And so the holiday plates of poison begin infiltrating the office... page 3

[Urban Forager]

I think I'd just say, "No thank you. Looks great though." Repeat ad nauseum until they give up. Really, you don't need to give excuses or make them feel better about themselves. You don't need to feel guilty if they take it personally. "No" is a perfectly acceptable response, all by itself. If you feel you must give a reason, a simple, "I'm avoiding sugar" could be added to the "No thank you."

^ This is a Miss Manners approved response. When I was catering I used to find it tedious when guests would explain in detail why they couldn't have this or that, a simple "no thank you" should always suffice.

[NewGrayMare]

One thing I've learned is that providing an excuse invites a conversation about why you don't want it. I just say "No, thank you." If pressed, I repeat, "No, but I appreciate your offer/concern."

I'm currently out of a job and it's a good thing too! The customers at the bank I used to work at bring in plates of home made cookies, fudge, chocolates, and pizzas for us. They'll stand there and watch you eat it to see if you appreciate their gift. While I miss all the awesome customers, I certainly don't miss the sweets and sugars they gave me!

[Primal Primate]

I think it all depends on who is asking and how they ask. I'm all for a polite no thank you and dropping it there but where I work there are treats ad nauseam this time of year and some of the people bringing them or baking them can be very insistent that you have "just one" or "a little taste" and after all you "don't want to hurt my feelings do you?" When I get put in this position I agree with sed777, I'm not going to sacrifice all my hard work and effort to save their feelings. I had a lady inform me that I was going to eat her baking and like it and I had no choice in the matter. At this point I just walked away. Why argue with them? As we are the minority in just about every situation we have to expect the majority (who follow CW) will always push their views on us, blatantly or inadvertently.

My body, My call. End of story!

[oxide]

I heard a great quote on a TV show last night. It was something to the extent of

Does that have flour in it?
I'm allergic to gluten, it could kill me!

I don't think they would try to push cakes, doughnuts etc on you after that.

I've started to see Gluten-Free cakes and cookies.
You need a backup argument.

And it doesn't help with chocolates or candy.

[GuitarGrok]

Just ask "does it have sugar??"
I have very bad diabetes it could kill me!!!

Done!!

[Rusty]

I think the problem is we shouldn't have to make up stories, or explain ourselves, to make someone "feel" good. There might be 10 people in the office, and only one is saying no, but everyone else is raving about the goodie. Isn't 9 out of 10 approvals enough?

Most people I know would offer, but know that I just lost 130 lbs, so they wouldn't take offense (well, maybe, but they know how fat I was!).

[bluechip]

I am now out of the office until next year, so I survived the office poison. Grandma got me on Christmas though. I just couldn't tell her no, and caved. Well, time to get back on the horse and start over!

[carlh]

I'm just glad no one has brought in pfeffernuesse. I would hide them and eat them all.

I'm with you on this one. My folks make tins and tins of pfeffernuesse. So good. I'll eat a couple in the pfeffernuesse closet of shame.

[namelesswonder]

Send some here? I didn't get any this year .

To be honest, though, I feel totally fulfilled in all my cookie-eating for the season. There are still some gingerbread cookies (which I artfully decorated) that I might eat, but the rest are not of interest to me.

[carlh]

Yup - sugar cookies and anything storebought? What's the point? Give me two pfeffernuesse and springerle and I'm set.