Wenk called it “the Kevin stimulus.”

March 1, 2017 8:12 AM

"...nearly everyone who approached the candy while Kevin was present emitted some sort of noise before opening the jar, even if it was just a primal “oooooh!” or “mmmm.” The sweet psychology behind the office candy jar, including why no one wants to be caught taking the last piece.
posted by redsparkler (40 comments total)

-5 points for use of the term "alpha male."
posted by redsparkler at 8:13 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]

What term would you prefer?
posted by ITravelMontana at 8:21 AM on March 1, 2017

The U.S. Senate's Candy Desk
posted by Etrigan at 8:26 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]

What term would you prefer?

Well, they don't mention whether they controlled for alpha females, so the point they are trying to make about status is somewhat ambiguous as to what role gender might or might not play.

In light of that, maybe "office dickhead?"
posted by univac at 8:26 AM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]

Yeah, I didn't like how the article seemed to assume that the boss in the big office was automatically an "alpha male".
posted by peacheater at 8:31 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

“I am told that senators implored Cloakroom and floor staff to make sure Pennsylvania maintained the desk because — as we all know — our candy is the best,” Toomey said.
posted by redsparkler at 8:32 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ha! I sometimes bring in candy for my students, and if there is some left over for another class day, I get that "What happened to all the good candy? Why isn't there any chocolate left?" comment that's in the article. Because you already ate it. That's why.
posted by pangolin party at 8:37 AM on March 1, 2017 [6 favorites]

In 2005 I started a new job as a program director at a (kinda) art school and didn't know anyone there, one of the first things I did was buy a huge jar of Atomic Fireballs and a huge jar of Lemonheads and put them on my desk.

Not only did I make fast friends but discovered you can indeed tell a lot about people based on their interaction with candy.
posted by jeremias at 8:40 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

My very first office admin job featured a dish of peanut M&Ms that lived at my desk, because the big boss (a woman, btw) liked them. I was also in charge of stocking said treats, so I shamelessly ate huge quantities of them for several months. And that's how I eventually discovered that my lifelong chronic skin allergy (causes previously unknown) was actually triggered by nuts and chocolate!

My still working for the same company today isn't *entirely* down to the fact that Jelly Bellies were immediately added to the candy options in order to accommodate my sad disability, but it certainly didn't hurt.
posted by merriment at 9:08 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

I was in an actual office yesterday. There was a person who had a candy dispenser hanging on the window outside of her office.

It was a bird feeder that held mini M&Ms.
posted by dfm500 at 9:27 AM on March 1, 2017 [10 favorites]

We can tell when someone is soliciting commentary/feedback on a project because quality of their snacks go up. (trail mix and fancy dark chocolate are best for luring people in, on my floor)

I did like this strategy, but sadly report that it doesn't work.
Offering candy is a good way for newbies to meet people, especially if they’re not particularly outgoing. That was Kevin’s original motivation, although he said he also figured that no one would fire the guy with the candy dish. (Kevin is a bit more Machiavellian than we originally thought.)
posted by larthegreat at 9:38 AM on March 1, 2017

About nine months ago I became a de facto office manager type. Because I am quite lazy about the office management parts of my job, I've developed a routine of buying Jolly Ranchers in bulk to put in the dish that sits on the unattended reception desk. (And people do complain about this, that there isn't enough variety in the free candy dish. Fortunately, I don't care.)

Anyway, it was immediately fascinating to me that everybody always eats the red ones first, and that this trend persists no matter which combination of flavors I buy. I assumed this is because, as a culture, we have generally agreed that red candy is the best (although I myself prefer the green ones.) Then a friend pointed out that if you eat a green or purple or blue Jolly Rancher, your mouth turns green or purple or blue, and then everyone will know you've been eating Jolly Ranchers. I love this theory, that people feel the need for secrecy surrounding their workplace Jolly Rancher consumption.
posted by something something at 9:41 AM on March 1, 2017 [18 favorites]

I assumed this is because, as a culture, we have generally agreed that red candy is the best...

Yes, I believe the ranking goes like this (starting from the best):

Red
Pink
Green
Orange
Purple
Yellow

And WAAAAAY at the bottom...

Blue
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:01 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Bah. I like orange ones, myself. I think fake orange is closer to the original than fake cherry. I do like fake cinnamon, though!
posted by tavella at 10:05 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

We really do associate red with food, though, and appetite. Every single food-ordering app I have uses red as the primary color.
posted by tavella at 10:06 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Anyway, it was immediately fascinating to me that everybody always eats the red ones first, and that this trend persists no matter which combination of flavors I buy. I assumed this is because, as a culture, we have generally agreed that red candy is the best (although I myself prefer the green ones.) Then a friend pointed out that if you eat a green or purple or blue Jolly Rancher, your mouth turns green or purple or blue, and then everyone will know you've been eating Jolly Ranchers. I love this theory, that people feel the need for secrecy surrounding their workplace Jolly Rancher consumption.
This tickles me so much because the person who sits right next to me at work (at the adjoining desk) keeps a bowl of Jolly Ranchers on her desk. I noticed that she only put out the red ones and she explained that she used to buy all of them, but found that people kept taking the red ones. So now she just buys special bags of Jolly Ranchers with only red flavors.
posted by peacheater at 10:09 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]

