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[Closed] Left over working lunch buffet etiquette

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[#9946968]

If we have a working lunch any leftovers are placed in the kitchen adjacent to the conference rooms for people to help themselves.

Do you :

A. Take one item leaving plenty for everyone.

B. Hoover up as much as you can and waddle out with a stack of sandwiches and a pork pie in each pocket.

Think carefully how you answer, because come The Revolution one lot of you will be up against the wall.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:30 pm
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depends on the sandwich-curl quotient, but generally 4x sandwich corners (and not just the beef or ham, take a cheese bullet for the team) and a mouthful of salt and vinegar crisps.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:32 pm
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I'll just stand around, sometimes hiding behind a pillar while i've got my mouth full until someone sees me eating, then i'll sheepishly grab a handful of cake and saunter out


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:35 pm
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I'm known as an eater, if I haven't already spotted them people come and tell me about them. On this basis, and to go with my proven pedigree, I pile in and smash a good few


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:37 pm
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Depriving others of pork pies is a very very dangerous game to be playing


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:41 pm
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c: somewhere in the middle.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:43 pm
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c: somewhere in the middle.

I don’t have OCD about much but that’s triggered something in me!

a) Take one...

c) Somewhere in the middle

b) Hoover up...


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:48 pm
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Pile in and fill yer boots.

Evolution favours the bold.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:49 pm
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There are 2 types of people when it comes to buffet leftovers...

The Fast and the Hungry.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:50 pm
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Most people here just take all they want so if you're number 3 or 4 in line chances are all you'll get is a curled-up egg mayo sandwich. We have one guy that actually checks meeting times when he's sees a buffet has been ordered and pounces straight away. Being a tight-arsed company the buffet stuff we buy looks ropey even when it's fresh so I never bother unless I'm coincidentally making a cup of tea when it appears.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:53 pm
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Playing devil's advocate,

It's leftovers.  It's not food for the office, it's there so it doesn't go to waste.  The more people take, the less goes in the bin.

It's a non-issue for me as there's rarely anything I can eat, but if that weren't the case I'd probably take something at the time and go back for seconds after everyone else has grazed.  Seems fair to me.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:53 pm
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Also......once you've gorged yourself on as much foraged grub as you can carry, you should wash it all down by drinking your own piss.

It's what Bear Grylls would do.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:56 pm
 sbob
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You need a chair and a bin between your legs. Assuming standard buffet triangles one bite is sufficient to consume 85% of the good stuff, crust gets dropped into the bin. Sausage rolls can and should be defended with a fork. If the buffet has been out a while, ignore the white bread and stick to the brown, it will be less stale.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 3:57 pm
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That just reminded me - there was a meeting with buffet luch on in the office earlier today.

*heads off to see what's left*

EDIT: Disapponted to find nothing left from the meeting. Turns out the office "eater" was already in the meeting and scoffed the lot.
Added bonus to find birthday donuts in the kitchen area though! There's one less there now. 🙂


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:03 pm
 DrJ
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Sausage rolls

Sausage rolls? Where do you work?

<dusts off CV>


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:11 pm
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ahh the old bowl of crisps gamble, do you take a handful and stuff them straight into your mouth thinking you're getting S&V when you actually get a mouthful of beef! eugghhhh.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:17 pm
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I see your sausage rolls and raise you chicken satay on sticks, samosas, spring rolls and pizza.

We're dead posh!


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:18 pm
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Jungle rules apply:

Eat as much as you can, as quickly as you can.

Guard the silver foil platters like they're your first born.

RM.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:18 pm
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The real prize is the Chicken Pakora.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:19 pm
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If it was in the late 90’s and you used to work in an open office with a 50/50 split of men and women, then the women would beat you with thier flailing elbows as they flock like flamingoes towards the “silver plate” leftovers.

The only remnants being the sandwiches that had been handled 42times, sneezed upon or half eaten.

We used to go for the unopened bags of crisps.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:26 pm
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Every man for himself, this includes birthday cakes when passes from your co. to the office as a whole and left-over booze from the office party.

Whenever spare food finds itself in some hardcore socialist utopia it spoils whilst everyone has a two day workshop on how it should be fairly divided.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:37 pm
 DrJ
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you actually get a mouthful of beef!

Fnarr fnarr!


