Woman Slammed for Bringing Homemade Baked Treats for Co-Workers — Who's Wrong Here?

Ask any office worker and they'll tell you that one of the only benefits of being a corporate drone is when you find free food in the office kitchen. Sometimes it's leftover food from a fancy company meeting you weren't invited to; other times it's courtesy of a friendly co-worker with a penchant for baking.

In one Mumsnet user's case, though, she was chided by her co-workers for her habit of bringing in her delicious homemade treats for fellow employees to share.

Who's in the wrong here? Let's dive in...

On the U.K. parenting forum Mumsnet, a user named Bibblybumblebee (we'll call her Bee) explained that she enjoys baking and has been known to bring in "traditional cakes like Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle, carrot" to her office. She works on a team of 10 people, and when she brings a tray cake on a Monday, it's usually "demolished" by Wednesday. (Relatable!)

But two of her co-workers wanted to have a word with her about these tasty treats. According to Bee, these co-workers are women in their late 50s who are "always on a diet or talking about fitness." And both of these women told Bee that "it’s not appropriate to bring in homemade cakes to work because it’s unhealthy and not fair when people are trying to be ‘good.’"

The women went on to claim that there could be a potential HR issue too, because if someone got sick from one of Bee's homemade goods, Bee could be held liable. But as Bee explains in her post, her kitchen at home is perfectly clean, and it's not like she brings in cakes on a weekly basis — it's more like every six weeks or so.

"I think these women have just got food issues but I am worried they could report me," Bee wrote. She concluded her post with a question: "What's your opinion on people bringing in baked goods from home into work?"

Ugh. This is tough because, as someone with a sweet tooth, I totally get that half the battle is just making sure you don't buy (or go near) sweets in general, if you're trying to keep it in check. But other people have a right to indulge in the goodness if they so choose — don't they?

Commenters under Bee's Mumsnet post called the complaining co-workers a "pair of miseries," "joy sponges," and "miserable cows." Most folks thought Bee did nothing wrong, and that because she was only bringing in cakes every six weeks, there really wasn't an issue.

But not everyone immediately came to Bee's defense; some sympathized with the "miserable" co-workers, like this commenter who noted: "I don’t really enjoy working with feeders. If you enjoy bringing it in then whatever, but if you make a show of it and nag others to eat your stuff then I can see why it might not be welcome." Bee replied to this comment with: "I just left it on the staff room table. I promise I don’t go in and announce it. I don’t even care if people don’t have any."

And some people mainly took issue with the fact that now, after reading Bee's post, they really just wanted to eat some cake. (Myself included.) Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go eat my weight in chocolate.