There is no treat to be had in "Treat Day"

In an effort to build camaraderie (and our waistlines), my department has organized a weekly “treat day” where people from the department take turns bringing in sweets for the other treat day participants.

Despite the fact that this weekly tradition has the word “treat” in it, it seems to be one of the greatest sources of stress for any and all of the participants; and more often than not, it is the catalyst behind many water-cooler bitch sessions.

“So and so only brought chips,” one person will snip bitterly, “and I always bring fresh doughnuts and coffee. It’s like they don’t care at all.”

“Coworker K never takes treat day seriously,” another will say, “why can’t we kick people out of the rotation?!”

Yes people are always complaining about something here; however, I have noticed that the bitching always seems to hit a high point whenever food is involved. One would think that any treat is better than no treat at all, but after working for Company X for a few years now, I have quickly learned that there are some coworkers who will find anything to grip about because that’s just the way “they like to roll.”

Today rang in an especially new low when Coworker S tried to send out a new schedule for the treat rotation; and I say “tried” of course, because it took her 6 e-mails to get the schedule right.

The first e-mail included a treat day schedule that was missing names of some of the people who wanted to participate in the rotation.

The second schedule included people who have long since left the department

In the third e-mail she forgot to attach the schedule all together

The fourth e-mailed schedule had my treat day partner and I slated for 2 turns more than anyone else. After exchanging three e-mails with me on the subject, my partner sent Coworker S an e-mail asking if she could revise this to make the rotation more fair.

The fifth e-mail was a copy of my partner’s complaint e-mail forwarded on to the rest of the department.

And the sixth e-mail was just an attachment with the final treat day schedule.

Treat day has now officially crossed the line from run of the mill office annoyance to something you would expect to see on T.V. Steve Carell, HERE WE COME!