I'm so Hungry I could eat a whole bag of huh? : The Infamous Food Trough

In the working world, or at least in the office cubicle world, some of us go to meetings and in those meetings there is some great joy to it. Sorry, no not the speaker, or the presentation, or the guy with B.O who figured no one would notice he never takes a shower, no it's the goodies out on the table that your company budget allows every once in awhile. Of course you have seen those Special K commericials where they tell you switch the snack for a healthy one. But then your hunger mind kicks in...or maybe that's just me. It's not even 10am, and yes you had cereal this morning, you know the kind that has whole grains and tastes so bland you add a little sweetness just to kill the plain and boring. Lo and behold it's a  raspberry pastry and it sure does look good from where you are sitting. I mean come on, it's just one breakfast item, how bad could it be? Well imagine, temptation for hunger in comparison to a heat wave. There is nothing stopping you from finding a way to stay cool. Hence, I shall introduce the FOOD TROUGH. At work, there is a vertical rectangular sized table in between the hallway of a set of cubicles upstairs where I sit. Be warned. If you are the unlucky victim who sits right near it, consider yourself doomed. The trough is a spot where coworkers can bring in food and leave it for other people to eat. Picture a cattle range or a farm and you will get the idea, that this is more than dinner time for the animals. I would say it ranges from a pack of wolves, to a bunch of pigs, to starving monkeys. I am very lucky to be away from such an illustrious landfill, but there isn't an antedote. I fell prey to the trough charms the day I was hired. My first friday at Aerojet a guy showed me that paying a $1 to have a bagel on fridays was survival if you didn't bring in breakfast to go. Eventually I began to see the trough was a feeding ground. I call them scavengers up there, some of them.... anyway. They are the folks who never bring in a lunch, or any meal period. Relying solely on what people drop off at the site, is all the scavengers strive for. Whether it be a nutrigrain bar, a basket of figs, veggies, pasta, cookies, cake, or a bag of (you really don't want to know), etc, these people will eat a scrap if you give it to them. I was disgusted at first and repulsed at the idea that anyone would do such a thing. However, you will come to find, it is a skill. The scavengers have probably saved more money than a debt collector on government payroll than anyone I've seen at this profession. The goal is to not spend a dime when you know you are going to find food where you can. I guess it could be a homeless person's manifesto, on ways to get by. I don't recommend diving into a bag of unknown that looks like vomit, but I guess that's by choice. I wanted to know what else makes them so food savvy. I put out a huge thing of cake that I made and some cookies, and walked back to my desk. I kid you not, 10 minutes later or even less, those sweets were history. There wasn't a crumb left to spare. I found out from a desk mate near me, that a small woman had taken my plate of cookies! I couldn't believe it, dirty thief. I was so confused and surprised. I wandered around upstairs and in the perspective meeting rooms to find out where she went. In fact, I know this woman, and I asked if I could share this story with you. Ms. Joe is a smart lady who is part of the finance team on another program Aerojet supports. When I learned my cookies were taken I asked why she took them. Of course, I laughed, because I wanted her to feel comfortable with my unsubtle interrogation. Turns out, she had only three cookies and took the rest to her group who had not left the conference room since they stepped into the building that morning. They were starving. As she proceeded to tell me this, I felt ridiculous and suddenly silly. I asked around and some explained how not everybody can afford a lunch. I know an admin who takes coupons from the newspaper and uses them at the store to save money, such as a Pennysaver ad, or the ones you receive the mail most throw out and don't need. I also found people who would: cut off moldy edges of fruit, eat leftovers for weeks, (fish and rice, same for days, or soup and crackers), or ration an otherwise normal meal stretched into three. Ms. Joe no longer seemed like a thief at all. Email announcements are sent out everytime someone deposits food at the trough. The next day after my talk with her, I found an in my inbox I found one that read: Chocolate Chip Cookies at the trough, courtesy of Ms. Joe and an I'm sorry to Margo Vigeant.
  I wanted to sink in my chair and become invisible. I was exposed and not only that, I was wrong, and really wrong. Instead of cowering down and running, I had to face Ms. Joe. She saw me, and stepped back. Granted she's a tiny lady to begin with, much shorter than me, but nonetheless I leaned down as if I was the child, and gave her the biggest hug. Ms. Joe is special, and I heard through the grapevine some people at work don't treat her so well. What's even crazier, is the whole bag of you know what... It turned out to be a tuna casserole, and you can guess who ate it and how I got that detail. The trough isn't for scavengers, as Barb says, "It's an offering table, where anyone and everyone is welcome." Scavengers at work maybe they can be the disciples who were at the Lord's supper. They weren't wealthy, or higher than thou, or even known. Who knows what they are or what they need? Wasting food is abominable. I stand with both feet in front of me, and I say that when something is thrown out, I feel compelled to make sure it's not worth saving. I made a huge batch of cookies and handed them to Ms. Joe. I think as I am about to start a new bible study that my lesson may come in handy when I find myself eating paycheck to paycheck or out of money. So instead of feeling sorry for a poor person, or for the people at work who scounge to have something to munch on, people don't complain because they know the trough is the ultimate food delivery system. Whether it's the pastries from meetings, the 'oh I forgot my lunch,' or Mr. Scott's wife made coconut cake, (which p.s. if you have never tried, it's a definite dream), I can appreciate the infamous food trough for what it's worth.