Man Wonders If He's Wrong To Bring His Wife's Homemade Lunches To Work After A Co-Worker Complains
Is he just jealous, or is there something else going on?
Nomad_Soul | Shutterstock Bringing lunch to work is a quintessential part of the American nine-to-five experience. One man was blessed with a wife who wanted to make his work day a little easier by making him a nice lunch. Unfortunately, one of his colleagues didn’t appreciate that, so he asked for advice on Reddit.
A construction worker’s wife made him incredible authentic Mexican dishes to eat for lunch each day.
“I … work in construction and my wife … makes me the best lunches,” he began in his post. “She’s an amazing cook and every morning she wakes up at 4:00 a.m. and cooks me or packs me something fresh. Things like birria, tamales, pozole or sometimes just tacos with homemade tortillas.”
A handful of the man's co-workers started complaining about the man's homemade lunches.
“I’m not trying to brag, but my lunchbox is like a five-star meal compared to the gas station burritos most of the guys bring,” he admitted. “Lately though, a few of my co-workers have been giving me crap about it. It started as harmless jokes like, ‘Dang, you bring in a whole restaurant today?’ or ‘What’s next, a pinata?’ I laughed it off at first because whatever, guys will be guys.”
One specific colleague made laughing the words off and ignoring them impossible, though. “Rick … started acting like my lunches were a personal offense,” he explained. “He’s one of those dudes who eats microwave burgers and calls it a day. Last week, I heated up some mole with rice and he made a big deal about how it stank up the break room. It didn’t even smell bad, just rich and spicy.”
“Then he said it’s kind of rude to bring in such strong-smelling food when people are trying to eat their sandwiches,” he continued. “I pointed out that plenty of guys bring fish or those nasty instant noodles, but apparently my food is where he draws the line.”
Some of his co-workers are completely in favor of the meals, but the biggest complainer has made everything difficult.
“Another guy actually asked if my wife could send a little extra next time if he paid because it looks so good,” he recalled. “I joked that she’s not running a catering business, but I’ll ask her.”
Unfortunately, this just made Rick more insufferable than ever before. “But now Rick’s been saying I’m showing off and that I think I’m better than everyone else. I honestly just love my wife’s cooking and don’t wanna waste money on soggy gas station burritos,” he insisted.
Jupiterimages | Canva Pro
Some of his other co-workers have been encouraging, but he’s not sure if he should do something different. “My boss hasn’t said anything, and a couple of the guys told me to ignore Rick, but the tension’s been awkward,” he shared. “My wife heard about it and felt bad, even suggesting she could pack me less smelly lunches like sandwiches.”
This man wasn’t having any of that. “I told her absolutely not,” he said. “Her cooking is one of the best parts of my day and probably the only thing that keeps me going day after day, breaking my back working 12-hour shifts.”
There are two different angles through which to consider this man’s dilemma.
On the one hand, as many people in the comments section pointed out, Rick is likely just jealous of this man’s wife’s elaborate and delicious lunches, causing him to act out and be rude. At the same time, there is also a possibility that discrimination is at play, especially if Rick is really only calling out this man’s Mexican food and not other co-workers’ smelly lunches.
Andrea Brognano, LMHC, LPC, NCC, pointed out, “If an individual has racist, religious or LGBTQIA prejudices, they may act on these beliefs and be harmfully mean when interacting with you.” While anything is possible, it’s plausible to think that Rick has a deeper problem with this man that has nothing to do with his lunches.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
