Michelle

This is a rant to vendors and sales people who give food gifts to their clients.

There was probably around two dozen boxes of chocolates delivered to one of our offices during the holidays, plus baskets of other types of junk food and another three dozen doughnuts after New Years (doughnuts seem to arrive monthly). ALL of them got eaten, and not very slowly. There are fewer than 20 people in that office.

In my experience, vendors love to give their clients ‘food’ to keep their goodwill (and hence, their business); junk that makes people fat, unhealthy and sick. When people eat that shit, vendors complain they can never reach them because they’re always sick. Hello! Let’s make a connection people!

For the record, vendors, some of us actually avoid the kitchen when it gets this bad and resent your sending us crap like this. To make healthier choices, I either eat at my desk or away from the office – or, if I’m feeling bold, I cover it up, move it somewhere else or even toss it.

My recommendation: make a healthier choice for your clients in 2012. If you give gifts to your clients, and we already have enough mugs thanks, consider a financial gift to a charity then tell the company, “in your name, we’ve given money to the following charity…” It doesn’t take much to find out what the company believes in; sometimes it’s on their website or ask their receptionist or executive assistant. Or give a goddamn fruit basket!

No wonder some office environments make people sick; it’s not just the air quality, it’s the free junk food.