'[In trouble for] NOT bringing homemade cookies [to work]': Man deals with CEO making ridiculous baking request

Author image for Stephanie Harper
Stephanie Harper
Jul 22, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

Baking cookies out of the kindness of your heart for coworkers is one thing, but being forced to bake them by your CEO is totally out of control. A Redditor shared his story online and received an influx of shocked reactions from other users. He explained that he occasionally bakes cookies for people working at the two office locations owned by his company. During a recent visit to his company's secondary office, he showed up without any cookies.

The workers there filed a complaint against him to the CEO! The CEO told him he needed to correct the issue by bringing them cookies on his next trip over. He says he'll only bring cookies for the secondary office if he can do the baking during company time. He said, "I was ordered to make them by the CEO so it's business time now." He's not wrong! Redditors who've responded to his post are totally on his side. Being forced to bake cookies turns a kind favor into something beyond annoying.

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  • 01
    Food - "CEO gave me a minor talking to for NOT bringing homemade cookies"
    via Pixabay
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Leave Electrical8766 15 hours ago D I got a talking to by the CEO for WHAT? TLDR: CEO gave me a minor talking to for NOT bringing homemade cookies when I visited the southern office.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 03
    Font - So I'm in IT but I enjoy baking for fun and friends. So for holiday parties or just because I felt like it I'd randomly bring in my Great grandma's chocolate chip cookies (that I made but her recipe.) Not often, only a couple times a year, 5 on the extreme end.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 04
    Font - Everyone LOVES them even people who claim to not like cookies normally. Randomly my job sends me to the southern office and I'd randomly bring them cookies as well when I got there. Well apparently I didn't do
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 05
    Font - it the last two trips and someone in the southern office felt this warrented a complaint to the CEO since this hurt their feeling! Now granted this is a sub 50 person company and the CEO has an open door policy. But comeon really?
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 06
    Font - So the CEO tells me that people complained last time that I was down there that I didn't bring them cookies and I needed to make it right next trip. WHAT THE BLAZES!
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 07
    Font - I can't be the only one who thinks this is crazy petty and disappointed both in my southern coworkers and in the CEO that he didn't tell them to just be thankful when I do bring them.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 08
    Font - I'm not going to disobey the CEO, but you better bet that I'm going to be mixing and baking them on company time now. I was ordered to make them by the CEO so it's Buisness time now.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 09
    Font - Thoughts on if this is crazy or not? Edit: For clarity it wasn't a write up or anything, but his tone was a cross between annoyance that he had to deal with this and wanting me to make it go away, and unbelief that he had to deal with this in the first place. Not his joking/teasing tone. That tone is very distinctive.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 10
    Font - Edit 2: correcting autocorrect. Update: Man this blew up! So a couple of things to clarify from the comments and an update. 1. I'm male, for those who find that weird Gordon Ramsay would like a word with you. Also the deer on my wall at home don't care.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 11
    Font - 2. The southern office is in the southern part of a northern state and we're in the northern part of the same state so we call it the southern office. So all the true southerners are off the hook.
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 12
    Font - 3. The CEO is technically out of both offices but primarily out of the northern office. This was apparently caused by a southern office coworker who he won't name assuming that the northern office got the cookies all the time and this
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 13
    Font - got their feeling hurt that they didn't so they decided to complain to the CEO that I wasnt being fair in my cookie distribution and that I was insulting the southern office by not bringing them....
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 14
    Font - Update: So I told my immediate supervisor about this, this morning and his response was about this, "I wish I couldn't so easily believe that the southern office could be that petty but I can. Well if the CEO wants you to make cookies you're making cookies. If he doesn't like it then he should have stood up for IT against this stupid pettiness."
    via u/LeaveElectrical8766
  • 15
    Rectangle - IT_Grey_Beard · 15 hr. ago Are you 100% sure this wasn't casual conversation? Seems like that kind of place. It's hard to tell for an outsider though. 283 Reply Share
    via u/it_grey_beard
  • 16
    Font - 11 LeaveElectrical8766 OP. 15 hr. ago It wasn't a formal write up or anything. But he did non-jokingly definitely tell me to bake the southern office cookies so they wouldn't complain to him. Reply Share 149
    via u/leaveelectrical8766
  • 17
    Font - UnderstandingBusy758. 13 hr. ago The level of stupid complaints in the office is ridiculous. 170 Reply Share
    via u/understandingbusy758
  • 18
    Font - friarfr3d 7 hr. ago Next time a Ceo tells you to bring everyone cookies offer to invoice them a price to make it routine. Your cookies are 100% a boone and benefit to thier workers, even on par with health insurance to these guys. Corpos pay out the ass for office enrichment.
    via u/friarfr3d
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    Font - unicorn8dragon 4 hr. ago I disagree. It's always the advice on these subs. But this isn't a consulting situation or skills to the business line. It's catering. They can go to any other bakery and place an order. Offering to do it for money unless you already run a side business bakery is just a bad look imo, and is very unlikely to work.
    via u/unicorn8dragon
  • 20
    Font - WestAd8782. 4 hr. ago Yes dude Imao all the advice in this subreddit is "just start charging them 10x for consulting pay" or "you better consult with a lawyer" or "100% find a new job" Reply Share 12
    via u/westad8782
  • 21
    Font - friarfr3d 4 hr. ago . If it's 4-5 times a year and you can't handle the work load or the business behind it then you need to rethink living on your own, not selling cookies. We're not talking trying to make sales. It's sold. Done deal. No consultation. Direct line of communication to the ceo. Discouraging empowerment is a bad take yo.
    via u/friarfr3d
  • 22
    Font - unicorn8dragon 4 hr. ago ● We see empowerment very differently. I see empowerment in empowering people to live their lives how they want. If OP actually wants to sell cookies, great, offer to sell them. If they want to do their job and keep their hobbies hobbies, express the boundary and enforce it.
    via u/unicorn8dragon
  • 23
    Font - Fectiver Undercroft 7 hr. ago I don't get bosses like that. He's paid the big bucks to put up with this kind of shenanigans, and that includes standing up to the real entitled bullies, not rolling over for them. Or maybe I'm wrong. I don't see the rational thing happening all that often, come to think about it.
    via u/fectiver_undercroft
  • 24
    Font - DigitalR3000 10 hr. ago Start looking for another job ASAP. Those coworkers and CEO sound like fucking children. I heard of stupid s but this is the next level of stupid sh. Honestly your a very patient person. I am a patient person also but this would break my patience barrier really quick.
    via u/digitalr3000
  • 25
    Font - responsible_blue. 5 hr. ago He just wants the noise to stop. He's asking for your help. In this case, he has no right way to ask. I would just help him out knowing you're doing him a solid. 5↓ Reply Share
    via u/responsible_blue

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toxic-workplace Professional At Work work coworkers askreddit toxic-boss workplace reddit thread Reddit toxic-work-environment
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