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[RichiRamjag]

I think OP was right to feel violated, I don't like people fucking with my food either. The issue was with how you handled it. You could have asked that he not do that again rather than accuse him of dropping all kinds of shit into your meal and demanding he buy you another lunch.

Then you left it on his desk. Just not classy at all.

 

[Majorzero]

Poor Arnold trying to befriend the odd guy in the office and this is the thanks he gets.

 

[TheBlueBomber]

i personally wont eat any food unless i know someone else has sniffed it

Same

 

[ironcreed]

Now I just want his coworker to tell "I can smell your lunch!" and then later fling some chicken grease at him.

LMAO.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

The Abominable Snowman

abominable

Adjective
1.
repugnantly hateful; detestable; loathsome:
an abominable crime.
2.
very unpleasant; disagreeable:
The weather was abominable last week.
3.
very bad, poor, or inferior:
They have abominable taste in clothes.

Username checks out

 

[le.phat]

You sound like a total asshole OP. You should apologize to the guy for being pusjy and obnoxious.

 

[Aske]

I wouldn't say you were unreasonable, OP; just extremely tactless. It's easy to handle something like that if you do so in a more controlled, less accusatory manner. Never make someone feel defensive if you're trying to express something that will make them feel guilt. I'd have told him I didn't mean to be rude, but I really didn't feel comfortable about him being that close to my food. Offer it to him; if he's eaten, let him know he can have it to eat later, as you leave to buy yourself a new lunch.

I know that's easier said than done when your visceral reaction is to retch, especially if someone has angered you. But if you become indignant, no matter how righteously, the other person will feel defensive and treat you like an adversary. That's not helpful for furthering the working relationship or creating mutual understanding; much less changing someone's behaviour, or making you feel better.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

Sorry OP but you come off as a real jerk. And that's going off your version of events.

You should definitely apologize to the guy. Say something like 'My bad, man. When it comes to stuff like that I'm more neurotic than a Woody Allen marathon,' and laugh it off. Offer to buy him lunch. That way he feels better and you feel better.

This sounds like a good way to try to smooth things over.

 

[3N16MA]

Arnold picked up the container and opened the lid to stick his nose in and take a sniff. He needs to learn about boundaries and know it's not OK to touch whatever he wants.

OP needs to learn how to talk to someone without freaking out.

 

[Replicant]

Overreaction would be an understatement

Have you met Serah's sister Eclair?

Damn it. I was grinning like idiot in crowded bus because of this.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I'm confused. Did he actually give you money for a new one or did you just ask that he buy you a new one? It sounds like you just bought another lunch.

 

[impact]

Poor Arnold trying to befriend the odd guy in the office and this is the thanks he gets.

if someone is putting their face in my food as a way to try and befriend me, I'd rather not be friends with him

I feel for you OP. I guess we're assholes

 

[hydragonwarrior]

If the food was cheap, I'd just get another one and joke about like "holy crap, you were so close to my food"

He'd have apologized, you'd have a laugh and life would have gone on.

I'm assuming the lunch was like at most 10 or 11 bucks. Wen you push someone into doing something unexpected, some completely give way and others completely dig in their heels and will not budge for reasons you cannot control. You were handed the latter.

Because you forced it, of course he's upset. You may be right, but there was probably a better way of handling it.

As for fixing it - be a man, go and apologize for overreacting with a lunch of your own. You won't lose anything.

 

[Saganator]

Hey OP, if you ever get passed up for a promotion and wonder why, see this thread. If I was your boss I'd make sure you'd never have anyone working under you if that's how you treat people. Hell, I might even start thinking about replacing you if you have any interaction with big clients.

Got any jokers in that office? If that happened in my office, you'd be at the butt of the jokes, not the other guy.

You should apologize, and do it so the office can hear.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

Arnold-bacteria probably gets on you more when he closetalks to you than when he sniffed your food.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

lol wtf what a weird extreme overreaction. That's all I have to add really.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

If anyone needs to apologize it's Arnold

 

[Grazzt]

Holy shit. This is why nobody you work with likes you btw; you're a complete douchebag.

.

 

[xxracerxx]

I would have said "Dude, please don't open my lunch."

Making him buy you a new lunch is ridiculous.

