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I hate potlucks. Whenever you hear someone talking about how they go food poisoning its always from some mass production of food by people who typically don't prepare food in such large quantities. Bad. Plus you don't know who has cockroaches or mice that may have contaminated the food
Bummer. I feel for you. Just go, mingle....you can always bring your own food to eat (I always do)...but just shoot the breeze & be seen. And split as soon as you can!
I wasn't whining in my post. Another poster was accusing the OP of whining, and I was trying to defend the OP.
Good gracious - reading comprehension beats assumptions every time! And YAZ The Whiner (sounds like something from a Monty Python skit)) is quite capable of defending himself if need be! Take a breath and enjoy the holiday season ...
Agree with you here, sometimes the pain is more of a severe irritation like heat rash.
I never understood these though - beyond the whole "kumbaya" nonsense - everyone I've ever known forced into a potluck never got it either. Forced to spend more time with people they don't really want to spend more time with and the company isn't even going to spring for the food? So let me get this right: they have to attend a party they don't want to attend and then they have to feed themselves and everyone else. It just made no sense to me.
After that - what? Mandatory dental cleaning for everyone! Wheeee!!!
How can people complain about something like a potluck? Go eat, laugh and have fun while getting paid. That sounds like a great environment to work in.
I understand. I'd just bring something I like to eat, eff what they think, and just get through it the best you can. That's what I do. I can't stand work potlucks. I also have a wonderful excuse for not eating my coworkers' nasty calorie bombs....I keep kosher! Since most people don't know what that means anyway, I can use it for pretty much anything.
Sorry to see that STT Resident is giving you a hard time. What is frustrating about these message boards is that, for many of us, they are the only place that we can truly vent and express our feelings. And then people like STT Resident just accuse us of whining. If someone can't offer any sympathy, and has no useful advice to offer, I wish that they would just not respond at all. In many aspects of our lives we're forced to just suck it up and accept unfair things without complaining, but we do need somewhere to be able to vent and share our true feelings.
While it's true that these boards give you a place to vent and express feelings, it's also a pretty good place to get objective advice. Because it's anonymous, there's no need for anyone to soften their words to avoid hurt feelings. There's more to interaction with other people than having them be sympathetic to your views. That said, posters are also free to avoid any advice given, no matter how good or well-intentioned it might be.
To the OP, just suck it up and go, unless it's just so awful you can't contemplate it. If that's the case, give your polite regrets to the organizer and skip it without any further explanation. Some of my co-workers and I refer to our annual pot-luck as the "DCP," or Dreaded Christmas Party. Still, we usually go. I've skipped it when I've been sick by saying I didn't want to be coughing and grossing everyone out, and also the year my father died, because I just didn't feel like going. (He'd died about 2 weeks previously.) Sometimes being an adult requires that we put on a happy face and do something we'd rather not do. If going to the pot-luck is the price you pay for steady employment, I'd say it's not unreasonable.
The few places that had a mandatory potluck I brough chips. Cheap store brand. If it is going to be mandatory...its gonna be cheap.
If the chips are so cheap I hope you ate an equal value of food.
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Keeping kosher or other dietary concerns, medically unavoidable or not, I get. I understand not cooking or baking because you are not good at it. But not liking potluck seems a bit odd to me. Bear in mind that I usually spend the most at my potlucks and have the worst financial situation on any team I have been on - I'm a single mom. We also don't have to mingle. We just set up the food and get plates whenever we want. But I like to give. I'm a firm believer that ultimately you get what you give.
I'll tell you what. We were treated to a Japanese Hibachi-style lunch the other day. I don't generally hang with these people but it was still a nice break from work. I'm good at socializing although, deep-down, I prefer to be alone. I suspect it would be different if I found people with common interests but that hasn't happened, yet. Anyway, a bit of fellowship with co-workers hasn't killed me yet and my previous team was a bunch of very young, generally excluding people. They preferred to ignore the old gal. Oh, well. I smile and make the best of it.
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I also have a wonderful excuse for not eating my coworkers' nasty calorie bombs....I keep kosher! Since most people don't know what that means anyway, I can use it for pretty much anything.
