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Does the smell of a coworker's food bother you? What about eating around workspace?

Marcel

Member
Microwaved Lean Cuisine etc. italian dishes are almost as bad as fish. Thanks for stinking up the office with ultra processed tomato sauce smell for a day and a half, dude.
 

vypek

Member
It's not some niche preference. The smell of dead fish is supposed to be naturally repulsive to the human senses. Its bacteria is chemically oxidized and turns to ammonia.

Is it? I was always taught that good/bad smells aren't hardwired into our brain and that what we like and dislike as far as scents go is partially learned/social and that there aren't scents that are universally loved or hated
 

venomenon

Member
Smells and especially noises of co-workers eating in the office annoy me massively. I have taken extended smoking breaks so I could avoid it. Not optimal but it's easier than telling them their food stinks and they eat like swine.

Microwaved food that contains fish and/or onions is the worst.
 
It only really bothers me if somebody microwaves something with fish in it. We have a pretty big canteen and even the slightest bit of heated seafood stinks it out
 
Only seafood.

Don't bring in seafood and reheat it in the microwave people.

Someone brought salmon and broccoli and heated it up at work. The entire office smelled like fart the rest of the day. And I took advantage by just doling out SBDs all day and no one was the wiser...I think.
 

Chococat

Member
It's not some niche preference. The smell of dead fish is supposed to be naturally repulsive to the human senses. Its bacteria is chemically oxidized and turns to ammonia.

Is it? I was always taught that good/bad smells aren't hardwired into our brain and that what we like and dislike as far as scents go is partially learned/social and that there aren't scents that are universally loved or hated

It is both. Ammonia smells are hardwired to trigger caution in humans of possible rotting food. But human are born with no smell/taste preference. They are learned from the foods and culture that surround them.

That why offensive food smell are not universal. They are cultural. If you grown up eating fish or curry, they smell great. If you don't, they smell offensive cause they are not food you grew up eating.
 
Seafood and Popcorn eaters are the worst at work. Tied for first place.

Second place is people who eat chips or crunchy foods at their desk.

All can go away forever as far as I'm concerned.
 

Fercho

Member
Being allowed to eat in your workplace is necessary sometimes. Personally sometimes i would not eat at all if not for my company to allow us to do this.

Yes, etiquette is needed , but putting up with your coworker's stinky food (let's say, fish) sometimes is a small price to pay honestly.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
It is both. Ammonia smells are hardwired to trigger caution in humans of possible rotting food. But human are born with no smell/taste preference. They are learned from the foods and culture that surround them.

That why offensive food smell are not universal. They are cultural. If you grown up eating fish or curry, they smell great. If you don't, they smell offensive cause they are not food you grew up eating.

That explains a lot about why their is such a culture clash between west asias and Americans when it comes to smells. The more you know.
 
I'm curious to the vocations of the people that complain about the food smells vs those that don't care.

It seems like a lot of folks here live in Cube Worlds and offices. So either there is an 'Office Etiquette' of some kind, or people just really need to find something to get angry at through the day.

A lot of the jobs I worked you didn't typically have a lot of time to eat. Or you'd skip lunch and get something off the truck, or bring something in, so you could get some work finished by a certain time. Chewing on a slice of cold pizza while getting a timing belt done and whatnot.

Like... unless your office has rules in place specifically dictating food, you should be well aware that other people are gonna do things that you're not gonna like or approve of, because you have to deal with other people. If you want a controlled environment you either need your own office or to work from home. Okay, they guy's leftover mackerel smells kinda bad, but maybe that's all he had to bring in for lunch because he's broke, or being thrifty, or maybe it's his favorite meal.

Or keep a jar of Vick's Vapor Rub at your desk and put a dab under your nose if someone's lunch offends. It's what we'd do when we had to deal with unpleasant cleanup situations. Might be overkill just cause someone doesn't like the smell of a nuked egg.
 

vypek

Member
It is both. Ammonia smells are hardwired to trigger caution in humans of possible rotting food. But human are born with no smell/taste preference. They are learned from the foods and culture that surround them.

That why offensive food smell are not universal. They are cultural. If you grown up eating fish or curry, they smell great. If you don't, they smell offensive cause they are not food you grew up eating.

Pretty cool stuff :) Thanks for the information. Learn something new everyday
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
I'm curious to the vocations of the people that complain about the food smells vs those that don't care.

It seems like a lot of folks here live in Cube Worlds and offices. So either there is an 'Office Etiquette' of some kind, or people just really need to find something to get angry at through the day.