I did buy a bag of only reds one time, but it frankly felt like enabling. Eat the green ones, weirdos.
posted by something something at 10:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [8 favorites]

Learning this fact about Jolly Ranchers is 100% my justification for making an FPP about workplace candy bowls.
posted by redsparkler at 10:15 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

We have a candy bowl person in the office (I sent her the article) and it is 100% true that mints go first--she will fill 2-3 bowls of mints before the Werthers/butterscotches need it.

If she had Jelly Bellies I would have to transfer to another department to prevent catastrophic weight gain. I don't buy those fuckers because I have no self-control around them. See also: Skittles and Starburst.

Jolly Ranchers, like caramels, are filling-yankers of the first order. Avoid.

Unwrapped M&Ms (or any unwrapped candy) are a little ooky--they start to melt, all those dirty hands in them, bleh. Some of the engineers on my floor go out to wastewater treatment plants to visit clients, I don't want to think about those germs.
posted by emjaybee at 10:28 AM on March 1, 2017

We have like umpty-squillion candy dishes at my office. There's two little clusters of cubicles that have their own in their center table, there's two office-offices that have one, and then people also leave "free food, please take" on the big table in the center of the office.

I think today's survey is:

* The IT support crew has leftover valentines' day chocolate.
* One of the offices has a dish of skittles.
* One cubicle cluster has fun-pak size conversation hearts, half a chocolate box from valentine's day, half of a box of CHRISTMAS motif chocolate (with a note saying "yes, it's from Christmas, but it's still good") and maybe two weird chocolates that have Christian messages on the wrapper.
* The guy who has a candy dish and a sign on his cube wall saying "free candy please take" has been out for a few days and so there's nothing there.
* The big boss has a bowl of Life Savers on his desk, but in the past he's also had candy corn and M&Ms. The Life Savers last longest when he has them.
* The big center table has the remains of the big bag of fancy Swiss chocolate in teeny-size bars that my colleague brought in from her mom yesterday. Yesterday, I also added a few bags of Zapps' Chips because it was Mardi Gras, but those went faaaaaaaaaaast.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm still struggling with why they put York Peppermint Patties as "other" instead of "chocolate based". I now doubt the rest of their research rigor.
posted by Mchelly at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

I once worked for an office mail room and part of my delivery routine was taking a candy from each candy bowl I passed along the way. Kept my energy up.
posted by RobotHero at 11:12 AM on March 1, 2017

I think I was inclined to skip it if it was the last candy. And of course the question of "proximity" gets to be how close is it to my route rather than to where I sit.
posted by RobotHero at 11:19 AM on March 1, 2017

I gave up the candy dish habit at my old job when I was working late and noticed the janitor rummaging around in everyone's trash/recycling bins to empty their contents by hand (I guess we were trying to cut down on replacing the plastic liners?) followed about 30 seconds later by the sound of him scooping out a bunch of M&Ms. I just... no.
posted by sysinfo at 11:23 AM on March 1, 2017

Ha - I just got my own office, and one of my first actions was to put a bowl of mints on my desk. Unanticipated positive: my whole office smells minty fresh. Unanticipated negative: people come into my office and eat them when I'm not around. I'm frequently out of the office, and came back yesterday to find that the mints were all gone, including the very last one. I'm a little torn between thinking that it's kinda rude of people to help themselves to my mints when I'm not around, and thinking that at least I'm having a positive effect on halitosis around the office.
posted by widdershins at 11:32 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's worth noting that the lab where this research was conducted has recently come under fire for questionable research e.g., this New York Magazine article from last month.
posted by ElKevbo at 11:45 AM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

I keep a jar of jelly bellies. It is specifically there for when my kids come to visit the office (I work a few blocks from home). I wanted them to have the memory of coming to visit daddy and him always having jelly bellies for them. Jelly bellies are the perfect office candy because there is both variety and consistency, they generate conversation with people I otherwise would never have reason to talk to ("Oh this one is pink lemonade!" "If you put popcorn and caramel together you get caramel corn!"). Regular jelly belly raiders often will resupply which is kind (but *please* people, I appreciate the thought but off brand jelly beans are *not* acceptable, don't do it). Plus they're small, so if you gorge yourself on 30 of them, you've only had 82 calories. And jelly bellies are awesome.

The big office mystery though is when I go out of town, I always leave the jar full. When I return, half the time the jar is empty save the last 2 or 3 (because no one wants the last ones) but the other half the time, it's barely been touched. I don't get it.

