Noisy eating in the workplace

[whiffey]

Does anybody have any organisational rulings about eating in the workplace ?

I am unlucky enough to be in the vicinity of three colleagues who between them are eating crisps, apples, celery, carrots, pork scratchings, ALL day. It has become so bad that I am increasingly working from home to get away from it.

Last Tuesday, 5 oranges and 3 apples by midday - and that's just one of them ! In summer his waste basket is a swarm of flies flocking to the apple cores and orange peel.

Hypersensitive maybe, but I find it seriously anti-social and distracting, and it's always accompanied by glazed staring at a pc screen. My view is - if you want a snack, take a proper break and leave the room.

Do any of you work anywhere with rules or guidelines about this ?

[Petal~flower]

hi wiffey. we have a staff canteen at work.

But I sat behind a woman on the bus yesterday, eating an apple (the size of a cooking one!)

I could still hear her crunching , even about the noise of the bus engine

[Petal~flower]

*above!!

[ludwig]

I used to work in an office where there was no eating or drinking (except water) allowed at all. If you wanted a tea or coffee you had to go to the canteen.
You couldn't even suck a mint or chew gum at your desk. If you did you risked some little hitler character telling you off. It was pathetic really - like being back at school. One of the reasons I was happy move on and work in a more grown up environment.

[whiffey]

I take your point ludwig, but is it not excessive to be surrounded all day by the sights and sounds of people eating?

This guy was one day entertaining a visitor to the department, and while he was talking to him he was holding a huge Tupperware container up to his mouth and shovelling in pasta salad with a fork! That is bad manners and disgusting as well. Worse than Masterchef even.

[Myriad2112]

kill the vegetarians

[China Doll]

Are they allowed to eat near their PCs?

I used to work with a girl who ate her lunch at her desk and was a bit slurpy in her eating habbits (think Henry VIIII in the later years style of eating) and it made me feel sick. She also chewed gum all the time but with her mouth open and doing that 'popping' noice which can be fun in the privacy of your own home. In the end I mentioned to our Line Manager that I didn't think we were allowed to eat near our PCs and they put a stop to anyone eating around them. Perhaps that's a way around your problem.

[whiffey]

YET ANOTHER bag of Walker's tomato ketchup crisps has noisily rustled out from the drawer. I am off for a 10 minute walk. I have become expert in judging how long it takes to eat a bag of crisps.

I think I'll go home at midday.

OH, AND AN APPLE TO MY IMMEDIATE RIGHT.

[heathfield]

My advice would be to never, ever, take your colleagues to a cinema!

[China Doll]

They should be hung, drawn and quatered for eating ketchup flavoured crisps anyway. Vile.

Superglue their personal cupboards/drawers shut.

[ludwig]

You do have a point Whiffey. The woman opposite me has a bowl of cornflakes at her desk first thing every morning. Why can't she do it at home? In fact, If all these noisy bar stewards would stop eating and get on with some work, the rest of us might be able to surf the internet in peace. ;-)

[lou 26]

awww whiffey! its one of my pet hates listening to other people eating! if i were you id go in with a big bag of crisps, apples, celery and suchlike and sit there munching and slurping them openmouthed! theres nothing like revenge!

[mirela]

one of my previous workplace , my manager not happy people eating fish in staff room, because the smell stays there for ages.

[whiffey]

We had a meeting last summer to which the chairman brought several multi-packs of crisps. I said to her, you are not seriously going to pass crisps around for 20 people to rustle crunch and munch simultaneously are you? She did, and I pointedly got up and left.

[whiffey]

Fish, yes mirela, we have a small kitchen with a microwave oven. I am sorely tempted to zap up some kippers, smother them with chilli sauce and pepper and slurp them noisily - twice a day, every day.

[aka pixi]

We have a canteen whiffey and I agree about the noisy eaters. I particularly hate people making slopping noises while they eat. I would go with the kipper idea to get your own back.

[wiggal]

Most of the people in the place I work eat lunch at their desks, me included! I only have a sandwich or something, unlike the women opposite me who cnstantly sits and eats crisps, and it is accompanied constantly by heavy breathing all day every day and also burping, which she does, then just carries on without saying anything!

Grrrrrrrrr!

[meglet]

We don't have a canteen or even a kitchen area in our office (which means you have to buy lunch which costs an absolute fortune) and so we have to eat at our desks. BUT I hate other people hearing me eat and each crisp is bitten into as quietly as possible. I'm sure my colleagues would equally have been disgusted by the sight of me tucking into a huge coronation chicken roll today. I had to put a napkin down my cleavage to catch any dropped bits (its a devil haveing large boobs you know) and had to wipe my chops after every mouthful.

Still not alot I can do about it!

[ludwig]

I think noisy people in general are just annoying, whether it be eating, coughing, sniffing, farting, humming, finger drumming or knuckle cracking. I could vomit when I hear someone cracking their knuckles.

[cazzz1975]

breathing is the worst!