A lot of the jobs I worked you didn't typically have a lot of time to eat. Or you'd skip lunch and get something off the truck, or bring something in, so you could get some work finished by a certain time. Chewing on a slice of cold pizza while getting a timing belt done and whatnot.

Like... unless your office has rules in place specifically dictating food, you should be well aware that other people are gonna do things that you're not gonna like or approve of, because you have to deal with other people. If you want a controlled environment you either need your own office or to work from home. Okay, they guy's leftover mackerel smells kinda bad, but maybe that's all he had to bring in for lunch because he's broke, or being thrifty, or maybe it's his favorite meal.

Or keep a jar of Vick's Vapor Rub at your desk and put a dab under your nose if someone's lunch offends. It's what we'd do when we had to deal with unpleasant cleanup situations. Might be overkill just cause someone doesn't like the smell of a nuked egg.

Its nice to vent and have an area where like minded people can complain about the same thing. No one is forcing people to stop eating what they want, we are all just venting about a common annoyance.
 
Its nice to vent and have an area where like minded people can complain about the same thing. No one is forcing people to stop eating what they want, we are all just venting about a common annoyance.

I guess. It just seems weird to me. I'd even go so far as to say I like it when people bring in weird stuff to eat, since I like trying new things. One of my Korean co-workers likes to bring it all sorts of food that I haven't seen before, so we swap stuff and try things. He found a different brand of Red Pepper Tuna and gave me a can to try, and that stuff was awesome.

Still can't do kimchi though, haven't found one I liked. And man does that stuff have a smell. But it doesn't bug me, I feel like it is rude to bother being offended by it. People are just tryin' to eat.
 

catbird

Neo Member
I made a tuna wrap for lunch yesterday. We don't have a breakroom/kitchen to eat in the building unfortunately. I asked my officemates if they had a problem with the smell before I started to eat, they said no and actually said they felt like eating tuna too and went and got sandwiches at the local deli, lol.

Occasionally there is a bad food smell but it never seems to linger and the office is made up of really chill people who don't seem to be bothered.
 

Mossybrew

Member
Seafood and Popcorn eaters are the worst at work. Tied for first place.

Second place is people who eat chips or crunchy foods at their desk.

All can go away forever as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed here.

There's a part time dude that sits at a desk right next to me, no divider or anything, thankfully only twice a week. But every day he eats a Yoplait, and this motherfucker has to scrape every molecule of yogurt out of that thing before he's done. Ugh.

Generally unless I'm at a restaurant or the dinner table I don't want to hear, smell or see people eat.
 

TheOfficeMut

Unconfirmed Member
Agreed here.

There's a part time dude that sits at a desk right next to me, no divider or anything, thankfully only twice a week. But every day he eats a Yoplait, and this motherfucker has to scrape every molecule of yogurt out of that thing before he's done. Ugh.

Generally unless I'm at a restaurant or the dinner table I don't want to hear, smell or see people eat.

You get irritated by people eating yogurt?

Okay.
 

Ban Puncher

Member
Y'all need to quit your office jobs and pick up a blue collar trade. Nobody complains about smells when you're on the work site gettin' 'er done.
 
I eat at my desk all the time at work. My cafeteria is a good 10 minute walk from where I work, during the summer I don't mind the walk. But I prefer to eat at my desk so I can check NeoGAF or watch YouTube clips while having my privacy.
 

navii

My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
We used to have a girl microwave Asian food... that had a super strong smell that everyone hated, but she had not a clue in the world as I guess she was used to food smelling that way.

What I can't stand is certain perfumes that older women wear. It can give me a headache and that shit smells all day. I think it must have been given to them by their kids or something and they wear it cos they love their kids. Ladies, please poison them, not your co-workers. On the opposite end, if an attractive girl wears a nice perfume at the office and I can smell it, it's hard to... concentrate... I think perfumes should be banned at the office.
 
How about no. What is and offensive smell culinary to you does not apply to everyone. If it bothers you so much, wear a filter.

Sorry, you're wrong here. There is a thing called office etiquitte for a reason. If you don't want to follow it, that's fine, but it exists.
 

LiK

Member
Yah, they eat their shit at their desk instead of the lunchroom. Fuck them and their smelly food.
 
We used to have a girl microwave Asian food... that had a super strong smell that everyone hated, but she had not a clue in the world as I guess she was used to food smelling that way.