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:40 pm
 beej
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If it's lunch leftovers it'll be second lunch for me, so I'll have a couple of sandwich triangles and one or two other bits.

If I've been in the meeting, there won't be leftovers. It's unacceptable when children are starving... etc.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:44 pm
 kcal
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I think I'd not be able to hang about and completely stuff myself. Would have a good handful though.

Where U sed to work, in case clients were still about the building, but not in the lunch room, there'd be a coded message over the Tannoy basically "free leftovers in boardroom" but it was not phrased like that obviously, didn't avoid the stampede though of underfed (and overfed) engineers..


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:48 pm
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Dive in, get your fill and get out. Yes, don't take the proverbial and just take the whole platter, but certainly don't be shy.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:51 pm
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Smash the lot of it, in one mouth full, then stick two fingers up in the style of Vivian from the young ones.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 4:55 pm
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There are 2 types of people when it comes to buffet leftovers…

The Fast and the Hungry.

Damn right! Last place I worked there were often left-overs after a client visit, and as the clients were mostly from major charities the buffet was usually a bit above average. I’d try to make sure I got a good helping before the locusts from other departments caught wind of free grub being available.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:03 pm
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I eats all the strawberries and melon chunks


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:04 pm
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Each man or lady for themselves, fill your mouth/pockets/boots


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:07 pm
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After the announcement of free food usually no-one moves, everyone wants to go over and get some free food but no-one dare be up first at risk of being called greedy or someone shouting out 'hah, I knew you'd be first up there fatty' so you rally your troops and get together with at least 2 other like minded individuals from your team and saunter over.
and There is ALWAYS a grated cheese sandwich on brown bread which has forlornly fallen open and spread it's contents all the over rest of the platter.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:15 pm
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it's all fair game - especially the cheese and crackers. noms.

it's surprising that no-one eats the cheese in the meeting but EVERYONE wants it afterwards.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:19 pm
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And don't forget to work from the top down - don't settle for an egg mayo sandwich when there is still coronation chicken to be had. Don't take an individual broccoli quiche when there are still mini scotch eggs or chicken tikka skewers on the platter.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:28 pm
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Pah, amateurs.

Being known as the office eater, the buffet leftovers are delivered to me at my desk by whoever was at the meeting and people are told its there and they can have some if they ask nicely.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:31 pm
 DrJ
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Crisps - there's a working lunch presentation conundrum. Are they as loud to everyone else as they are inside my head?


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:39 pm
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If you have an leftovers after a working lunch then you need to change your buffet supplier to a tastier one.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:48 pm
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Drj, Do you chew with your mouth open?


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:50 pm
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Being known as the office eater, the buffet leftovers are delivered to me at my desk

At pretty much every company I've ever worked for, the IT department has been the food disposal department.  Nerds might not have any social skills but by christ can they eat.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 5:59 pm
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At pretty much every company I’ve ever worked for, the IT department has been the food disposal department.  Nerds might not have any social skills but by christ can they eat.

It's the novelty value, unless they're still living with their mums all they eat at home are Cheerios and pizza.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 6:17 pm
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I had this dilemma today. My packed lunch normally consists of 2 sandwiches and a bag of crisps or something. Today i had three 1/4s of sandwiches and a bit of salad (didn't want to dive straight in to gluttony) and was debating going for seconds.....once everyone had been up I made my return, purely to avoid any waste you understand.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 6:27 pm
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Eat as much as you can until you are full and then have two more sandwiches. Finally lie under the table like a stuffed python.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 6:30 pm
 Drac
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working lunch buffet

A what?

Is that the same as cramming haribo down your throat on the way to your next call?


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 6:44 pm
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My M/O is either to enter the room making vulture noises and flapping my arms whilst circling the table (this way it’s clear what my intentions are) or just pile in and take the whole platter back to the office to ‘make sure the caretakers get some’. No-one has yet challenged me on either tactic.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 7:35 pm
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Now this is a proper STW thread.

And fortune favours the fast.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 7:40 pm
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Hoover away but beware the egg mayonnaise sandwiches if they've been sat out of the fridge a while😮


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 7:45 pm
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In one legendary incident at our place the meeting was running late, so lunch wasn't retrieved from the kitchen quickly enough. When the directors came out to get it they were greeted by the sight of a couple of engineers polishing the lot off.


 
Posted : 17/04/2018 7:59 pm
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