in other news i have a lot of breakfast dates over the next week or so. i heart breakfast dates. except they mean getting up exceptionally early.
tomorrow's breakfast date will be to discuss the wicked plan me and my friend have to take over the vending machines at work. initially we wanted to get rid of them entirely. because they are creating an obseogenic environment. bascially they stock mars bars and coke. however, that was unsuccessful. so we went for the next best option: healthy(er) vending machines. we got the seniorest managers in all of the organisation to agree. we got the finance team to support it. and we got people to implement it. then we began our communications strategy... AND STARTED TO GET HATE MAIL FROM MY COLLEAGUES. the pressures of trying to change the world. honestly.
but i stay true to the cause. tomorrow we plot some more. plus drink coffee and eat buttery toast, and feel wholesome because we wont get either from a vending machine*
*i have to be clear: i'm being funny about this last thing. i don't think there is any point inpreaching to individuals about what they eat (most of the time) or in feeling bad about it. rather the point is that our work environment shouldn't make the unhealthy choices (mars bars) the easy choice.
9 comments:
I just think it's a basic issue of the right to choose. Who are you to tell me I can't eat a mars bar for afternoon tea?? I'm an adult. I have the right to make choices. And I should have the freedom to choose to eat a mars bar!!!
I just think it's a basic issue of the right to choose. Who are you to tell me I can't eat a mars bar for afternoon tea?? I'm an adult. I have the right to make choices. And I should have the freedom to choose to eat a mars bar!!!
putting the issue in terms of a right to choose is misguided. sure, devil's a has the right to choose whether or not to eat a mars bar. the question is what sort of role the employer should play in structuring or influencing the environment within which devil a's choices are made. devil a. is implying here that the state of affairs in which hp's employer supports obesogenic vending machines is the neutral baseline, any departure from which is an incursion on devil a's freedom to choose. but there's no reason to privilege that particular starting point rather than, say, the option of healthier machines or no machines at all. the issue is not a matter of basic rights, but rather a more flexible policy matter, which should be decided on the basis of the pros and cons of each option. given that the cons are low here (people can bring their own mars bars to work if they please: in fact they can get more of them cheaper by buying them in bulk at pak'n'save), and the pros are pretty high (people probably won't get around to going to pak'n'save to get work-time mars bars, just as they don't get around to going there to get work-time celery sticks; obesity is an impt health issue) i think hp's campaign is super.
People can still go for a five minute walk to get a Mars Bar. It's just that they have to really want it enough.
And Homeperm. You public health geek, you.
hey there can be a mars bar but there should also be some pretzals and fruit snacks and the pop machine should have some water and juice in addition to it's mountain dew black or whatever
helena summed it up well. i don't mean i don't think you have a right to choose. eat mars bars forever. just don't expect my work to supply them to you.
and yes. i'm a severe public health geek sometimes. thank god i'm hilarious to boot.
also, the walk to mars bars out of the office: about three seconds away. so it is not like we need them in the vending machines.
What you said about the 3 seconds away HP.
In fact there's a 24/7 mars bar dispensary half a bite of a mars bar away from that place that those peoples can choose to spend their money at if they choose.
Building healthy environments is so this year.
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