What I can't stand is certain perfumes that older women wear. It can give me a headache and that shit smells all day. I think it must have been given to them by their kids or something and they wear it cos they love their kids. Ladies, please poison them, not your co-workers. On the opposite end, if an attractive girl wears a nice perfume at the office and I can smell it, it's hard to... concentrate... I think perfumes should be banned at the office.

I've always heard that as people get older, and their senses start to deteriorate, smell is one of them. So a lot of older ladies will put on enough perfume so THEY can smell it, which means it is an overpowering cloud of death to the rest of the world. Not sure how true it is, but I can see the logic in it.

Anyone who ever went to church knows exactly what you're talking about. That shit bugs me but only because if I can't get away from it I'll start getting a headache. Gasoline, diesel, gear oil, whatever... that doesn't bother me. But a blue hair loaded with Eau de Flammable and I'm done. Never had that sort of reaction from any foods though.
 

Saganator

Member
I can deal with smelly food for the most part, it's the loud eaters that drive me nuts. I used to sit next to a sales guy with no divider, he chewed with his mouth open and made all kinds of disgusting sounds. Whenever he took a sip of his drink, he would make a lip smacking sound after he swallowed. To top it off, when he was working he pounded on his keyboard and mouse, so pretty much everything this guy did was obnoxious. I hated sitting next to him so much that I asked to be moved and now I share a small office with an IT guy who's rarely here, so glad I asked to move.

There is another person here who has dentures, nothing wrong with that, I'll probably need them one day myself, but after she eats you can hear her tongue gymnastics trying to get food out from between her teeth or something, it's pretty gross sounding. I really want to buy her some mouthwash and floss and leave it on her desk.
 

Pastry

Banned
As long as it's not fish or microwaved popcorn I'm all good. But keep that shit the fuck out of the office. Everyone in my department eats at their desk most of the time, really not an issue 99% of the time.
 
The whole point is that these foods aren't universally smelly

That isn't the point. He pretty much said fuck you if you don't like what I heat up, I'm trying to eat healthy, wear a filter. That shit doesn't fly in most places. Office etiquitte is a real thing. Now, he doesn't have to like it and can be *that* guy, but it still exists.

And I'm sorry but unless you are smack in the middle of Asia or India, you should understand your strong smelling curry or fish will make the office smell and even if it's not smelly to YOU, your office shouldn't have to smell that shit all day. Again, etiquitte. And this is coming from someone who loves curry and fish.
 
Sorry, you're wrong here. There is a thing called office etiquitte for a reason. If you don't want to follow it, that's fine, but it exists.

And this is where I'm in disagreement. If your office has rules that you have to follow? Fine. Those can be enforced and whatnot.

But if you just expect people to follow some sort of unwritten magic group-think about what is okay and not okay to eat? Nothing you can do about it. Rice with a can of spicy tuna on top is awesome, filling, and rather healthy. Not to mention in places where fish is the primary source of protein almost everyone has a fish dish. I don't usually heat mine up cause it's fine just out of the can over some nuked rice, but it still smells a bit fishy.

You don't get to determine my eating habits just because your nostrils are mildly inconvenienced by good food.
 

OnPoint

Member
Don't care what you eat. Don't care where you eat it.

Just eat it courteously. Fucking dude here crunches carrots like he's recording SFX for a Bugs Bunny cartoon or something. Shut your freaking lips you cro mag.
 
Don't care what you eat. Don't care where you eat it.

Just eat it courteously. Fucking dude here crunches carrots like he's recording SFX for a Bugs Bunny cartoon or something. Shut your freaking lips you cro mag.

My boss is doing this literally right now, lol. I didn't notice it until you mention it. Loud as a motherfucker.

I ain't saying shit, lol. I got bills.
 

Piggus

Member
Our old HR person put out an email saying not to bring "ethnic food" or "old fish," which resulted in a lot of ridicule. Old fish, yes. Duh. But ethnic food? What does that even mean?

One of my coworkers is the loudest eater/drinker I've ever seen. It's like he's trying to get a workout when he eats. Another eats only gluten free and vegan, so it sounds like she's eating gravel multiple times per day. Thank god for headphones.
 

TheOfficeMut

Unconfirmed Member
Our old HR person put out an email saying not to bring "ethnic food" or "old fish," which resulted in a lot of ridicule. Old fish, yes. Duh. But ethnic food? What does that even mean?

Assuming you're American? Then only burgers, hawt dawgs and freedom fries!
 

Sane_Man

Member
I couldn't give a shit. Some smells aren't overly pleasant but neither is being at work. Annoying coworkers are the biggest problem.
 
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