling point of water on the Kelvin scale. It’s not even the germs that get to me, it’s the presumption that everyone else should put up with your mouthy cookie.
In our office we have a rule about this – if you want half a cookie (or whatever snack is there that day), you find someone else who wants to split it with you so that both halves are gone at the same time.
As I formatted the poll, I realized I was too lazy to think of 11 wisecracks, so I changed the scale to 0 to 5. I’ve asked a mod to change the subject line, but Athena only knows if that’ll happen. Anywhistle, assuming a mod decides to correct my carelessness, I think we can all agree the disparity in the posts above this one is my fault, not the other posters.
I didn’t witness it, but from the admin’s tale, at least one of the offenders took a bite, then returned it; she only kept her mouth shut because it was a manager.
I voted 1 (mildly), because I would have no problem eating other cookies from the container. However, I think it is rude to replace half-eaten food, and would never do it, because I know that it’s the kind of thing that seriously bothers some people.
I voted 4. I don’t think it’s extraordinary gross by modern human standards, but it is gross enough to make me skip the cookies. Hey, you’ve invented the gross coworker diet! Actually, just seeing some of my coworkers is sometimes enough for me to swear off sweets, but if they were actually contaminating the communal food? That takes it to a whole other level!
This. Breaking it in half and putting it back is fine. Gnawing half of it off with your gaping maw, then throwing the dampened, crumbly remainder back in the container makes you a gross dick.
That said, I voted assuming it was the second situation, so my choice is: “Mildly. I’d avoid those, but other cookies from the container are fine.” I’m not one of those people that’s overly oogie about germs, so it’s fine by me. I mean, obviously if the cookie nub that’s sitting there is slobbery or something, I’m not eating the other cookies touching it-- but a dry half cookie with some other cookies around it? That’s fine.
Breaking it in half and putting half back: not so bad. Biting it in half (which is what I assumed was being referred to here): extremely icky and extremely rude.
I voted 1, because heck, were talking double chocolate chip cookies here. But biting and putting back a half-eaten cookie is still a major offense, even if it won’t stop me from eating the other ones.
One of my senior (female for the record) colleagues did this at a buffet recently that was held for candidates interviewing for a position in the department. Sampled a number of the dainties by taking a bite, putting it back on the plate, then moving on to the next one. Awesome.