My husband used to be a chef and still likes to do a bit of baking and I recently brought in a lovely Battenberg for our small team which brought this situation to mind. Over the last few years I’ve brought some of my wares into the various offices I’ve managed and they go down a storm. It’s also great given the fact my waistline won’t stand me chomping through a whole coffee and walnut Genoese! And the peeps in the office seem to appreciate it.
(Should I mention the cakes if I’m interviewing, now there’s a thought!) But what I found astonishing was the attitude and approach of a small minority and indeed one chap in particular that stands out whom I found at the end of the day, wrapping the last few slices of a carrot cake I had made and slipping them into his bag rather than leaving them for people to eat the next day. Indeed he looked at me rather embarrassed when doing so and frankly not only was I embarrassed but felt so for him. So this meant that the rest of the team though had not had any cake and it would have been nice to have left it for them to have at their break the next day.
So (staff issues eh?) and office politics arising from a nice gesture. The challenge was, did I stop bringing in the goodies?. Should I have brought in more cakes and told him not to pocket them? Should I have brought in more and told everyone that they are to stay in the office and consumed on site or a really special cake and told just him that he couldn’t have any. I would have loved to say “you are a greedy miser who even though on a high salary clearly doesn’t want to spend your own money on cakes for your kids?” He was good at his job though and did not want him to leave! I took the non conflict route and didn’t say anything but it obviously still grates!
Your ideas on what you would have done would be most welcome.
