Dillards 70: Their Behavior Is Always Pretty Weird

[nausicaa]

8 hours ago, fluffernutter said:

I worked at an office once, and this one co-worker would seriously eat at least 2 bags a day. It smelled up the whole office, and her cubicle was always greasy and had little bits of popcorn everywhere. I didn't enjoy that at all. But I do love the taste of popcorn and will eat it every time we go to the movies. MrFluffer makes caramel corn every year and we hand it out as gifts to friends/family.

Ugh, why did no one tell me about office food etiquette when I first began working? I was trying to lose weight and two of my mainstays were tuna fish with shredded cheese (heated up) and unbuttered popcorn (and one time accidentally burnt right before a co-worker was having important guests arriving for some big meeting). I want to write belated "I'm Sorry" notes to everyone I used to work with. I'm sure they hated my guts. 

I pride myself on being considerate and just do a full body cringe every time this topic comes up. 

[Georgiana]

25 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

I assumed that it’d be the first post that is genuinely offensive - like when Derick has gone after Jazz Jennings, Jessa compared the Holocaust to abortion, or Jeremy signed that “social justice is totes not a thing librul snowflakes!” manifesto thing. 

Jill's actually done remarkably well at keeping offensive posts at bay, especially considering who her husband is.  She's broken the veil a few times: she did do the Duggar standard politicized pregnancy with Izzy, she's shown some questionable prayer card things about enforcing gender in children, etc.  Nothing to outright offend, but enough to safely surmise that she agrees with her husband's positions.  

Mostly Jill is just off-putting. Like her pregnancy with Izzy.  There wasn't too much WRONG necessarily with their social media.  They were having fun and enjoying the time.  But it was too much.  And there's nothing WRONG with her posts about Derick as a husband, they're just so over the top that the natural reaction is an eyeroll.  

Jill just needs to cool her jets.  She tries to make every single thing seem like the hashtagBestEver!, but by and large, her life is just REALLY normal.  She needs to lean into that normalcy, but I think her childhood as the Golden Daughter of the World and TV's Best Christian Family set her up to need to feel set apart and super special.  She only knows how to be the Golden Daughter Jill Duggar, minor Christian celebrity.  She doesn't know how to just be a normal, average person doing normal, average things with a normal, average level of success.  And she doesn't see the beauty in that nor does she understand that it's completely OK to be average.  Most of us are.  That's why it's average.

And I really feel bad for her in that, because it's going to suck any happiness she could have out of her life and burn her out.  

[Maggie Mae]

11 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Ugh, why did no one tell me about office food etiquette when I first began working? I was trying to lose weight and two of my mainstays were tuna fish with shredded cheese (heated up) and unbuttered popcorn (and one time accidentally burnt right before a co-worker was having important guests arriving for some big meeting). I want to write belated "I'm Sorry" notes to everyone I used to work with. I'm sure they hated my guts. 

I pride myself on being considerate and just do a full body cringe every time this topic comes up. 

Honestly, I think this is something that is workplace dependent. I read Ask A Manager and the topic of  "microwaving fish" comes up quite often, but people in my office, at every office I've worked in, and every significant other's office have never heard of this rule. We are a community that relies on fish, though, so YMMV.  I had a few co-workers microwave popcorn and it annoys me, but it's my issue, not theirs. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

I hate when people nuke fish in the office. It's so rude.

[VineHeart137]

16 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I hate when people nuke fish in the office. It's so rude.

I've never worked in an office setting so I didn't realize this was a thing until I tried to pack up leftover salmon for my husband to take to work and he was like "I love you and your food but nope, not gonna be that guy!" You're not alone!

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, Maggie Mae said:

I read Ask A Manager and the topic of  "microwaving fish" comes up quite often, but people in my office, at every office I've worked in, and every significant other's office have never heard of this rule.

I probably have hundreds of anti-fish comments on AAM from when Alison posted about heating it at work.   

[Maggie Mae]

1 hour ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I hate when people nuke fish in the office. It's so rude.

How? People need to eat. Salmon is a huge part of our culture. It smells way better than gross frozen lasagna/ lean cuisine meals. 

If someone overcooks it, maybe. But I'm not going to make a policy making a cheap source of protein to be off-limits because one person complains. Then the next person says that so-and-soes leftover chicken tikka masala smells bad, then someone complains about onions, then someone else complains about sushi or pho or ham (I seriously hate the smell of ham). So either all food is off limits, or no food is. What I think is rude is people who complain vocally in the office about other peoples food. If you don't like something, don't eat it. Don't be dramatic and weird about the smell. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

Fish REEKS. Especially in a closed office with no external ventilation system. 

I work with Indian people who bring their traditional food, Asian people who bring their traditional food, etc.

Nobody complains until the fish comes out. The stench permeates the office and lingers for hours.

 

Edit:  I eat fish, but I do NOT take it to work. 

 

[PennySycamore]

@Maggie Mae, my husband makes salmon pretty frequently, but he does the initial cooking outside so I won't smell it.  I do mind, when he wants to re-heat a piece of salmon in the microwave and he doesn't cover it with a paper towel because it makes a mess.  I don't make popcorn and usually don't make curry when he's home as he hates the smells.

[Rachel333]

Fish just has a remarkably strong smell when microwaved that a huge number of people find unpleasant. It also seems to linger a lot longer than other smells. There's definitely something unique about fish.

