6 Ways to Outsmart Office Food Obstacles

The Scenario:
Your social office culture involves celebrating every employee’s birthday…with a giant cake (or other sweet treat).

The Solution:
Suggest that the staff celebrate birth months, rather than individual birthdays. A sample proposition: On the first day of each month (or perhaps the first Friday of each month), bring on the baked goods and sing Happy Birthday to every employee born by the 31st. This should drastically reduce the number of cakes you’ll need to dodge while still allowing you to show support for everyone in the office. If, for some reason, your coworkers aren’t keen to cut back on birthday festivities, suggest an informal rotation of celebratory foods with a little more variety. For example, if confections are used to acknowledge the first employee birthday in January, consider catering the next one with a somewhat healthier breakfast spread (think: fruit salad, yogurt parfaits, etc.). Even if your cohorts insist on bringing a bagel basket or box of donuts, you can volunteer to supply the lite, homemade blueberry muffins.