Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Red Onions & The Cafeteria files

For those who don't know, I despise onions. Red, sweet, Vidalia--I don't care! Get them away from me, don't present them to me, etc. Why am I mentioning this, you ask? Because I smell them. I am at my desk and I smell them SO strongly that I felt the need to vent (sorry!).


We have a cafeteria for a reason. I understand it's not the best, and in fact, it's often messy and cluttered and let's face it--not as clean as it could and should be. But it's there to be used. They have several tables waiting for you to eat your meal. So why do you insist on eating at your desk, mere feet from me, smelling up the room with your salad that everyday without fail, includes a PILE of red onions on top?


I can't say that I have never eaten at my desk. Back when I worked under 'BP' (that's another blog entry), I would only get a half hour and had to be back promptly or else I'd get a nasty email. So on the days that I didn't have a packed lunch, I'd have to run out. By the time I'd run out and pick up food, I'd have limited time left to actually eat it upstairs in the cafeteria. What do you do then? Eat at your desk. Now I know we're all entitled to eat whatever we'd like (and I myself don't eat a lot of 'out of the norm', smelly foods) but if you know that your co-workers are super close and can smell (and therefore become nauseated by your smelly food choices) why not NOT eat them at work? 


And I'm not just talking onions. People will make fish (yes, all kinds of smelly fish) in the microwaves down in the main room, stinking it up like a seafood joint and then proceed to eat it at their desk. They have since limited that down here and encourage those who wish to eat sea creatures to heat and eat upstairs, but anything else goes down here apparently. And while onions might not be the most noxious item, they still smell. Especially when drenched in vinegar or balsamic or whatever you're putting on them to make your salad how you like it. 


I just ask for some common courtesy, especially when we all don't have the same culinary tastes. I don't want to smell onions, I don't want to watch you eat them at your desk...especially when we have a cafeteria where you can do as you please. People are notorious for eating at their desks here (and I'm not just talking about those with a time crunch!)


It's just rude. I now take an hour and enjoy my break upstairs, eating and reading AWAY from my desk that I am chained to for the rest of the workday. 


Where has common courtesy gone?!

1 comment:

  1. Ah, such a shame! :( It's unfortunate that areas shared by more than a single person tend to have less care... probably because then people can put the blame on someone else in their head. It's the sad truth! Hopefully people will learn soon. Or who knows, maybe you'll begin to like the smell of onions? ;)

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