An Open Letter to Co-Workers Who Bring Mystery Food to Work
It's always an amazing treat when your co-workers bring food to work for everyone...until it's not.
Today, it seemed as a pleasant surprise that a co-worker of mine had brought what appeared to be chocolate muffins to work for all to enjoy. Before I go any further, let me explain something.
First off, chocolate muffins are amazing. The muffins with a chocolate cake base with chocolate chips mixed in are pretty much the perfect dessert. Don't even get me started on how good the muffin tops are. Seinfeld references aside, if there are chocolate muffins around, you know I have to have one.
Now don't get me wrong, when co-workers bring in food, it is most certainly always appreciated. This is the type of thing that can make one's day, even if they're not having the best day at work. Let's be honest, when you learn that someone has brought food for the office, it's instantly an amazing day. However, there are those instances when things aren't quite always what they seem.
I returned to the office after lunch today when my co-worker, Cool 98.7's Wish, whom I happen to share an office with, mentioned something to the effect of, "Hey, someone brought in chocolate muffins." My eyes lit up knowing I need to retrieve one before they're all gone. At the time, I was slightly distracted with some work I had just gotten into, as Wish was about to eat his 'chocolate' muffin. The next thing I heard from Wish struck me as very odd, given this 135 lb grown man eats more than anyone I know. Wish said, "These smell weird." He then took a bite, "I think there's a presence of chocolate." This did not sit well with me.
However, seeing as I how I enjoy proving Wish wrong, I needed to explore these muffins for myself. As I took a muffin from the tray they were in and back to my office, I also noticed a different smell. I took a few bites and said, "This is not a chocolate muffin." I got through three small bites and discarded the rest. I had been robbed of the chocolatey goodness that I had been expecting.
Wish and I needed to know what this bizarre flavor of muffin was. We phoned Lauren a few offices down and she told us, "They're chocolate-banana." Uggh, what?! I understand that there are some people out there who may like chocolate-banana, but to me, someone who does not prefer anything banana flavored, not even bananas for that matter (yes, I understand the positive nutrition value of bananas), this was gross. I was not pleased with the chocolate-banana muffins. They were not at all what they seemed to be.
Again, I appreciate the fact that someone went to the trouble to make these muffins. It's a fantastic gesture. That being said, the tray these muffins were brought in had no labeling what so ever. Just an aluminum tray with no representation. As vague of a treat as it could have possibly been. There has to be a solution to this. These mysterious foods that are not quite what they seem need proper labeling and representation.
I also discussed this topic with a good friend of mine, also in the realm of radio. She told me horror stories of her Program Director's wife bringing in several foods, such as cupcakes, scones, and pepperoni rolls, that were also falsely represented. Another case she described from a separate endeavor was an unlabeled plate of salmon cookies. Why would anyone make such a cookie, and not label it? And who makes salmon cookies? That sounds throw-up-in-your-mouth-awful!
I'll reiterate, I really do appreciate the trouble someone would go through to cook up a treat for the office. Their heart was in the right place. However, can we ask that these treats have proper labeling? I ask this on behalf of anyone who's ever had a co-worker bring in food for the office, only to end up with a completely different result from what they hoped for. Make the mystery food not so much of a mystery with proper representation. Let's be honest, it's probably happened more times than you'd think.