I am a senior leader in a large health care system. In my department’s break room, I noticed a small, empty wicker basket. I started to fill it (anonymously) with individually wrapped chocolates I buy personally, as a small morale booster. Every week or so I refill the basket. Last week I walked into the office of one of my direct reports for a brief meeting and noticed on their desk a small pile of Hershey Kisses, likely taken from the basket in the break room.
This employee is a high-performing, outstanding individual. They are also quite overweight. I said nothing, of course, but now am wondering: Am I contributing to this person’s weight problem, with all its attendant health risks, or am I just doing something nice for the office staff, or both? Do I continue to fill the basket with chocolates? — Anonymous, New Hampshire
Reading this I found myself echoing Grey’s words “Your employee’s weight is not a problem. Your employee’s weight is none of your business. What they eat is none of your business. Your employee is a high-performing, outstanding individual, in your words. That is all that matters. Keep filling the basket with chocolates or don’t, but stop obsessing about someone else’s public body and private life. It is fatphobic and unkind and unnecessary.”
