Mebbe. But culturally intolerant is not equivalent to culturally ignorant. And I can see where some Bumfuckian may perhaps have never been exposed to some of the less common cultural food idiosyncrasies. Doesn’t necessarily excuse the lout from commenting on it in a derogatory manner, but I don’t think Broomstick’s remarks here rise quite to the level of irony.
I’ve always worked for very small companies where these sorts of things were never a problem. How do people not get fired over this shit?? Yes, I realize it may be hard to catch the thief, but it can’t be that hard. I mean, you would think that the HR dpeartment would take theft of personal property on company time a little more seriously. If somebody’s stealing your lunch, who’s to say they’re not helping themselves to a couple reams of paper, or some blank CDs every now and then?
Sorry I can’t help with suggestions or similar experiences. It’s just never happened to me.
In junior high, I had discovered the wonderful world of cooking and baking for myself.
Once a week I usually baked a cake or cookies for me and my sister to take to lunch with us at school. I never shared my cookies, because my lunchmates never shared any food with me. So after awhile of my bringing desserts, when I got up to get a glass of water, my lunchmates would steal my cookies and choke them down before I got back.
One week I made a batch of cookies, three of which contained huge amounts of cayenne pepper. I took them to school that Monday.
There were very three red-faced, teary-eyed cookie thieves, who didn’t steal any food from me ever again.
I just want to second the Chatty Kathy … I love to read at lunch time- its necessary for my sanity (I love my job too but its a bit hectic). If I could not read at lunch time, I might have to sneak reading at work … its a habit I’ve had since grade school. I cannot read and talk to you at the same time. If you have a question about work, I’m the manager and I chose to stay on site so have at it. But… I do not want to hear about your relatives I will never meet, or your kid, your hamsters, your bitching about other employees that I think are doing their job just fine, etc. If you are my boss chatting me up, I won’t discourage it… but there is a big thick book in front of me and I chose to stay on site so I have my whole 30 minute lunch to READ MY BOOK!!! I will still be at my desk or on premises when my lunch is over, so chat me up then.
A small footnote to the receptionist up front. LEARN TO HANDLE MULTIPLE PHONES! I can’t read my book when you are on one line and have not learned to ask the person to hold while you place the other line on hold. And for the other 4 or so employees who are not at lunch- there are phones all around the clinic for a reason- PICK THEM UP!! I can’t very well sit there , at my desk with a phone in front of me and my boss in the desk next to me through 4 or 5 rings. Even when I try to take lunch in a room that doesn’t have a phone, I still end up answering them because you haven’t mastered this simple skill. What’s even worse, is that you are probably not the only receptionist not at lunch- tell you fellow receptionist to get off her personal phone call and ANSWER THE PHONE!
Whatcha readin’? A book, huh? Gee, that’s a big one - are you gonna read all them pages? I read a book once. Green, it was. Say, have you read the Dave Inchy Code? They reckon it’s real good - true, too. Like Indiana Jones, only more real. About conspiracies and all. Course, I’ll probably wait for the movie myself - I don’t know where you find the time for all that reading. Probably ruin your eyes, too. You’d look much better without them glasses on all the time, y’know. Say, you’re not going, are you? Lunch ain’t even over yet…
{Goddamn hifalutin’ snooty four-eyes bookworm thinks she’s better’n everyone else.}
So put a lable on it that says “WARNING contains laxitives/ipecac/rat poison/etc”. That way they know what they’re eating and have been fully warned! 
Yeah, what is it with these dorks who won’t leave a person alone to enjoy their lunch in peace?
We’ve already touched on the folks who seem hell-bent on preventing any reading from going on. There are the folks who talk to people who are reading. There are people who want to choose what you read. The worst case was the missionary who snatched my copy of Queen of the Damned out of my hand, threw it in the trash, and started lecturing me on why I should be reading the Bible instead. Remarkably, there was no bloodshed involved, although after I told this meddling busy-body in an icy voice that I had read the Bible and thought the plot was weak, the dialogue stilted, and the characters flat I briefly thought a battle might erupt. Which lead to the Great Bible Triva game where I toasted Miss Missionary’s butt. After which she had to concede I must have read it. Anyhow, I left that rather strange place of employment years ago. Now it’s either people trying to foist genres on me I don’t like (mystery fans trying to get me excited by the latest airport giftshop potboiler, or the Harlequin people trying to get me in that stuff, and so on) or recommending things I just do not care for. There’s a whole group at work who are soooooo into the Left Behind series which to my mind is sort of a cross between glurge and a religious-toned novelization of a violent video game like, say, Doom. I barely got through the first book, and one of the gals got really pissed at me for bursting out laughing at parts.
