Employee eats more than half of the donuts her coworker brought for their office of 7 employees: 'She just stands by and eats and eats and eats.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Mar 26, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

Many employees are afraid to call out their coworkers' bad behavior directly. If someone is making you feel uncomfortable in the workplace, you're allegedly supposed to go to HR about it instead of handling it yourself. Not everyone wants to escalate problems to the level where company higher-ups are getting involved, so you have to make a decision about how you're going to handle problems with colleagues. 

Whether it's better to go to HR, talk to your coworker personally, or ignore the problem depends entirely on the nature of the problem. Is your coworker mildly annoying to you in social situations? If so, you should probably just grin and bear it, because there's nothing you can do to change their personality. Is your coworker loudly burping at your shared table every day, grossing you out? It's best to talk to HR about it rather than handle it yourself. If your coworker is constantly commenting on your weight in a "positive" way that makes you uncomfortable, you might want to talk to them personally first before escalating it to HR. Saying, "I don't feel comfortable talking about weight loss at work," could be all that you need to say to make them stop. A lot of people don't even realize that discussing certain topics is uncouth until someone directly tells them how they feel about it! 

The employee in this story publicly admonished a coworker who took more than half of the donuts the employee had brought for the entire office. She was clearly embarrassed by the call-out, but we can only assume that she's better off for it.

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  • Doughnuts in a box
    via Jeanmal Wilson

    A box of donuts, ready to be eaten by a ravenous coworker.

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

  • Am I the bad guy for calling out a coworker for eating almost an entire box of donuts meant for everyone?

    Just a quick post. I'm probably in the wrong but, here goes. I brought in a box of 30 mini donuts to work with different toppings/icing on them for a special occasion.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • Cheezburger Image 10618674688
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • (There are only 6-7 of us) I came out for my lunch break an hour and a bit later and there are 5 donuts left.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • A box filled with assorted donuts on top of a table
    via Kayl Photo

    Five donuts that are left after getting picked over by one coworker in particular.

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

  • All the ones with the icing she liked are gone and I know she spent a considerable amount of time in the lunch room dealing with an issue at work.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • It's not the first time snacks/food have been provided In a group setting at work and she would just stand by and eat & eat & eat.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • We had a breakfast cook-out at Christmas and while one co- worker was making bacon, this co-worker would just keep grabbing slices and eating it and saying how good it was and how snacky she was.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • A white plate topped with bacon strips on top of a table
    via James Trenda

    Bacon strips, ready to be eaten by one coworker in particular who can't stop eating because she is "snacky."

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

  • She had to be told to leave some for others. I'll admit i'm a bit peeved & went into a group chat a few of us are in and said "what happened to all the donuts!?!" And now the co-worker is mad at me for "calling them out" (yet no names were mentioned) * Edited to add: to answer some questions, I did not intentionally count how many donuts people had.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • I've brought them in before and had different flavour/icing options this time and when people thanked me/told me they liked them tonight, I asked which ones they liked the best.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • From that, it was kinda easy to tell when people had one or two and others had more.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • I did not intentionally seek people out to ask them how many they had. She came to me before I had even noticed how many donuts were left (which was on my lunch break) to mention she was "snacky" but I didn't expect 90% of the box to be gone when she left the team room.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • Without going into detail about my job, we have a "team room" in the main building as well as staff spread out amongst a few buildings on the property.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • I estimated 6-7 people working tonight but we have 100+ total; we work in shifts. I have brought donuts in before to the same shift and had a lot left over and handed them to the day crew.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • I wasn't expecting them all to be gone within the first 2-3 hours & not everyone wanted donuts so, they should have been enough to go around.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • AussieGirl27 Next time just go around and offer the box for people to take one. 'Would you like A donut?' Then once everyone has taken one, go around again and offer until they are all gone. That way people gets a chance to have the same amount as everyone else. If there are any left, take them home
    via u/AussieGirl27
  • xUnderdog21 Original Poster's Reply It's a weird set-up at work, we are spread out a bit over multiple close buildings on property and our main office is where the "team room" is. But this might be the best option. Thanks.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • Sufficient-Berry-827 ESH. Coworker should be a little more considerate of others. Take a few, if there are still many left at the end of the day, that's when you let the snack monster take over. You brought snacks and set them down for others to enjoy -- you do not get to count how many people eat and then make comments about it. Once the box is down, people can eat what they want. Keeping score and making comments is r de and weird. I've brought cookies, croissants (from my favorite expensive b
    via u/Sufficient-Berry-827
  • xUnderdog21 Original Poster's Reply I didn't count exactly; it's a small group of us so when they came and thanked me for bringing in the treat, I asked what flavors they had of the 3 so I could know what ones were popular for next time.. that's how I know the number. 30 of them would have been enough for everyone if one person didn't take almost all of it.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • Booduh71515 You said MINI donuts. How large is mini? Are they bite size mini or 3 to 5 bites mini? If they're itty bitty I can see accidentally munching to many (doesn't excuse it, but easier to do absentmindedly (☐ )
    via u/Booduh71515
  • xUnderdog21 Original Poster's Reply They are slightly larger than the donut holes/bites or a "timbit" that you may find at a grocery store. Eating it in one bite would make you look like a chipmunk ②✔
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • ohlookitsabird Sugar Llamas?
    via u/ohlookitsabird
  • xUnderdog21 Original Poster's Reply I... honestly don't know what those are. Looked them up and they look to be a decent size, without the hole in the middle. Just solid donut.
    via u/xUnderdog21
  • tenesmicdemon I dont know what's worse, her being so greedy or her trying to make it cute by calling it "snacky".
    via u/tenesmicdemon
  • YouBetYourCraft NTA. She knew what she was doing. She purposely went in there and ate what she wanted before the meeting. She knew they were for everyone and she was taking more than she should. She is a grown woman not a small child accidentally finding sweets and eating more than they should. Does she not have money for food or is she just greedy?
    via u/YouBetYourCraft
  • hoosiergirl1962 "Got snacky" To the moon, Alice....
    via u/hoosiergirl1962
  • [deleted] NTAH. Your co-worker needs to learn to share and think of others besides herself. Getting annoyed for calling them out when you didn't even do so is wild too
    via u/[deleted]
  • Hopeful-Dust-9978 Your coworker has no manners if she was really doing that with the bacon.
    via u/Hopeful-Dust-9978
  • PurpleEmotional1401 NTA. If a resource is meant to be shared, consuming most of it yourself is a highly antisocial act.
    via u/PurpleEmotional1401

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