 

[Ryaaan14]

lmao I hope for your sake this is a joke thread

People are weird as fuck here sometimes I swear. It's like a museum of bizarre human behavior.

 

[EchoChamber]

So OP disappears again when a thread backfire happens 😂

 

[davidwhangchoi]

Lmao

Who picks up someone's food, opens the container lid, and takes a huge inhale of someone's food?

if you smell what the Rock is cookin,

seriously, it's gross if it's a stranger. but i wouldn't have put it on his desk.

 

[not psycho]

3) I actually think it's a bit rude to bring strong smelling food into the office, since it basically makes the entire area smell what you are eating. Office logistics etc. may make this more passable, but at least where I work we try not to do that. One person with a strong smelling lunch can fill the entire corner of the office building; not everyone wants to know what you eating for lunch.

Hahaha.

Also there is the "once you hate someone" factor. OP already thinks coworker is gross, so of course they are grossed out about them sniffing their food.

If the situation was reversed OP would probably be upset about "gross coworker smelling up the place with their food".

 

[ironcreed]

I can't help but think about all of the times I have been out with friends and/or associates and we would smell or even try a bite of each others dish if it was something delicious. This is normal human behavior. At least where I come from. Hell, how about everyone digging into the same pizza box or box of wings with their hands?

 

[30yearsofhurt]

We have a guy like OP. He thinks he's God's gift to IT. He's new to our team.
One of our guys was sitting behind him giving him some on-the-job training.
He pointed at his computer screen and briefly brushed God's gift's arm.
God's gift then had a hissy fit about personal space and not wanting to be touched.

Now no-one talks to him.
The boss wont even go to his desk to give him work.

We wont be keeping God's gift. But we will sure be talking about him behind his back when we go to our end of quarter lunch that he wont be invited to.

 

[TimeEffect]

The fuck is your problem dude. He sniffed your food, he didn't masturbaate in it.

At some point you are going to have to admit to yourself that your germaphobia is causing you genuine issues in everyday life and social situations.

Explain to him that you're ridiculously anal about food and germs, and that you didn't appreciate the completely innocuous thing he did because of it. This is on you.

Keep in mind that semen based recipes are a thing. I read so on GAF.

 

[Saganator]

This is normal human behavior. At least where I come from. Hell, how about everyone digging into the same pizza box or box of wings with their hands?

I come from Earth, it's pretty normal behavior over here too.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

I can't help but think about all of the times I have been out with friends and/or associates and we would smell or even try a bite of each others dish if it was something delicious. This is normal human behavior. At least where I come from. Hell, how about everyone digging into the same pizza box or box of wings with their hands?

So you would be ok if someone you didn't know opened up your food and brought it up to their face to smell it?

 

[Dennis]

We get these backfire threads often.

Do you think any OPs ever take it to heart?

"Thanks GAF, I now see the error of my ways and I will change my future behavior in these social situations"

 

[TheBear]

I can clearly see Arnold pick up my food container, flip up the lid, and SNIFF my food. My food was so close to his face, I swear I could see the front part of the lid brush up against his top lip.

Can you please draw a diagram detailing the proximity of his face to your food, I'm having trouble picturing it

 

[RefigeKru]

He has this annoying habit of invading space, though. If we are having a conversation, he will slide up next to me like hes whispering a dark secret but continue to talk out loud. When he comes up to greet you, its always a slight 'massage' to the shoulder or back of the neck. Very weird but I guess he's just very extroverted and comfortable or something.

Had to lol reading this bit.

Apologise to him and offer to buy his lunch, maybe you can move past this.

 

[gutter_trash]

You guys are being rough on the OP

My Larry David side of me agrees with him

 

[Saganator]

So you would be ok if someone you didn't know opened up your food and brought it up to their face to smell it?

It's a little space invadey but nothing to freak out over like the OP did. You realize a lot of your food is touched by people you don't know?

 

[pizzapizza64]

We get these backfire threads often.

Do you think any OPs ever take it to heart?

"Thanks GAF, I now see the error of my ways and I will change my future behavior in these social situations"

I would imagine they just interpret it as "everyone else is wrong."

 

[ironcreed]

So you would be ok if someone you didn't know opened up your food and brought it up to their face to smell it?

