My coworkers are big into food delivery services and it’s a common conversation in our office. I’ve tried a trial order before and it wasn’t for me – the meals were really expensive compared to regular meal prepping. Two days ago, one of my coworkers was complaining she messed up her delivery window and now has too many meals, so a few of them would have to be thrown away. I told her if she was going to throw them away I could buy them off her. Today she brought two chicken meals in and told me they would need to be cooked today because they were expiring soon. I asked her how much she wanted for them and she said $80 – full price. I was awkwardly quiet about it for a minute and said I will take one of them. She didnt really say anything back but I could tell she was annoyed. She works in the connecting office so I havent had a chance to talk about it with her, but charging full price after having a conversion about them expiring soon was really unexpected. Should I pay the price though? We never agreed on a price ahead of time and there seems to have been a lot of miscommunication, so if I’m in the wrong I would like to know before talking to her.
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My coworkers are big into food delivery services and it’s a common conversation in our office. I’ve tried a trial order before and it wasn’t for me – the meals were really expensive compared to regular meal prepping. Two days ago, one of my coworkers was complaining she messed up her delivery window and now has too many meals, so a few of them would have to be thrown away. I told her if she was going to throw them away I could buy them off her. Today she brought two chicken meals in and told me they would need to be cooked today because they were expiring soon. I asked her how much she wanted for them and she said $80 – full price. I was awkwardly quiet about it for a minute and said I will take one of them. She didnt really say anything back but I could tell she was annoyed. She works in the connecting office so I havent had a chance to talk about it with her, but charging full price after having a conversion about them expiring soon was really unexpected. Should I pay the price though? We never agreed on a price ahead of time and there seems to have been a lot of miscommunication, so if I’m in the wrong I would like to know before talking to her.
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> (1) I offered to pay for meals from my coworkers delivery service but didn’t accept the price she offered them for (2) We never agreed on a price and she took the time to bring them to work, so I might be the asshole for not paying what she’s asking for
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. She is though for charging full price for food that is about to expire.
It was insane to even offering to pay for them. She had expiring meals that she wasn’t going to eat so if she wanted to do good she could give them away, or she could throw them out. Expecting any amount of money is absurd, and expecting full price would have me never speaking to her outside of what is required for work again. She just isn’t the type of acquaintance I would want in my life. NTA
NTA i think. It’s strange to expect full price for something that’s about to go bad. Even grocery stores will discount things that are about to expire.
That was how much I paid for a single WEEK of food delivery meals.
That’s a ridiculous ask. I think agreeing to pay half was beyond generous.
Definitely NTA. I hand mine out all the time on “Buy Nothing” on Facebook when they need to be eaten and I’m traveling. I’m happy to have them not go to waste and never would I ask for payment! So ridiculous! I would’ve laughed and said thanks but no thanks.
NAH. Not really anyway. Co-worker should have been upfront about the pricing. Or been kind enough to give you a discounted rate – just because the food would be wasted otherwise.
Not really sure why she couldn’t have froze the meal/ingredients and saved it for herself another time but whatever.
It’s completely okay for you to say, “Whoa – $80? Sorry – I didn’t realize how much they are. I’m not interested in spending that much, especially since they aren’t really the freshest.”
I get why it’s awkward. She’s completely cool with charging full price and she has that right. I guess you could add on a bit of your own responsibility, “I’m sorry you went to the trouble of bringing them here. I guess I should have asked how much they were.”
NTA, if she was to charge you like that, she should have provided a list for you to choose from.
Honestly, I would have said “I thought you were giving them away so you didn’t have to toss them” (and she does have options like preparing them and freezing etc)
She wants awkward… give her awkward
NTA. You never agreed to a price ahead of time, which is a blunder on both ends, but she takes the asshole cake for expecting full price for nearly-expired meals.
NTA. Not only is it over priced, but it’s about to expire. Did she bring you her oldest meals?
NAH. Chalk this up to miscommunication. You said you’d buy them off her, assuming a discounted price. She figured you’d pay full price. Any time you offer to buy something from someone it’s good to settle on a price before they try to actually hand over the item.
I can’t imagine that they really cost that much to begin with. She was ready to toss them? Not a good deal for you at all!!
It’s her product so its her price unfortunately. You should’ve asked up front how much she wanted for the meals.
Honestly, the price should have been discussed BEFORE you agreed to take the meals and full price for a two meals that she was going to throw away and are almost spoiled is over the top IMHO. Curious, how many people did each meal serve?
Lol no. She doesn’t get to recoup her costs for her mistake, she’s lucky you offered her any money for something that would need to be thrown away. NTA.
NTA. If she intended to charge for them, she should have told you in advance what she planned on charging… and one should never ask full price for something they’re giving away because it’s about to expire. She should be happy to get any amount for something that would have went into the garbage otherwise.
NTA she was going to throw them away and they were going to go bad in a day. Charging you full price was too much.
You also could have said “oh wow, that’s more than I was expecting, no thanks.”
NTA-no way you should be paying full price.
Why are you even involved in this? You said you don’t like meal services, I don’t understand why that changed suddenly.
My response to her saying she over-ordered would have been something along the lines of “oh no!” or “Damn, that’s the worst!”
I certainly wouldn’t have offered to try to resolve her issue, knowing that I myself am not a fan of these types of meals and the extra costs associated with them
NTA Don’t buy any of it. Expecting full price for something she was going to throw away is crazy. You should be upset at her. She’s trying to take advantage of you.
It’s generous of you to offer to buy them at all. She should have asked anyone if they wanted them for free. If she was wanting compensation, she should have spoken to the delivery service for messing up her window instead of trying to get compensation from her coworkers.
She should have given them to you for free, or at a significantly lowered cost. Also she could have frozen them even if they are expiring soon- the whole thing to me seems like she’s making a non-issue more complicated.
$80 for 2 meals? I wouldn’t have bought any of it! NTA
NTA. It is better for this coworker to not get anything and learn from it than you paying for their mistakes.
80 DOLLARS FOR TWO MEALS??! That’s more than most restaurants for a dinner. That’s wild. do not pay that.
What Fing meal service delivery costs $40/meal. That is insane. Most of them work out to $10 to $14/meal including delivery.
I could tell she was annoyed
People, we need to develop a thicker skin. So what if she was annoyed?
I guarantee if you look up what food service she used, that’s the majority of her weekly order, jot one single meal. HELL TO THE NO, You’re NTA. They successfully scammed you and are mad you didn’t fall for the full scam.
Never EVER fall into someone’s I’M THE VICTIM trap!!! It NEVER stops!!!
$80 for 2 meals? Maybe you should have discussed the price before she brought them in. A reasonable person wouldn’t be charging you that, but a lot of people just aren’t reasonable.
YTA. You said you’d buy them without discussing a price.
NTA. She went from throwing them out to expecting full price for her expiring food. She was fine with wasting expensive food, she can throw it out then. Tell her this is the reason you don’t order; it’s too expensive, no thanks.
NTA. I’ve messed up twice and gave them away free. Also — I’M NOT RICH. Just don’t want to waste food.
$80 for two meals? I could eat for 2 weeks on that.
$40 for an expiring chicken meal?
She should have brought you two fresh meals and eaten those dumpster dive dishes herself. She cleaned out her fridge and is taking advantage of you.
$40 for one meal? You may as well go to a restaurant
She was just going to chuck them out anyway. How rude of her
She tried charging you the full week amount for two meals. This person is a scam.