‘A boatload of microaggressions’: 20+ employees share when the office ‘Holiday Potluck’ went awry for them, proving it's a bad idea for the workplace

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Dec 12, 2024 7:00 AM EST

Work before the holidays is usually insane. Whether you're gathering your final quarterly reports of the year or selling things like hotcakes, it's stressful, to say the least. So when it starts getting actually closer to the time off you get for the holidays, you want to do something to celebrate all the hard work you just put in—as you should! And as your management should. That's when office holiday festivities come into play. Many workplaces will throw a fun little "thank you" holiday party for their staff. Sometimes companies go all out and really show some fun appreciation. Other times, they don't… For example, throwing a "potluck." Why would you make your employees use their own money for a party that is supposed to be thanking them for their long and hard work all year? That just sounds insane. And yet, offices throw that kind of thing all the time to "show appreciation." (We all know it's really just because they want to penny-pinch.) Below you'll see real-life experiences that prove once and for all, that office holiday potlucks should be banned!

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    Cheezburger Image 10439618048
    via Unsplash+ (and Jennifer Pallian)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Coworker claimed I didn't bring the food I brought for the thanksgiving potluck Just found this thread and it reminded me of the time I brought pasta salad for a thanksgiving potluck. I was trying my best to assimilate to the environment and thought I'd make pasta salad in a Pyrex dish. I left it out so people could dig into it as I went about my work. I came back for lunch and not only did I find I was the only one who brought in a dish but that coworker A was raving about the pasta and telling
    via Ok-Meaning1181
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    I was so shocked. I asked coworker A what made her think supervisor B made it and she was like "well it's pasta and she cooks a lot so yea she probably made it." Baffled I told her I made it. But she ended up laughing and saying no way I made it. I told her "why would I claim I made it if I didn't? That would be so weird for me to do. And supervisor B didn't even say she made it." She took a long look at me before realizing ked up with the completely wrong she assumption.
    via Ok-Meaning1181
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    Looking back, maybe it was a subconscious racial stereotype she was projecting because the majority of the workforce was white and I was one of the few Asians there. I never again brought another dish to share I ended up leaving the state entirely because I felt like despite my efforts I didn't fit in. ETA: I dealt with a boat load of microagressions before making the decision to return back to my parent state earlier than planned. Many of the microagressions I didn't even identify until now bec
    via Ok-Meaning1181
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    Say-What-KB I had a friend who was not a very social person at her workplace. Struggling financially as she rehabbed her house, she brought in a lot of ramen for lunches. Coworkers definitely didn't see her as having any "domestic" skills. Her workplace sponsored a cake auction for charity. Who brought the professional cake, with chocolate butterflies and piped flowers? She made it from scratch!
    via Say-What-KB
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    Bouche_Audi_Shyla I once made WAY too many Christmas cookies. Chocolate chip, sugar, molasses, and the chocolate ones with the powdered sugar. It took me all evening, because the recipes all said to roll the dough in a ball. It was horribly messy, as the dough melted on my hands. There was no way I was going to be able to eat all the cookies, so I grabbed some Baggies bags, piled the cookies into the bags, and took them to work.
    via Bouche_Audi_Shyla
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    Everyone said how delicious the cookies were, and where did I buy them. I couldn't have made the cookies, because they came out perfectly round (from rolling the dough into b lls). Plus, they were in deli store bags. Those ingrates never got cookies from me again.
    via Bouche_Audi_Shyla
  • 08
    72112 All these comments are true and valid, but why office potlucks in the first place? Are not people stressed and stretched to the max?
    via 72112
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    Silvermouse29 I will never ever participate in a potluck again. At my former workplace, for our Christmas party, we closed off a room at work during lunch. Of course other departments went out or went to somebody's home but not ours. At the time I had two kids, two jobs and was going to school. I stopped at the store and bought some cookies. And honestly, that was a stretch. I walked in the room and heard somebody saying. "Ewww... who brought store bought cookies?" in a tone like it was the wors
    via Silvermouse29
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    Old_Construction6239 I brought a homemade lasagna to a work potluck. I was shocked that no one ate it but me. EOD I was packing it up to take home and people were asking why I was taking it. Cuz I made it. Well you could leave it and everyone could eat it tomorrow for lunch. Fudge that, my family will eat it for dinner. I never participated again. Fudge these guys!
