The Breakfast Nazis Strike Back

[katepaulk]

Those who know me know that a few weeks back I had an issue in which an anonymous person or persons (hereafter known as The Breakfast Nazis for reasons that will quickly become obvious) decreed that I was causing problems in the office at work because - horror of horrors - I made breakfast that had (gasp) bacon in it, and they could smell

Comments

[s2la]

At my workplace, we had individuals reheat their asian cuisine lunches in our break room and drive everybody out of the building...

Seriously, I would imagine that your cooking doesn't smell anywhere near like that example - why not try spraying Febreze or similar spray in the kitchen after cooking, and if the Breakfast Nazis still strike again, turn the tables on them and inform HR that you *must* eat in the morning, it's a low blood sugar/low insulin/whatever condition, you are taking every reasonable precaution to reduce the smell and hence *they* are infringing on *your* workplace rights "with malicious intent" - these last three words being key to activating the sensitivities of HR.

[brownkitty]

This is much better than my idea, which would be to prepare food in a location other than the kitchen.

[ext_15764]

I agree with Speaker - but don't hesitate to play the disability "reasonable accommodation" card as well.

[mbarker]

A thought - invite various other members of your local office to join you for breakfast. In particular, get the local boss (or reasonable facsimile) involved in breakfast meetings. I suspect you don't really want to talk to people while waking up and eating, but it is amazing how many people want to munch together. Get some other people involved and supporting use of the kitchen.

There was a round of complaints about the smell of food at one of our offices about 6 years ago - that one ended up with a redesign of the kitchen, including a door and exhaust fan. And our department budget paid for it, even though the demand came from HR. I remember because the department head was livid about it.

Not smells but time and territory?

[jane_barfly]

It might not be a breakfast smells thing, really, but that's what they can say, because, really, saying, "she's taking my kitchen" might sound petty even to them.

Could it be that someone feels territorial about a quiet time in the kitchen area in the morning, and resents someone else actually using it as a kitchen, rather than allowing it to be a semi-private sitting-and-coffee space?

If it's that sort of territory issue, with someone resenting "their space" taken up by cooking, and other stand-up activities, I don't see a simple solution. Nuking dinner leftovers and standing up after a fifteen-minute or twenty-minute walk to work might work, and a cheery "good morning" would surely make them look stupid, but I don't quite have a killer solution.

Laura
Whose daughter prefers flakes-and-milk, and whose son prefers dal, or eggs, or leftover chili, or anything high-protein and complex carb.

[oldcurlywolf]

if you lived down here I'd suggest getting me their home address from which they'd promptly [and permanently..I HATE people like that.] disappear.