Entitled coworker turns entire office against an employee who cooks their meals instead of ordering lunch with everyone: ‘Some people think they’re better than us because they meal prep’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jun 26, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Office lunch, just like in high school, has a lot more social significance than we expect. It's not just a 30-minute break; it is the only time when you can solidify your social status at your workplace, so every decision you make regarding lunch is highly crucial.

It's important when you decide to take your lunch, carefully plan who you are going to sit with and what you are going to talk about. Coming up with a funny story about something that happened to you over the weekend can be really beneficial, and if you managed to make your lunch companions laugh, you basically hit the jackpot. 

However, the most important part of office lunch is not the timing or the people, it is the food. What you eat can determine quite a lot about how people perceive you. Some people would rather spend an extreme amount of money on DoorDash, just so they can order the same thing as their coworker and feel included. Others would only cook food at home, meal prep and everything, which can either impress their coworkers or make them very jealous.

And if that starts to seriously sound like high school drama to you, wait until you read the story below…

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    Cheezburger Image 10521891072
    via xavierarnau

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    My coworker tried to ‘ban’ me from bringing lunch from home??

    I (22F) recently started bringing my own lunch to work because 1) I'm trying to save money and 2) I honestly just like my own
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    cooking. Nothing fancy mostly rice, some veggies, and a little protein. Anyway, there's this woman at work (let's call
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    her "Tina"), mid-30s maybe? She always orders food and LOVES to complain about how expensive everything is. One day she saw my lunch
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    and was like, "Ugh, must be nice to have time to cook. Some of us are too busy." I just laughed it off, didn't think much of it.
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    Then it got weirder. Next week, she straight-up told me it was "r. de" to eat homemade meals in front of people who "can't afford to cook or don't
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    have time." I thought she was joking. She wasn't. She said I was "making others feel bad" and I should just "join the group" and order food like everyone else.
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    I told her, "You're allowed to do what works for you. I'm doing what works for me." Later that day? She actually brought it up in
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    front of our team like, "Some people think they're better than us because they meal prep."
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    Girl. I made garlic fried rice and egg. I'm not flexing. I'm just broke. Anyway, now a few coworkers are giving me
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    weird looks when I eat my lunch. Is this really a thing?? Since when is bringing food from home... entitled?
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    Cheezburger Image 10521894400
    via carlofranco

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    zealot_ratio Straight to HR, that's just crazy toxic. It's lunch, Karen, get over it.
    via zealot_ratio
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    Limp_Rub9159 OP Haha right?? I was honestly so caught off guard, like it's literally just food. I didn't think rice and egg would cause drama. I'm trying to avoid HR stuff if I can, but if she keeps pushing it, I might have to. It's just so unnecessary.
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    Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 The first one to HR usually comes out on top. Make a written complaint today about being bu lied for bringing food from home.
    via Puzzleheaded-Ad7606
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    RemarkableGold 1439 That's hilarious she says "can't afford to cook" because ordering food out is wayyyy more expensive. Straight to HR. She is turning the work environment toxic.
    via RemarkableGold1439
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    dinahdog Step it up. Homemade lasagna. Good meal prep dish and smells delicious in the breakroom.
    via dinahdog
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    Miss_Honesty_ "I feel it's r de for people to order food at work when others don't have the money to order lunch every day, you make others feel bad for being broke"
    via Miss_Honesty_
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    JustSomeGuy_56 There are some people who are so insecure that whenever someone makes a choice contrary to theirs, they perceive it as an attack on their judgment which must be defended.
    via JustSomeGuy_56
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    shadygrove81 Go all in, microwave fish in the break room tomorrow
    via shadygrove81
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    Limp_Rub9159 OP LM O don't tempt me haha! I might bring some leftover fish curry and really clear the room.
    via Limp_Rub9159

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boss workplace-stories employee manager cooking job meal tales-from-the-workplace coworkers reddit story lunch workplace entitled food Reddit company entitled people
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