Boss borrowed and damaged bowl, returned and said nothing!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would repeatedly slam the wood bowl down on his head very hard until he apologizes.

I am sorry if that sounds harsh, with him being old and all, but you have to draw a line in the sand. Otherwise the terrorists will win etc.

Love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, consider it a lesson learned. I would consider an employee cocky if they fussed about a bowl (if it is not rare or heirloom, etc.) You are not on their level. Don't pretend to be. Know when to STFU.

"Cocky?"... "Not on their level?" The boss sounds BELOW OP's level if he/she ruined another person's property and didn't apologize. No class at all.

That being said, there's probably nothing OP can do about it... just chalk it up to one of those sucky things that happens.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say anything. If you took food over, i assume your boss lost someone or is having family problems, in which case he/she probably has other things to worry about. And I agree, use disposable containers next time. Sucks about your bowl though!

[Anonymous]

What can you do, OP? What could you do even if this weren't your boss?

[Anonymous]

Steal enough office supplies to cover the cost of the bowl and then consider yourself even.

[Anonymous]

Say nothing. Replace the bowl.

[Anonymous]

Why are most people assuming that the boss is a man?

[Anonymous]

Move on and learn from the experience. While I think it is wonderful when people are kind enough to provide food, I found it difficult to keep track of who gave us what dish and to try to decide about how "hard" to clean it. If it had a stubborn stain, I always wonder if I should put a lot of elbow grease into it - because I want to return it in pristine condition - but then I worry I will harm the dish by over-washing. Maybe the stain was always there. It's clear to you the bowl wasn't damaged before you gave it to him, but it may not be clear to him.

I had a lasanga pan returned - that was ruined -but clearly out of the good intentions of getting it clean (it was all scratched up). I just threw it out and learned to give food in containers I don't mind losing. I mean really, if you think about it, the times you give food, are the worst times to be giving something that needs to be hand-washed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are most people assuming that the boss is a man?

LOL. Just realized I just assumed it was a man. I did because my DH always try to put wooden stuff in the dishwasher (all my bosses are female - so weird I would make that assumption).

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for the comments. I'm doing nothing about it and threw out the bowl. I feel rather pathetic for not saying something, but also feel like it would be petty and I would be very uncomfortable bringing it up. The comments reaffirm that I'm not a total wimp and it's best to just learn my lesson on this one.

Gladware is probably best for these situations. We don't own any because of PCB concerns and DH hates it when there's too much tupperware in the cabinet. It never crossed my mind that someone would put it in the dishwasher since it would take up most of the bottom rack and it wouldn't get that dirty, just a little salad dressing.

For the record, boss is a man, but he is married and they were both there. No one is in the hospital or died, it was just a nice thing to do while they were going through some transitions. And I point out age because they're about 20 years older than me and our friendship is a little like parental friendship. If my boss was closer in age and we were friends I may have said something (unless as pp said, the circumstances were that something bad had happened).

[Anonymous]

Gladware is intended to be disposable, so just pick some up at the grocery store if you're taking food to someone. I agree that unless you're going to be there to eat the food, and can then take your dish home, you're better off with something cheap and disposable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gladware is intended to be disposable, so just pick some up at the grocery store if you're taking food to someone. I agree that unless you're going to be there to eat the food, and can then take your dish home, you're better off with something cheap and disposable.

Yeah, I remember reading somewhere that the first rule of bringing someone food is USE DISPOSABLE CONTAINERS. It's not doing them any favors if they have to then wash (and handwash in this case) all of your containers and arrange for you to come get them back or return them to you. When a bunch of people brought us dinners after we had baby no. 2 there was 1 who brought non-disposable stuff that I had to scrub and drive back to return to her and honestly I would have rather she just didn't bring anything at all. It was actually more work for me during a rough time.

[Anonymous]

The maid or some other housekeeper likely did the dishes afterward and he probably never took note of the bowl beforehand.

When he returned, as far as he was concerned, it was the same as when you brought it to the party.

[Anonymous]

OP,

Just don't send anything to anyone's home that is hard or expensive to replace. This happened to me recently, my neighbor offered to replace some baking pans he'd borrowed and scratched. So, he handled it politely!

[Anonymous]

Replace the bowl and expense it.