Office Cake

This I dread. Cake...specifically birthday cake...the icing on the
cake to be precise. I can't stand it. Which I realize is very hard for
some to understand. My new boss is a huge fan of it. In fact she
brings one in once a month along w/ donuts & cupcakes on various other
days of the week. She simply doesn't get it. The first cake she
brought in January & I attempted to politely decline a slice. Soon I
discovered what an serious office social faux pas I made. Seriously? I
could have cared less about whether they ate cake or not. I don't
judge. I have my own vices. But the judgement on me was swift and
harsh. I was asked if I were on a diet (in a mocking tone) and called
"skinny Minnie." Why is that okay? Do these people know that as an
adult Ive lost 40 pounds? That I've struggled my whole life w/ weight
& body image? That I was an overweight child? I lost my weight as a
teen by starving myself? No. They don't know that I shot my
metabolism. Or that I'm trying my damndest to simply eat healthy @
remove refined foods from my diet as much as possible. That I'm simply
trying to live healthy. If I liked cake then I might occasionally
indulge but if I don't like the taste, so why eat it?
That day I noticed my friend Ned. He'd taken a slice & sat there
quietly poked it w/ his fork to move it around his plate. Then on the
way out he disgarded it in the trash can. Back at our desks I
commented on his sly move. He smiled and leaned over to me, "it's all
about their own guilt. It has little if anything to do w/ you. People
feel better when they all participate in eating junk as a group. If
you refuse you point out that they too could make a better choice."
I hate to waste and don't want to take something I'm only going to
toss. But that's what I've started doing. And you know what? Everyone
makes a big deal if you don't take a piece but no one notices if you
sit there w/ a full slice of cake that you toss in the trash on the
way out.

Sent from my iPod