I also keep a secret stash of my nurse's favorite dark chocolate and my medical assistant's snack mix for emergencies. They do not know I do this. My medical assistant keeps a secret stash of Flamin Hot Cheetohs for me because I love them but cannot be trusted to be in possession of them after an incident a couple years ago.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:09 PM on March 1, 2017 [12 favorites]

I used to keep skittles and starburst candies in my treat bowl for student rewards, and one second grader asked me why I never had chocolate in it. I told him it was because I ate too much of it, but that maybe I could make it my New Year's resolution to have chocolate in my treat bowl, but not eat it. He knowingly said, "No one ever keeps their New Year's resolutions." Pretty insightful kid.
posted by shortyJBot at 12:29 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fun fact: you can suss out the lizard people in your office by filling a bowl with candy corn.
posted by AFABulous at 12:38 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

M&Ms melt in your mouth and not in the bowl =) But just like bar mix/nuts, I don't want anyone else touching something I put in my mouth, so no unwrapped candy in the dish. In fact, I don't think I would even put anything unwrapped in our snack bowl at home unless it was fruit. I think that is why the M&M dispensers are so popular.
posted by soelo at 12:51 PM on March 1, 2017

When I was younger and more trusting (i.e. naive), I thought it would be fun and civic-minded to keep a jar of mini Reese's Cups at my desk. Damn those things disappeared quick! People would even deliberately come upstairs from the first floor just to raid my Reeses*. I gave up after a few weeks because I couldn't afford to keep refilling the jar so often. After that I learned to keep a stash for myself in a desk drawer and never let anyone know they were there.

*and if you've ever had your Reeses raided, you know how painful and embarrassing that can be
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:02 PM on March 1, 2017

Reading this article prompted the following conversation at my office, between me and one of the IT team.

ME: (passes by, stops and pokes head in) May I have one of your 3 Musketeers here?

HER: Of course! that's what they're there for.

ME: Thanks! (Helps self) I read this article online today about bowls of candy in offices, and it made me realize that I never ask before taking them - so I decided I'm going to start.

HER: (eyes me a moment) They're over by the door, that means you can help yourself.

ME: Well, still.

HER: Nah. If they were over here by me, THEN you maybe would need to ask. But them being over there by the door means "help yourself".


....The nuances of the office candy bowl are many.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:02 PM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sometimes people put a spoon in the little bowls of naked candies, so we can pretend nobody is using their hands to scoop them, but we all know it's a dirty lie. Just buy wrapped candy ya'll.

Slarty, my theory on your jelly bellies mystery is that there is one nice person who refills them once they get eaten while you're gone, but sometimes they forget or have been out.
posted by emjaybee at 2:30 PM on March 1, 2017

I love this theory, that people feel the need for secrecy surrounding their workplace Jolly Rancher consumption.

Well it ties up with one of the observations in the article that people were more likely to take Werther's chewy rather than hard candy, since the hard candy will last much longer in the mouth.
posted by biffa at 2:47 PM on March 1, 2017

It's all true! If you ever have to staff a table at an event like a conference, street fair, or job fair (where you might hand out fliers, sign people up for something, etc.), a bowl of candy works wonders to bring people over. Make it a transparent bowl, make it big, and keep it mounded. It even works at sales counters for ticket-based organizations. People are nicer, more chatty, and they buy more.
posted by Mo Nickels at 2:50 PM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

We really do associate red with food, though, and appetite. Every single food-ordering app I have uses red as the primary color.

And it makes sense that blue is at the bottom of the list. Blue is unappetizing, for the most part, hence "blue plate specials."
posted by greermahoney at 11:42 PM on March 1, 2017

Well, today I learned that keeping jars or bowls of candies in offices is a perfectly normal US thing.

(Here in Norway some appears around Christmas, and that's it, at least in the four offices where I've worked)
posted by Harald74 at 4:40 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

My boss has a candy jar just for me. I have a good boss...
posted by judson at 6:47 AM on March 2, 2017

Conversation about this caused me to look up an old piece of mine from 1998: Gender Differences in Hunting/Gathering Practices of Modern North American Office Dwellers (an anecdotal study). In other news, I am old.

I always used to put out the wrapped candies, so the dirty-hands-in-MnMs issue was not there. Some time after I wrote that essay, I wound up working in a department that regularly sent people to Switzerland, at which point I implemented the rule that whoever traveled was required to bring back an offering for the candy bowl. (It was often just Cadbury minis from the airport, but some people actually found proper Swiss chocolate.) When it was my own dime, I'd get something strong flavored (sours, dark chocolate) so people would be less likely to consume by the handful.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:10 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't buy sweets, I buy nuts. Pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, pistachios....

Although I do buy two large bags (slightly bigger than allowable carry on size) of various snacks and sweets for my colleagues on my frequent trips to Malaysia or Bangkok. For a small office of about 15 women, they go through that stuff FAST. There might be a sweet or two at the end of the week, but everything else is gone.
posted by Alnedra at 11:12 PM on March 2, 2017