Uncomfortable

One of my coworkers is….odd (we’ll call him Mike). He is very smart, but doesn’t have people skills. I would say that it is highly possible that he has some form of autism. He will ask nonsensical questions in meetings, go off on tangents and pull facts and figures from who knows where. He openly takes magazines from the break room into the bathroom (ewwww) and regularly eats only three oranges for lunch (I mistakenly asked him about it one day and got a 30 minute lecture on why. I can’t tell you what he was talking about, just that most of my thoughts when listening to him were about how to get out of the conversation). I am never rude to him and say hi in the hallways, but generally don’t engage him in conversation because I simply don’t want to have 30-60 minute conversations with him (I use this tactic on other people in the office too because some people are TALKERS).

Anyway, Mike is known for his overeating. He is not overweight but if given free food at a meeting, conference, company function, etc. he eats EVERYTHING possible. At our last employee meeting he took an entire bowlful of fruit (along with a muffin, bagel, yogurt, etc) then hovered while the rest of us got food. Meanwhile he is shoving food into his mouth the entire time so that he can make room for more food on his plate once the line died down.

Taking him to conferences and meetings can be embarrassing because of his eating habits. Yesterday I attended a conference with a number of my colleagues, including Mike. We sat down for lunch and he quickly shoveled down his salad and dessert because it was in front of him. Our entrees came and he quickly ate all of his chicken piccata, vegetables and rice. The woman sitting next to me recently had lap-band surgery and can’t eat much so she offered up her extra piece of chicken to him. He took it and ate it. Another woman at the table is pregnant and also can’t eat much anymore so she offered up her extra piece of chicken. He ate that too. Another woman didn’t want her dessert so she offered it up to him. He said that he was too full, but said she could put it in front of him. Two minutes later he ate that too. He turned to me afterwards and said, “I don’t normally eat like this. This is a special occasion.”

After lunch he left the table and a couple of coworkers were joking that he probably went to look for more food. I felt disgusted not only with how much he ate but the fact that it almost seemed like my coworkers were pushing their food on him. If they know that he overeats in these situations and they themselves get embarrassed, why push their extra food towards him? Did it make them feel better? Are they doing it because they are overweight themselves? Does it make them feel better because then they didn’t eat as much as him?

I don’t know what the answer is but the whole thing made me uncomfortable. There was no chance for Mike to get any extra food after the meal was over. If the three women hadn’t pushed their extras to him, I don’t think that he would have asked for it. It’s almost unfair that they push their food onto him and then when he leaves the table, then make fun of him.