[justoneoftwo]

These kind of complaints around my office having no microwave at all policy. There's a microwave in the cafeteria that everyone is supposed to go downstairs to use that. It's terrible and really inconvenient and I wish people could just learn not to microwave fish.

[CaricatureQualities]

It's times like these that I'm really glad I work in a kitchen ?. 

I eat what I want.

Most food smells are neutralized with all the other ones... I mean there is raw seafood in the refrigerated drawer beside me all day and a stack of compost over there there, probably with fish in it.  There are such worse smells sometimes though...Smells shmells I guess. You get used to it. That's a kitchen, not an office though. 

 

.

[Pibblesmiles]

Re:  the tattoo topic from about 8 pages ago.  

I am 49 years old and I am getting a half-sleeve (or at least getting a start on it) in two weeks.  I'm so excited.

I lap swim at the YMCA right after the Senior Water Aerobics class gets out, and, as a result, I have seen quite a few faded, blurry, wrinkled, and saggy tattoos.  My reaction has always been "You go girl!  Rock those tatts.  You were making a bold statement before ink became mainstream".  Many of these ladies in their 70s and 80s have also complimented me on one of my tattoos, and that has sparked some great conversations in the locker room (usually with the ladies walking around completely naked, and seemingly completely unconcerned about the effects time has had on their bodies).  You go, ladies!

Mashed potatoes -- sour cream, sa!t, and dill.  Then re-use the water used to boil the potatoes to make bread.

Popcorn -- salty, please.

Fish -- please re-heat in a frying pan or in the oven.  Not convenient at work, I know.

 

[potato]

Just earlier today someone in my office reheated shrimp in the microwave.  I love me some shrimp, but it did NOT smell good.

[Sky with diamonds]

I can't believe I will say this as a Newfoundlander, but I hate the smell of fish. The smell turned me off from eating it. 

[nastyhobbitses]

I'm friends with a guy who's into natural remedies for minor ailments, which is all fine and good (I'm all for avoiding antibiotics and the like if time, a healthy diet, and natural stuff to relieve your symptoms will get the job done)...except he swears by eating raw garlic to stave off colds. Now, I'm a "three cloves of mashed/minced garlic is not NEARLY enough for this sauce" kinda girl, but hell no to that, especially if other people have to smell you. 

Also, for pleasant smells, I made brioche from scratch a couple weeks ago for an RPG potluck, and the entire Tube ride over to where the event was being held, I kept opening up my Tupperware containing the bread to just sniff it like I was a weird carb addict. IT SMELLED SO DAMN GOOD. 

[LittleOwl]

I'm having to pick up some fish during my lunch break today for my youth group activity tonight.  I've brought a plastic box with me to hopefully contain the smell whilst they are in the communal fridge... now I'm wondering if I should send a courtesy "sorry" email to the office.... hmmm.... Fish etiquette in an office is new to me. 

[Melissa1977]

In my office we are all into healthy food, so heating fish and broccoli is so usual that nobody complains. We have big windows we can open, though.

[AliceInFundyland]

27 minutes ago, LittleOwl said:

I'm having to pick up some fish during my lunch break today for my youth group activity tonight.  I've brought a plastic box with me to hopefully contain the smell whilst they are in the communal fridge... now I'm wondering if I should send a courtesy "sorry" email to the office.... hmmm.... Fish etiquette in an office is new to me. 

What is your youth group activity involving fish? Sea lion training? (That was seriously the first thing I thought of))

[LittleOwl]

28 minutes ago, AliceInFundyland said:

What is your youth group activity involving fish? Sea lion training? (That was seriously the first thing I thought of))

I volunteer for Girlguiding and have a Ranger unit. The activity is learning how to gut fish......  

I would prefer Sea Lion training though. I may suggest that for next term. 

[xenobia]

10 hours ago, JMO said:

I've come to post because I wanted to say that despite her horrendous attempts as a food/mommy blogger I do like the picture of her out to lunch with her buddy James. Thank god her buddy team had her as a mother.  She actually cares about them.  

 

[AliceInFundyland]

I like this post too. They are most definitely not obligated to include their buddies, but they CAN. Especially Jill and Jessa. They don’t have newborns right now. They are supposed to be generating more children, it’s lovely to her caring about the ones left behind. Especially when it’s  older sister and teen boy.

She owes him for all that chaperoning too

[xenobia]

I do get the feeling that Jills buddy group are truly close to her, but that her (and #besthubbyever's) relationship to her father and some other siblings are a bit more difficult right now. Either way, it was a nice post, and good to see that she continues to care about her sibling-buddies. 

[TheOneAndOnly]

Are we sure that's Jill in that picture? The smile seems too genuine, eyebrows are where eyebrows are supposed to be and her eyes aren't popping out of her head.

[cascarones]

8 hours ago, CaricatureQualities said:

Smells shmells I guess. You get used to it.

My migraine neuro wiring means no olfactory fatigue, so I could probably never work in a kitchen like you do, it'd just be a lot of smells. I don't mind people microwaving whatever, but I've either been far enough away from a fueling station or been close to one where everyone wiped down the microwave when they got their food out and there's good ventilation. 

So my main pet peeve is when people throw away fragrant foodstuff in their personal trashcans over walking it to the fueling station. I just state I'm taking it to toss after mealtime and it becomes my habit or they get the idea that their fruit yogurt cup going bad isn't pleasant for the person sharing the little bin. Give me fish and popcorn in a shared space over rancid, curdled yogurt and gone off banana peels at my desk. It's manageable and it's my problem, so people are nice or I just empty their bin for them. All you can really do.