Employee fed up after coworker repeatedly makes passive comments demanding she share her "delicious" meals during lunch, employee debates confronting entitled coworker: 'This food is for me and my kids, and sometimes it's got to last us a few days'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Oct 29, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Some people have inspiring organizational skills and have their week's meal prepping planned weeks in advance…others use that 7 a.m. fifteen-minute window period to throw a bunch of random ingredients and leftovers in Tupperware and call it lunch. Either way, whether your office lunches are gourmet or a last-minute concoction of sorts, most of us look pleasantly forward to our lunch breaks!

So we can understand how fed up this employee must feel when every time she pulls out her work lunch, the room becomes filled with endless hints of 'ahhhs' and 'Mmmms'…She loves that her cooking is acknowledged and praised for its smell and visuals…However, this one specific coworker always takes it one step too far, making it her mission in life to make passive comments about how the employee should really be sharing her food with the office, or at least bringing some for them… We're sorry, but last time we checked, they were colleagues, not some mother-and-daughter dynamic. So, we're not quite sure what makes this coworker entitled enough to think she deserves a free lunch every day, while her coworker has to sit there feeling guilty every time she opens her lid… 

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  • Not only is it not her job to feed the office, but one does not know anyone's financial situation, so it is not fair to make jokes regarding what they are or are not ‘bringing to the table’ for their fellow coworkers…This woman thoughtfully meal-preps for her family, and does not have endless spare groceries to throw around to satisfy a few greedy colleagues…One joke was fine, but it's getting to the point where this woman is considering getting HR involved in an attempt to try to control her coworker's inappropriate table manners. 

  • Woman smelling her meal.
    via gettyimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • More like WIBTAH if i asked a coworker to stop suggesting that I share food?

    I rarely eat out anymore, as I see it as more of a treat sort of thing.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • So I cook and bring that cooked food to work. I think I'm moderately okay at cooking.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • I'm not a chef or ever took actual cooking classes. That being said, everyone always compliments how good my food looks and smells.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • Which is nice to hear. One coworker has started to make me feel uncomfortable though. They almost always ask what I brought that day and they know I home cook most of my meals.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • I usually make my own sauce for pasta, mash my potatoes by hand instead of using flakes etc.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • I also use boxed food too so it's a mix of both from time to time.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • Anyway they'd always ask "you didn't bring any to share?" Or "when are you going to bring us some?" Something along those lines.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • At first it wasn't all the time so I just chuckle and move on thinking it's friendly banter.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • A lunch bowel.
    via gettyimagespro

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • But now it's every time i see them. And it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • The truth is, this is usually the only full meal I eat. I might have some fruit or toast during the day, but I don't really eat much till later.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • This meal is the only technical real meal I have. I also only make enough for my family.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • So it's not like I'm making a whole big pot that I can dish out to everyone on my team at work.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • This food is for me and my kids and sometimes it's got to last us a few days.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • So I can't just bring extra food even when something i make looks or smells particularly good.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • That being said we do have days where we do potlucks or I bring in extra dessert when I can afford it.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • So it's not like I never bring in food or never share. But to say it every time they see me just gives me this odd feeling.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • I don't know how to describe it. It's not guilt, more like general unease. So WIBTAH if i asked them to stop suggesting I share my food with the office?
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • Coworkers having a discussion.
    via karola-g

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Brilliant-Bus-3862 Just say, "they don't pay me enough here to feed everyone."
    via Brilliant-Bus-3862
  • OP Deans_Baby1969 Omg this is perfect
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • Adventurous-Emu-755 OP, is this a superior? Even if so or not: Tell them to stop, that their comments make you uncomfortable and considering food prices etc., you should not be expected to bring them food. And if they continue with their comments, you will go to HR. If they don't like that, too bad. Lines/boundaries need to be drawn with people, this one co- worker is one of those!
    via Adventurous-Emu-755
  • OP Deans_Baby1969 Not a superior thankfully though I have had to ask a superior to stop uncomfortable behavior before (another story for another time). Right now the shift i work on has no direct supervisor so we are all more or less on an even playing field if that makes sense.
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • Better_Area3782 Next time she asks, scream "never!" And run away.
    via Better_Area3782
  • OP Deans_Baby1969 Lol I threaten to run away from work every day (tbf we all do, it's all in good fun)
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • BestAd5844 "I do not have any to share. I'm on a tight budget and I have made just enough to meet the needs of my family." Make sure you do not apologize or mention that it is unfortunate.
    via BestAd5844
  • OP Deans_Baby1969 I have said this before. One time I came in with the same thing I had the day before (pasta I think) and they said "oh so you did have extra, you just didn't want to share with us." I made enough for MY family. We were lucky it was enough to last a few days. It wasn't "extra food" that we didn't need
    via Deans_Baby1969
  • bippityboppitynope NTA. Easy response would be "Sorry, I don't have the budget to share, groceries have gotten so pricey"
    via bippityboppitynope
  • OP Deans_Baby1969 I have said this before. To their face and have been told "excuses excuses, anything to not bring in some for everybody." And that was during a time where I was literally going to a food bank every week just to get by
    via Deans_Baby1969

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terrible coworkers groceries boss antiwork workplace-stories sharing employee drama work coworkers Awkward workplace hinting budget free work lunch meal prep
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