I don't know if it just the fact that I've only been exposed to an office environment for only a little while after basically being raised blue-collar style where diets really aren't something to worry about or if I'm just hopeless when it comes to understanding social conventions but I will never understand the strange hot/cold relationship office workers (at least the ones I work with) have with food.
This, quite frankly irritating, relationship usually plays out like this:
1. Everyone goes on and on about how there's nothing to snack on at work during the day.
2. After encouragement, someone (sometimes me because I like to bake) brings something in to share.
3. Everyone complains about how they're "going to get fat eating this" and only take small portions seemingly in order to keep from offending the giver.
4. The giver takes the leftovers home because it appears no one is really interested in the snack.
5. Coworkers complain that there are no leftovers while simultaneously complaining about having to eat healthy to combat the calories gained by consuming the snack.
6. Go back to step one and repeat indefinitely.
I just don't understand, if they are truly worried about gaining weight then why do they try to get someone to bring in snacks or baked goods? If they actually do want to have a tasty snack, why do they complain when one is given to them? My theory is that they do want to enjoy a nice snack but they complain about gaining weight out of fear of being seen as fat, which seems pointless to me. I also think this annoying snack food loop is due to the chokeholds they have on their diets. They have these periods where they totally let go and eat whatever they want; they get take-out a couple times a week, they buy doughnuts in the morning or other such things but then practically over night they switch to only eating extremely small meals and not snacking for a month. It is usually during these health crackdowns that they start the above mentioned process again.
They seem to lack balance and it drives me bonkers. I had never really seen so many people have such a hard time balancing eating decent food and junk food. It's like they are diet bi-polar. It's also mind boggling to me that they are all like this, it's not just a couple people in the office, it's the entire office. That's why I'm not sure if this is just how office workers are or if the people I know outside of work are just weird because they can understand the concept that a person can eat healthy and have a little junk food now and then.
Every time that someone brings a snack and they start complaining I just want to shout at them all:
Just eat the damn cheesecake! As long as you don't eat the whole thing by yourself, it won't kill you! And if you really don't want it, stop freaking asking for someone to bring something in, eat your very small and sadly bare salad and be quiet!