Is it because I don’t trust other people’s cooking? No.

Is it because I can’t cook? No.

Is it because of that awkward moment you have spit out a nasty bite of something only to look up to see the person that cooked it is staring at you in anger and horror? No.

I hate them because potlucks are unfair.

We have a potluck in our office every Thanksgiving. The company provides the meats and everyone signs up to bring in the other stuff. And every year, without fail, some people make these elaborate, yummy side dishes and desserts while other people bring … a bag of chips or marshmallows. Yeah, that’s right. Marshmallows.

It kinda pisses me off … which is not a good thing at a time when we are supposed to be thankful and jolly.

So a couple years ago, I had a brilliant idea to even things out. Instead of signing up to bring something, everyone would pay $7 and we would have the sides and desserts catered.

Order and fairness restored, right? WRONG! People were mad about the change. Even worse than the time I replaced the stapler by the copy machine (Read that story).

I expected the people who bring chips and marshmallows to be mad — this change would require them to contribute more than $0.99 to their offering.

But I didn’t expect the people who make larger contributions to be mad, too. I thought they would be relieved that their resources would be freed up since the time and money it takes to make a dish for 50 people is worth more than $7 … but, for some reason, they were mad, too.

I realize now that potlucks are just like the regular office workload. Some people contribute more, some people contribute less. Some people think that is really unfair and others could care less! Sometimes, all we can do is make the best contribution that we have to offer and learn to live with and/or appreciate the offerings of others, until someone forces a change. And, no matter how much you may know that you know that you know a change is necessary, sometimes it isn’t your place or it isn’t the right time to make it.

So we abandoned the idea and went back to our traditional potluck the following year. And I went back to making my candied yams … which are really delicious, ifIdosaysomyself … Happy Thanksgiving!