But he knows the guy, as he sees him every day at work. If he just commented on how great it smelled and took a whiff I would have thought nothing of it. I probably would have even tore a piece of chicken off and been like, "here, try a bite."

 

[Harmen]

Overreaction for sure. Sniffing is odd, though I can kind of see a person wanting to track a scent to determine where a smell is coming from. Also, I can garantuee you most of the food you eat has been in contact with many, many sources of germs.

 

[Ivan 3414]

Explain to him that you're ridiculously anal about food and germs, and that you didn't appreciate the completely innocuous thing he did because of it. This is on you.

I mean he needs to apologize, but you might as well have told him to drop to the floor and bow, Jesus Christ

 

[Redd]

You kind of overreacted a little. I would've let him know that wasn't cool with me but then nuke the food in the microwave for a minute or so.

 

[Sanjuro]

The fact Arnold is still breathing is a testament to your generosity.

 

[Kurt Angle]

"Well you can have that one and get me another one. I don't want your nose hair and breath and boogers in my food."

this is how you lose friends

glad i dont work with you

 

[Ryaaan14]

I eagerly await the thread by OP saying he broke up w his girl cos she ate one of his French fries after she clearly told him she didn't want her own order of them

 

[Chie Satonaka]

I can't help but think about all of the times I have been out with friends and/or associates and we would smell or even try a bite of each others dish if it was something delicious. This is normal human behavior. At least where I come from. Hell, how about everyone digging into the same pizza box or box of wings with their hands?

These aren't comparable situations. If you order a pizza to share, you expect people to be touching the slices of pizza they're going to take. If you go out to a dinner with friends you know and your people share food from each other's plates, that's something you expect to happen.

Some dude coming up to your cubicle, opening up your food, and putting his face in it aren't these things.

Like I said, it's really strange to me that people are okay with this. I can understand jumping on OP for his passive aggressive behavior afterwards, but it's clear that some people just don't have boundaries, for better or for worse.

Can you please draw a diagram detailing the proximity of his face to your food, I'm having trouble picturing it

Please do. Let's salvage this thread and all have a laugh.

Spoiler

But don't touch my food.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

This is almost a Clickhole story.

http://www.clickhole.com/article/fall-grace-5-incidents-led-me-having-only-one-fork-4158

I was sitting on the deck of the ship holding my forks on my lap when a sea lion jumped out of the water, slithered over to my box of forks, and smelled my handsome forks, thus ruining them. I let out a horrible wail as I dumped my smelled, ruined forks over the side of the boat and into the sea.

You don't want to be almost a Clickhole story.

 

[Ivan 3414]

We get these backfire threads often.

Do you think any OPs ever take it to heart?

"Thanks GAF, I now see the error of my ways and I will change my future behavior in these social situations"

How is this a thread backfire

OP asked a question and got the answer. If OP felt objectively correct OP's post would be framed a lot differently

 

[akilshohen]

Nope. I don't think you overreacted. Very out of line to LIFT THE LID and sniff. The coworker doesn't work around the food before it goes out anyway.

 

[D4Danger]

I'm with you, op. you don't go around handling people's food.

saying that I would apologise because you made your point and you need to smooth things over

 

[Alligatorjandro]

It's a little space invadey but nothing to freak out over like the OP did. You realize a lot of your food is touched by people you don't know?

I wouldn't want someone's face in my food.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

We get these backfire threads often.

Do you think any OPs ever take it to heart?

"Thanks GAF, I now see the error of my ways and I will change my future behavior in these social situations"

I'm considering buying him some donuts or lunch or something. The office supplies coffee and breakfast items.

He hoards the breakfast items and snacks on them throughout the day, so I'm sure he'll appreciate it. I may even apologize. I was just hangry (hungry+angry), maybe.

 

[SecretDan]

Seek help.

Poor Arnold.

 

[Saganator]

We get these backfire threads often.

Do you think any OPs ever take it to heart?

"Thanks GAF, I now see the error of my ways and I will change my future behavior in these social situations"

That's what a normal well adjusted person would do. The problem is people who can make those kinds of adjustments don't end up posting these kinds of threads. They might start typing one out, but as they're typing it out they probably figure it out and never post.