There are the folks that ALWAYS have to eat lunch together. They’ll spend up to an hour a day discussing when to go to lunch, where to go to lunch what to eat (or what they brought to eat). They have to leave in a group, come back in a group, sit down and eat in a group - and they want to suck you into their group! bwa-HA-HA-HA! Like we’re all friends or something. It really really bothers them that someone is eating on their own or going somewhere by themself. I have to spend all day being nice to fuckers and assholes, why is it inconceivable I want time to myself when I can take a break from the acting? This is the one instance where food allergies are a benefit - “I wouldn’t want you to feel limited to just what I can eat - go on, enjoy yourselves. I’ll be alright. Really.”
Then there are the long-lunchers. You know - the people who leave early and come back late, and always have excuses. But Og forbid you’re a minute late and inconvenience THEM. (Mix the two-hour lunches with the hour-long coffee break morning and afternoon and you realize these assholes are getting full-time pay for half-time work.)
And then there are the fucktards who actually LIKE having a meeting during lunch, a working lunch – what the fuck is wrong with these people?
Then there are the self-righteous “I don’t ever take lunch” people. You know these - they work over their lunch hour. They go to great pains to look constantly busy. Busy busy busy. As if quantity is the same as quality. Got into a run-in with one of these once, that ended with the two of us in front of a manager and her going “Why should SHE get lunch? I never bother to take lunch, it’s a waste of time. She’s a lazy bitch if she needs to stop and rest and eat.” which ended with her in human resources getting introduced to the corporate lawyers and the nuances of labor laws.
Ooh, I’d forgotten about the people who bug you about work stuff during lunch. I have almost never worked at a job that had a paid lunch break - when I’m on break, I’m OFF THE CLOCK! I am not getting paid for this time, and unless someone is literally on fire, don’t bother me with work-related stuff.
Smokin, have you considered lunching in your car? I used to do that at one temp job I was at - just drove a couple blocks away to a quiet area, then sat and read and listened to a cd. Best lunch breaks EVAR!
You know those “busy busy busy” people, Broomstick? They’re not actually as productive as people who take proper breaks and work reasonable hours. Human beings can only concentrate for so long; after that, you’re just wasting time.
Smokin, have you considered lunching in your car? I used to do that at one temp job I was at - just drove a couple blocks away to a quiet area, then sat and read and listened to a cd. Best lunch breaks EVAR!
<<<
I have, only problem is that I live in Las Vegas, and in the winter on very cold days its fine to eat outside but even in January the temps will get uncomfortable inside a car. The boss has talked about putting a picnic table in, I hope he does- but there would still be 4-5 months out of the year that I wouldn’t be able to be comfortable outside. What I am going to do is start taking my MyFi with me, maybe won’t even turn it on but hopefully a pair of headphones on my head will cut down being bugged all the time. Of course, they might tap me on the shoulder and ask what I’m listening too :smack:
Two More I’ve Encountered:
Finger Jerk–When told they can have some of your food, they use their fingers! I don’t need your hands in my food, particularly hands that have been working all day. I once dumped the remainder of my French fries on someone’s desk when he did that AFTER I had told him I didn’t appreciate it.
I Want It Now Dammit–He waits for you to be comfortably settled and take three bites. Then it’s “I need this now.” It’s usually something he “needs” tomorrow if not later and something he can do himself. But if you say “After lunch,” he throws a hissy fit.
I’m a little unclear here. You told him he could have some of your french fries - and then freaked when he used his fingers to get them? I’m sorry, but most people would use their fingers.
Susan
Even after I told them twice that I don’t like other people’s hands on my food?
Who the hell eats french fries with a fork? I mean other than the Belgians…
I’m not talking about eating them with a fork. I’m talking about taking them off my plate with your fingers. Creeps me out.
When I share my fries with someone, I dump them onto a plate or napkin for them, or give them my plate when I’m done eating. My husband is OK eating fries once I’ve touched them, but I don’t feel the same.
I’m glad this has come up again because I love to tell the story of the time I got back at a food thief. He was easy to catch because he stole my lunch from a refrigerator in a key-card access only area, and he was one of only 2 people other than me in that area that weekend.
I confronted him about taking my frozen calzone and he admitted it, saying that he had forgot his lunch and thought he could replace it before Monday. he offered to pay me for it and I said “OK, $20 sounds fair”
He said “But those things are only like $5!”
I replied" Yes, but that was my lunch on sunday, I couldn’t leave the building so I had to eat lunch from the vending machines so you are paying for that food too, plus that I had to eat that shitty food from the vending machines, and the fact that I was pissed that someone stole my lunch."
He paid it! And I bet he never took another lunch.
Speaking as a Bumfuckian, I didn’t see any real problem with it. WASPs who don’t live within a half-hour drive of any non-WASPs and don’t travel much don’t have the opportunity to fight their ignorance regarding other cultures very often. Persistently acting like that is stupid, of course, but people who live in monocultures should probably be cut a little slack the first time they say or do something culturally intolerant. If they keep doing it, then they’re pitworthy.
Ppondaegi! Maybe the person stealing it was trying to do you a favor.