    via Olc_Construction6239
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    Zealousideal_Fail946 People and the kitchen are a strange lot. I work at an accounting firm and I am amazed at how few people cook. If they do, they never participate in potlucks. For some, it is a fear of someone being better. Your experience was truly an odd one. Sorry the environment was so stifling.
    via Zealousideal_Fail946
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    Terrible-Antelope680 Last Christmas work potluck (I have since left this place) some coworker decided that at the end of the day they were welcome to ALL the leftovers they wanted (including the containers!)... that's never been a thing? Not without asking! You take what remains of YOUR dish YOU brought and the container you brought it in lol. My friend and coworker at the time was struggling to be able to afford to feed herself as she was going through a divorce and purchased a new house....
    via Terrible-Antelope680
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    and this other woman just stole a whole unopen bag of chips and other stuff she brought in in her Tupperware, lady took it all! Wild to take food out of someone's mouth who was struggling to get by, and then take their containers as well! We suspect it was the same coworker we have seen hoarding treats others will bring in to share just because. Like if someone offers you free food, it's a take what you can eat that day...not stuff your face and then take some home to stock your pantry!
    via Terrible-Antelope680
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    (Or hoard under your desk for another day!) Especially when it's apparently not even necessary for her to work as she will be a stay at home mom when and if she can get pregnant...so don't take food from those that are struggling but still nice enough to share/fulfill social obligations of a potluck that's forced on them! The young lady is dumb as rocks to think no one notices her stealing from others or hoarding food other bring in to share with everyone.
    via Terrible-Antelope680
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    Even the boss has called her out (politely by enforcing it with everyone, like hey, 'there's leftovers from what I brought in, take some home but just ONE so EVERYONE can take some home that wants too. can't believe the boss had to say it, but also monitor it happening as the coworker left...boss didn't need to watch my friend or I lol, so boss saw her hoarding snacks others brought in to share. HI one time I think the lady took a whole unopened box of snack cakes because they were still around
    via Terrible-Antelope680
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    LifeHappenzEvryMomnt We brought a beautiful fruit platter on a gorgeous and unusual plate to a potluck and someone tried to claim she brought it. I inherited the plate from my mother who received it as a wedding present in the 1940's. The other person's plate was actual imitation crystal know plastic. She got her dish handed to her when my husband pointed out she had apparently forgotten she'd written her name on tape in the bottom of hers.
    via LifeHappenzEvryMomnt
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    brendamrl One time I brought tostones to a potluck (friend green plantains) and absolutely no one touched them :( woke up at 5 am to make them and even made some fried cheese.
    via brendamrl
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    Snowfizzle Yesss. i'm broke AF but that doesn't mean I don't know how to cook or bake or that I was always broke. I make banana nut bread that's amazing and used to make it all the time for my coworkers until they started demanding it and that stuff can get expensive when you're trying to bake enough loafs for 100 people. And no one wanted to chip in and obviously no one's gonna help with the cleaning. So I just never made it for them again. used to do it for Christmas or birthdays or baby showe
    via Snowfizzle
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    Bazoun The last place I worked that had potlucks there were maybe 5 women working there and 20 some men. It was always a man that voluntold us we're having a potluck, and with the exception of one guy whose wife would make something, not one man brought an actual dish. Someone brought napkins, someone brought a bag of chips, store bought cake, you get it. One of the women would bring in her crockpot and put meatballs she bought readymade in a sauce as her dish, and went on and on about how much
    via Bazoun
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    The last time they tried to get one going I asked the other women if they wanted to do one and with the exception of meatball lady, they all said no, so we just told management to go ahead but we won't participate. They knew what that meant and what do you know? They found money to order pizza. Cheap bastards. People are always pretty free with someone else's time and money. Lesson learned.
    via Bazoun
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    daddylomein116 When I worked in office, I swear our management would announce a potluck anytime they could feel tension hitting a high or morale hitting a low. Like it was to keep us subdued without them having to actually spend any money. It was ridiculous e
    via daddylomein116

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